Huawei E169G - the easy way
Note to Ubuntu and Easy Peasy users: Your Huawei E169G should now work out-of-the box with later versions of Ubuntu (8.10 onwards) and derivatives. Lots of other modems work too, like the E160G.
A few days ago Lifehacker Australia carried a blog post where they said that they felt my method to get the Huawei E169G modem working on an EEE PC was a "tad fiddly". Well, they are probably right, so taking this as a challenge I've had a go at creating a package that will apply these steps automatically and make getting this modem up and running as simple as possible. This is one of my first attempts at packaging, so there might be some problems, however I've successfully tested that it works on both a Xandros and an Ubuntu powered EEE PC. The package is quite basic in what it does, so it may well work on some other Debian-based distributions too.
The package basically automates the steps in my earlier post "Using the Huawei E169G usb mobile internet modem on the EEE", it includes files to set up the rules for what should happen when you plug the device in, a copy of usb_modeswitch, documentation, and a sample configuration file for gnome-ppp (thanks to the Joyrex Wiki) to help you set up a connection (you won't need this for a standard Xandros powered EEE).
Installation on a Xandros EEE PC
- Download the file e169g-switch_0.3_all.deb from this site to somewhere you can easily find it.
- Open file manager (under the work tab) and go to the location where you downloaded the file
- Right click over the file and select "Install DEB file..."
- Enter your password when prompted (this is required because you are making a system change)
- After a few moments you should get a message saying installation has been completed.
You should now be able plug in the E169G and use it to make an Internet connection in the normal way using the "Network" icon under "Internet"
Installation on an Ubuntu EEE PC
- Using Firefox, click here to start the installation process for e169g-switch
- Firefox will offer you the option to download and open the package with GDebi Package Installer, click Ok to accept
- GDebi will launch, showing you information about the package, click "Install Package" in the top right hand corner
- Enter your password when prompted (this is needed because you are making changes to the system)
- After a few moments the package will be installed and you should be able to plug in your E169G (on mine I noticed that a file browser window still launches for mobile connect, but the modem does work)
- If you want to make a connection using gnome-ppp have a look under /usr/share/doc/e169g-switch for a sample configuration file. You should edit this and copy it to your home directory and name it .wvdial.conf
Thanks to Georgina Parsons for testing out the package on her Xandros-powered EEE. So far I've had this working on an Ubuntu and Xandros powered EEE, but it should work on other machines running Ubuntu. If you get success on other platforms please mention it here. The package itself is very simple, it just copies files, it does not use any of the advanced features of the Debian packaging format, but in the end was quite straightforward to put together. If you want to verify that you have downloaded the file correctly before installing it the MD5 sum of the package is: f3e80b78c7e0ad704ae48d22b1ca2d09, you can verify this by typing md5sum e169g-switch_0.2_all.deb in a command line.
Hopefully this package will make the E169G simple to use on the EEE as the two devices go together very well.
*** UPDATE 12th October 2008 ***
Thanks for your feedback on this package. Some of you experienced a "floating point" error when trying to use this package on a Xandros-powered EEE system. Today I updated the e169g-switch package to version 0.2 and included a special version of usb_modeswitch that was compiled on a Xandros system. This seems to clear up the error on a simulation of a Xandros-powered EEE that I have and seems to work fine on Ubuntu as well. As my EEE doesn't have Xandros on it anymore I've not been able to test it on a real machine, so if it works for you please comment here. If you are up and running with version 0.1 there is no need to upgrade.To upgrade just follow the instructions above, if you already have version 0.1 installed the upgrade will be handled automatically. All of the links above have been updated.
*** UPDATE 5th December 2008 ***
New version 0.3: I've updated the version of usb_modeswitch used by e169g_switch to version 0.9.5 and altered the package file so it now provides "usb_modeswitch" for any package that depends on it. If you are happily using the package already, you probably don't need to update.
