Huawei E169G - the easy way

By Liam Green-Hughes, 25 August, 2008
Tags/Keywords
ubuntu
mobile
howto
eee
asuseee
mtech
3g
huawei e169g
e169g
eeepc
xandros
huawei
package
e169g-switch

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

  1. Download the file e169g-switch_0.3_all.deb from this site to somewhere you can easily find it.
  2. Open file manager (under the work tab) and go to the location where you downloaded the file
  3. Right click over the file and select "Install DEB file..."
  4. Enter your password when prompted (this is required because you are making a system change)
  5. After a few moments you should get a message saying installation has been completed.

Screen shot showing right click menu options over the package
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

  1. Using Firefox, click here to start the installation process for e169g-switch
  2. Firefox will offer you the option to download and open the package with GDebi Package Installer, click Ok to accept
  3. GDebi will launch, showing you information about the package, click "Install Package" in the top right hand corner
  4. Enter your password when prompted (this is needed because you are making changes to the system)
  5. 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)
  6. 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

Screenshot of GDebi handling package on Ubuntu Netbook Remix

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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Pia (not verified)

15 years 10 months ago

Thank You so much for this page!! I got my modem working in just minutes with the easy instructions.

Thanks!!!

Pia

elaine (not verified)

15 years 10 months ago

Hi again Liam. Further to my comment 27 November. All is well! everything working. Connect in seconds.All i have done is connect the dongle after booting. Now I need help loading a printer driver.My printer stopped printing after a factory restore. Again, thanks for your, and everyone else's help. Elaine

Satori (not verified)

15 years 10 months ago

Hi, I didn't know what to use for a password to install your file. I haven't got one I don't think. I'm using a Virgin Mobile Huawei E169 (as far as I know, I think that's what they said) but can't get it to work on the ASUS EEE. Any help gratefully received to get it working for travelling. I'm not very computer literate and don't really understand Linux (my other PCs have Windows)

Thanks if you can.

Hi, thanks for coming back. I haven't got a password, I don't think. I checked on Personalization in settings and don't seem to have one and can't seem to set one up. Unless there is some sort of default one. So of course, I cannot put in a new one either (I tried that). Yes, I have the default Xandros.

Before I came across your instructions, and I tried to set the Virgin Mobile Broadband up, I went into Networks and Create, you can't pick up the device under 3G, only under Local Area Network, then it is recognised, but you can't do anything with it. It's all very frustrating, then I hoped your thing would provide a fix, but then hit the password problem. I also tried it by going back to the original instructions (which is something very similar to what Virgin were telling me I could try), but I got lost as I'm not familiar enough with Linux to work it all out.

Thanks.

I think I have figured out a way round this, it seems if you try to install the package by right clicking and doing "Install DEB file" but don't have a password it doesn't like it. As an alternative you can install it from the command line:

  1. Click on the link above for the package file
  2. Save it to /home/user
  3. Open a terminal by pressing Alt+Ctrl+T at the same time
  4. You should be in the /home/user directory, this will show up in green to the left of the cursor. If you are not enter cd /home/user
  5. Enter: sudo dpkg -i e169g_switch_0.3_all.deb this should install the package for you, you should see a message saying Setting up e169g-switch ...

Hope this helps.

Sorry, I have just managed to find out that my device from Virgin Mobile Broadband is a Huawei but it is an E160 and not a 169 which I suppose changes things somewhat.

Kind regards.
Satori

Whoops! No problem, I think a couple of people have been after a way to get the E160 to work. I don't have an E160 (although if a mobile operator sends me one I'm willing to have a go!) but if you have a look at: http://www.greenhughes.com/content/using-huawei-e169g-usb-mobile-intern… but replace every reference to a product id of "1001" with "1003" it might work.

One day I will get this to work! I don't like to give up! Perhaps I should send you my E160 so you can figure out a way to make it work!