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| Attachment | Size |
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| e169g-switch_0.3_all.deb | 35.71 KB |
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Comments
Re: Huawei E169G - the easy way
Great stuff, this time around avoided all the hassle and fiddling around with this. Ideally I should upgrade the system but I have a number of legacy apps running on the box so I actually prefer this for the time being.
Re: Huawei E169G - the easy way
Thank you for the clear overview.
Re: Huawei E169G - the easy way
I installed your program on a DESKTOP running Ubuntu 9.10
What a great program you have here
It works fantastically & connects automatically too. I always get confirmation in the top RH corner that I am connected to the internet,
When I use the dongle on Windows Vista it is much harder & slower to connect. and you have to keep clicking & waiting. Sometimes the 3 com software crashes in windows. Your software is seamless & stable ( and very fast connecting too !)
Motherboard Asus M2A-VM
PROCESSOR amd 2x 64
mEMORY 2X 256 md
Re: Huawei E169G - the easy way
I installed your program on a DESKTOP running Ubuntu 9.10
What a great program you have here
It works fantastically & connects automatically too. I always get confirmation in the top RH corner that I am connected to the internet,
When I use the dongle on Windows Vista it is much harder & slower to connect. and you have to keep clicking & waiting. Sometimes the 3 com software crashes in windows. Your software is seamless & stable ( and very fast connecting too !)
Motherboard Asus M2A-VM
PROCESSOR amd 2x 64
mEMORY 2X 256 md
Huawei E169G - the easy way - Ubuntu 9.10 - optus network
For those looking for a simple answer to this problem - after much reading - I have found this solution to be the most effective.
Background: I have two test laptops running Ubuntu 9.10 - A Toshiba Satellite P100, and a Dell Inspiron 6400
In both cases, trying to get the Optus supplied Huawei e169 USB modem to work was a problem .... until I did the following:
1. Unplug the modem
2. Remove any existing Network Manager > Mobile Broadband connection settings
3. Open a terminal and type
> sudo aptitude install usb-modeswitch
4. Plug in the modem
5. It auto detected that it was an Optus supplied 3g modem, and the network manager wizard was able to step me through the setup.
I've been on it now for some time writing this post and checking connectivity.
It seems fairly good.
(not quite as good however as my USB connected Nokia phone via Telstra 3G..)
Re: "the easy way" Cricket Wireless A600 Modem
Hi,
I'm a newbie and I've been trying to get my Cricket Wireless A600 Modem working for I don't know how long! I was so excited when I ran across your post and thought I'd give it a try. I downloaded the .deb file for my eee pc 701 running Xandros and installation is complete. The modems must be different, but similar. I plugged mine in, and noticed that the CD icon was still there, nothing in the network setup under 3g, but I see Skype is trying to initialize! Do you have any idea what I should try next, I would really appreciate the help.
Also, I did not try to download the latest update with the live link, I will give that a try in the meantime.
Thanks in advance, I look forward to your response:)
Re: "the easy way" Cricket Wireless A600 Modem
It's me again, the newb. I think maybe I'm not waiting long enough for the info. to download to my system. The Skype icon came on and was trying to start up quite awhile after I started the Network Connection wizard. I see that a few others had to wait quite awhile before they were able to continue the setup.
I'll let it run a few hours and see what happens, and will keep you posted.
If this doesn't work, do you know of other companies that may be using Cal Comp Electronics's modem, but under another name or do you know how I could find out? Maybe I could check their sites to see if they support Linux.
Thanks again for your help and the other posters too, on getting this up and running!
S
Re: "the easy way" Cricket Wireless A600 Modem
Hi S, I'm really sorry but this isn't a device I know anything about. Might be worth asking here: http://forum.eeeuser.com/ to see if anybody has had the A600 up and running.
Re: "the easy way" Cricket Wireless A600 Modem
Okay, thanks for letting me know. I appreciate you responding so fast.
S
Re: Huawei E169G - the easy way
The 169G won't work on ubuntu 9.1 beta, on a Dell E4300. Using umtsmon all I see is: start PPP failed. It was working fine under 8.04 on a M1210. Any suggestions on how to fix this, or check if it's a bug that needs fixing, would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Re: Huawei E169G - the easy way
Just tried out the E169G today on Ubuntu 9.10, all seems to work. I used the default Network Manager and it connected without a problem. I don't know about umtsmon.
Re: Huawei E169G - the easy way
look here https://forge.betavine.net/frs/?group_id=12 for Vodaphone's mobile connect software that runs on Linux. It handles all the housekeeping needed and you don't need to bother with ppp. You can alos use it to send text messages too. Also try Connection Manager - that might pick up your dongle.
E1762??Re: Huawei E169G - the easy way
hi,
I have an eeepc 701 and trying to connect to virgin on E1762 with no luck.
It recognises it no problem if I start up with modem attached. When i try to log onto virgin i get operation failed.
No network protocols running, Link closed, unable to reach destination.
Any ideas please?!
Re: Huawei E169G - the easy way
It's not easy:( I've installed Windows XP on my eeePC and now the stick work perfectly. Maybe I'm to silly?
Re: Huawei E169G - the easy way
Hi,
I seem to have a problem with Easy Peasy 1.1 and eeepc-tweaks package as it is also using /.deb. So when I first tried to install e169g-switch_0.3_all.deb I got an error message that it failed because it wasn't able to overwrite '/.deb' because it was alredy used by eee-tweaks. Then I unistalled eeepc-tweaks package and e169g-switch_0.3_all.deb installation was succesful. Now I am again unable to install eeepc-tweaks. Is there any possibility of having both in use at the same time?
Other than that the application works great, thanks a lot!
Re: Huawei E169G - the easy way
My solution appears here but one question to instal the deb file how did people get the Administrator Password for the eeepc 701
Re: Huawei E169G - the easy way
I couldn't remember mine either, so I checked the eee pc forums and a post said to open the terminal window using Ctrl+Alt+T, then type in sudo passwd root hit enter. Then type in your new password (cursor won't move), press enter, re-type your password and press enter. It will confirm all is okay. Exit out of the terminal window and continue with the install using your new password. No need to do F9 and restore to factory settings!
Re: Huawei E169G - the easy way
Hi Liam,
Thanks for your sterling work! Using your package it took me less than 10 minutes to get my Huawei E169 USB modem up & running on my EeePC 90 under Xandros. I'm sure I could have got their in the end but probably after hours of struggling and too much black coffee!
Thanks again.
Cheers,
Terence
Re: Huawei E169G - the easy way
Hi,
Have been following the topic and have tried all suggestions.
I have a EEE 4g Pc with Xandros and an Aust. VirginBroadband modem (e169g). I get to the very end of the connection yet the
connection fails. could you please help?
Virgin Oz not accessible
I had a similar experience last weekend in Melbourne; I bought a Virgin simcard, and loaded it into a Huawei 160; (which has worked well with Vodafone and connects quickly): we run an Ubuntu variant; (MoonOS) I similarly could not connect to Virgin; the OS wanted a network manager password, and then a further password; rather stumped me; (Virgin connect to the Optus network; I wondered if that added complexity); suffice it to say I was disappointed; connected quickly with Vodafone Oz simcard; and Huawei 160; to Vodafone Oz; no problem at all;
(we supplied our own modem: I note Virgin issue the 169 if you purchase from them)
Re: Huawei E169G - the easy way
Das Tool klappt hervorragend !
Einfach installiert, einmal neugestartet und schon hat es geklappt.
Stunden mühevoller wursteleien an den Linux Datein gehören der Vergangenheit.
Auch aus Deutschland vielen Dank !!!