Virgin might send you one. They certainly have someone there who's into Linux, although I don't know if that person is on the mobile broadband team, as someone from that team got in touch with a colleague who directed me to the German site in that link you just gave me. I will give it a go but I'm not sure I can work my way around Linux sufficiently. I did get a bit carried away the other day and ordered a Ubuntu disk although I don't know what this is either or what to do with it! I might just load it onto the EEE one day!
Anyway, the main challenge is to get this Virgin thing to work. Will let you know.

Kind regards. Satori

Dear Liam, Sorry I didn't get back earlier, I've just been tied up with stuff. I did manage to follow the instructions but couldn't make it work. It was good getting some of the Linux stuff to work, it's funny, it's a bit like learning another language, you don't know what you are doing but then you try things enough times, and suddenly the way it works starts to "click" (excuse the pun!), so that bit I did enjoy but I haven't been able to make the Thing work. I'll have another go. If you know a Linux expert in London, maybe that would be a way around it!

Kind regards
Satori

Hi Satori, don't give up! A bit of stubborn determination is always useful in these circumstances! It sounds like you are getting the hang of Linux though and that is a very positive thing. It is a very logically planned operating system so understanding it bit by bit is very powerful and will help you get the most out of it in future. Good luck!

OK you've inspired me! I'll have another go tomorrow. It was an interesting experience starting out trying to follow the instructions and not knowing what I was doing with the Linux, then after repeated tries you suddenly become aware of how it is all working. But it is strange when Windows is all you know (and you aren't that computer literate anyway!). I'll admit, I sort of gave up but would love to get it working as the EEE is so portable. I'll report back.
Kind regards and thanks for the encouragement.
Satori

I downloaded it, installed it, and the modem is not detected. Running Xandros on the eeepc. Somehow the package installs within its own directory. So modeswitch isnt on the usr/sbin, but rather installs into usr/e169g-switch_0.3.deb#CONTENTS/./usr/sbin/e169g_switch

I know very little about Linux systems, so have no clue how to copy this into the usr/sbin folder - or how to chang the destination folder for the installation.

please advise - many thanks

kim (not verified)

15 years 9 months ago

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.

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-seri… 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

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!

SOrry Liam I seem to have missed this reply when it came in - I was checking daily for a while - but now I have lent my 169 to a friend so will not be able to test this till next weekend. Very frustrating! I am dying to find out whether it works. I will let you know for sure
Thanks
Helen

Thanks Liam I have now tried this but without much success.
I found the options file you mentioned and went to add 'noauth' at the end. I did notice it had a line 'auth' further up (with a request not to disable it!) So I tried first changing 'auth' to 'noauth'. With that the connection didnt seem to start up at all though I may have missed it. Then I returned 'noauth' back to 'auth' and added 'auth' again at the end. That produced exactly the same effect as I have had all along. It went through its whole routine then failed with the error message
"LCP: timeout sending Config-Requests
Connection terminated.
Receive serial link is not 8-bit clean. Problem: all had bit 7 set to 0. modem hangup"

There were lots of other juicy looking things in that options file but I wasnt brave enough to try fiddlng around with them!
If you have any other suggestions do let me know.
Helen

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

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

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

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

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?

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.

aldrin (not verified)

15 years 9 months ago

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!

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

georgia (not verified)

15 years 9 months ago

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.

Hencki (not verified)

15 years 9 months ago

Worked like a charm! Connected to DNA Finland in seconds. Thanks a lot!

-Hencki, proudly surfing on his new eee 901

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?

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

lennyryan (not verified)

15 years 8 months ago

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.

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

Nitrowing (not verified)

15 years 7 months ago

Worked on my Asus EEE 900 running native Xandros. Just installed, restarted and ran the Connection Manager.

Thank you!

James (not verified)

15 years 7 months ago

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

Tim Leighton-Boyce (not verified)

15 years 7 months ago

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

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

Detti (not verified)

15 years 6 months ago

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 !!!

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

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

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.

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!

pdc_2 (not verified)

15 years 5 months ago

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!

Damiano (not verified)

15 years 5 months ago

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?