Re: Huawei E169G - the easy way
our daughter is in Australia, and has an ASUS and wants to connect a 3 broadband USB stick;
http://store.three.com.au/prepaidbroadband/Internet-Key-Black
I use linux in NZ and can offer a little help to her; she has found your excellent howto: just wanted to check her USB will be a 169;
if she opened a terminal Control-Alt_T for the ASUS, is that correct? and if she types lsusb with the USB stick in place?
I too have an ASUS; an original 700 but we run Suse as a main distro
160E Huawei
now identified that the device we need to connect is a Huawei 160, supplied by 3; if you are in Melbourne, I am sure my daughter would loan you the device to check it out! She is keen to get broadband; I have read the Vodafone
http://www.betavine.net/bvportal/web/linux_drivers
that sounds promising but will it work for a 160
and also umtsmon; trying to get it installed on my own ASUS; across the seas; before trying to guide my daughter on how to attempt this;
I am familiar with OpenSuse but boy, this is a lot of work to get one little USB stick going
Re: 160E Huawei
Hi pdc_2, I've recently tried a E160G which was kindly lent to me by 3 UK and it possible to get this working on the EEE, but you need to install Easy Peasy (http://www.greenhughes.com/content/e160g-works-ubuntu-and-easy-peasy), haven't managed to get this working on the default Xandros OS which doesn't seem to like the device for some reason. I would recommend swapping the EEE over to Easy Peasy as it is a much better operating system in many ways than the supplied version of Xandros.
Hope this helps.
Re: 160E Huawei
thanks very much for the feedback Liam; it is very helpful to hear; that if you can't get the 160 going on a Xandros Eee, that it will therefore not work; I was trying to investigate all this for my daughter who is in Oz with her Eee; so we probably leave things as is; I looked on the 3 website, and they do not seem to offer the Huawei 169; are there providers in Australia who do offer the 169; or can you recommend providers in Australia who offer Huawei variants which do work on the Xandros Eee ASUS please?
many thanks and all best wishes; I was enormously impressed with the work you did to produce the integrated package for the 169; in my recent researches I see it cited frequently, so you are quite famous now with your very helpful work!
Re: 160E Huawei
my apologies;
a) I was anonymous in the previous post; and
b) on re-reading, it sounds as though you are UK based;
I somehow had seen or sensed some Australian connection for you in earlier posting!
I was asking you about Australian providers ....... you may well feel you cannot comment!
Re: Huawei E169G - the easy way
Thanks so much for putting this together.
It worked first time with my eee 4g Xandros and an E160G on the 3 network in UK. At last I have decent mobile broadband without lugging a full-sized laptop around.
I wish I had found this earlier.
Tim
Re: Huawei E169G - the easy way
I spoke too soon. Today it's not working any more. The connection I was using yesterday no longer works.
So I have tried to create a new one, but the E160G no longer appears in the hardware device list. Nothing appears in the list.
I've tried installing the package again, but no luck.
Most weird.
Tim
Re: Huawei E169G - the easy way
Hi Tim,
The package is for the E169G rather than the E160, I think there are some differences between the two models. However, please keep an eye on this blog as I am hoping to have some news on the E160 soon.
Re: Huawei E169G - the easy way
Hi,
At last. Have had the e169g dongle since September and have been fighting with it, 3 and my eee pc 701 since then. (I should point out the first question I asked 3 is, would it work with linux? "Oh yes" they said. Tried and tried to get it to work, rang 3 back for them to say "No, we don't know how to make it work in Linux!!!!" Idiots!) Anyway could make it work in Xandros, downloaded and now running Ubuntu nbr (which I highly recommend) ran you deb. file and if by magic, it works!
Thanks Liam, you are a genius. Shame I broke my leg skiing last week and won't be leaving the house for weeks.
Cie la vie,
James
Re: Huawei E169G - the easy way
Worked on my Asus EEE 900 running native Xandros. Just installed, restarted and ran the Connection Manager.
Thank you!
Re: Huawei E169G - the easy way
I'm trying to help a friend out here, he has a net book that runs Linux Debian and I'm trying to connect to the internet using a Vodafone Mobile Broadband E169G Stick Modem here in Ireland . Its a CnM Book and its details are below.. A link to the net books manufactor http://www.cnmlifestyle.com/
I've tried a few different things to get it going but keep getting "Time out, Link down" when I try connect it??
I downloaded the "e169g-switch_0.3_all.deb" file from above but can't install it because when I right click it all I get as options are Open, Cut, Copy, Delete, Rename & Properties. I don't get the "Install deb file" option?? I've also never used linux before which isn't helping I know but if anyone can help me out here i'd be very grateful.
Re: Huawei E169G - the easy way
Hi, have you fixed your friend's problem? I have the same thing and have been looking for how to use a USB 3G dongle. Did you look at the drivers on their website? It looks easy from them: http://www.cnmlifestyle.com/ then go to support/cnmbook drivers, 3G Mobile Broadband Driver
Installs the driver for the Huawei E160G, E169G and E220 3G modems
Re: Huawei E169G - the easy way
Worked like a charm! Connected to DNA Finland in seconds. Thanks a lot!
-Hencki, proudly surfing on his new eee 901
Re: Huawei E169G - the easy way
How did you manage to do that? I have problems with my rebooted eee701. I had to get all I have done, again.
Now I managed to get my E169 recognized, but it took so much time. I have few SIM- cards to use, so I have to have connection to all of them.
I wonder, if there is a trick to do, if you want your e169 to work consistently? Not to switch every time? Simply way?
Re: Huawei E169G - the easy way
Okay. It seems to work all right :). I have tested with two SIM cards (TeleFinland and DNA). I shutdown the system and then start again: e169 works properly. I hope this will continue like this!
-Minna
Re: Huawei E169G - the easy way
Thank you for your wonderful little .deb package. I wrote about it on my personal blog: How to use Huawei E169 HSDPA 3G modem on Ubuntu.
Re: Huawei E169G - the easy way
Hi. After struggling for months with my eeepc and this modem, I found the above package and installed it. I seemed to get a lot further than I have before, I was able to detect the card, found the network, and even got it to dial. Unfortunately, I ran into more trouble there. When I try to dial, it disconnects and I get the error:
Failed to run pon. (pppclientservice.cpp: 1007)
The link was closed. Unable to reach destination. (pppclientservice.cpp: 1005)
Searching, I found a few people with this problem, and the suggested fix was to run the following in the terminal: "sudo rm /var/run/pppd2.tdb". This hasn't helped either.
Does anyone know why this error is occurring, and have a fix for it?
thanks.
Re: Huawei E169G - the easy way
i heard about an antenna associated to this model, i would like to ask for confirmation and if it is true i would like to avail of this gadget.thanks!
Re: Huawei E169G - the easy way Antenna for E169
I managed to put an antenna on mine, the trouble is I bought an antenna with a connector that did not go directly into the small ant socket on the 169 modem, I had to cut the cable and using a coax adapter and a crimping tool I managed to put an inline adapter. Why on earth they cant supply a proper made up antenna I dont know. I guess most people would not want to do what i just did. It was fiddley. Alan
E169 with Optus Australia
Thanks for perfect instructions, works a treat.
With Optus prepaid, I discovered the APN needs to be changed to preconnect and login/passwd should be blank. Thanks very much.
Re: E169 with Optus Australia
oh thank god for that piece of information! i've been bashing my head against this one for a couple of days.. and all i needed to do was change the APN to PRECONNECT... maybe we should get this added as a preconfig to the tool?? very confusing otherwise.
Re: E169 with Optus Australia
Lucky you Kim! I am still trying. I have been searching the internet for help with my problem which Liam may recall is: everything works well till the last minute when I get this msg:
"receive serial link is not 8-bit clean. Problem: all had bit 7 set to 0. modem hangup"
Recently I found what looks like a promising lead - but I dont know what to do about it. I guess it is linux not xandros? Liam can you help at all. Pleeez. Without the internet my cute little eeepc is pretty much useless to me. And I feel bad selling it to someone else if I know it has this problem.
The promising lead was at http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-networking-3/recieve-seria... and reads as follows:
finally found an answer.
Usint rp-3 I went into 'advanced' and unchecked the box which says "let PPP perform authentication"
Thanks
Helen
Re: E169 with Optus Australia
Check the APN, it should be "Connect". The default on my EEEPC for the Optus service was "Internet" Note: I am not using the prepaid service
Re: E169 with Optus Australia
Thanks Ultram
This sounds promising (I am not with prepaid either) but could you expand a bit? I do not know what an APN is or how to check it.
Thanks and fingers crossed!
HElen
Re: E169 with Optus Australia
Hi Helen,
I can confirm this is working with Optus. Firstly I followed Liams excellent guide. Once the modem is recognised, the rest is fairly straigtforward. You need to goto network connections and create a new connection. This will start the connection wizard, select GSM/3G (UMTS)/HSDPA then next. If everything has gone ok with Liam's instructions you should now see the huawei-169 listed. Select it then click next. If you cant see the hardware at this point you have probably made a mistake with Liams instructions. The next screen should say "Network Registration". Click search and wait.... hopefully after a little while you will see the optus service listed. Select and click next. You should now be at the Login data screen. Select Australia-Optus from the drop down operator list. This is also where you enter the APN. Type "Connect" then click next . You will see it defaults to "internet" and I could not get it to connect until I changed it. I dont think it matters about the user name and password. Give the connection a name then click next. You have finished !! you can select to start the connection when finished or just finish and connect manually afterwards. Thats it....good luck
Re: E169 with Optus Australia
Great - thanks Ultram I have copied all your instructions and will try again asap. Only problem is I still do not know what an APN is!! If this is critical pls let me know!
Cheers - I will let you know what happens
Helen
Re: E169 with Optus Australia
Helen,
Yes, the APN is important..in fact I think it is the only reason you cannot get the modem working. I have now succesfully installed on several machines both billed and prepaid service. I can confirm the APN for the billed service is "connect" and the prepaid service is "preconnect". Follow my instructions and you will see where to enter the APN
Re: E169 with Optus Australia
Thanks Ultram, now I see what you mean. I did it all and it all went like you said and I even put a capital 'C' in connect - but I still got the message
"Receive serial link is not 8-bit clean. Problem: all had bit 7 set to 0. modem hangup"
Have you ever seen this in the ones you have got working?
One thing I wondered was the login and password. WHen I use the 169 with my laptop these fields are always empty but on the EEEPC they were filled in with stars. I tried it both with stars and with blank but got the same msg anyway.
Another thing I wondered was right at the beginning, after I started the connection wizard and selected the 3G option - instead of seeing ONE 169 I saw TWO! One said USB and one said USB2. Since it is a USB2 connection I clicked that one. But I thought it was odd there were two. COuld I have installed twice and it is getting confused? Is there a way two uninstall the modeswitch thing and start again?
Thanks for all your help - I really would love to get this thing working one day!
Helen
PS I cant even get it working on the home wireless (ADSL). There couldnt possibly be some more global issue than just the 169 problem could there?
Re: E169 with Optus Australia
Hi Helen,
Have dug around a bit and rp-3 is a program used on a different version of Linux (Xandros is a version of Linux too) to establish network connections over a phone line. While we don't have access to that program, we do have access to the same files that it changes. I'm not sure about this, but I think if you edit /etc/ppp/options (do "sudo kwrite /etc/ppp/options" on a command line) and add "noauth" on a line on its own at the end it should do the same thing. Alas I have no way of testing it though, so if you could let me know how it goes that would be great!
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