Problem using GSM USB modems on HP Pavilion laptop

Question

A week ago I migrated from an old PC running Ubuntu 11.04 to Laptop running Kubuntu 16.04.

I am having problems using USB modems on the new setup.

1st modem is a ZTE. This modem intermitently loads. When I check $ lsusb there as entry for ZTE but when I check $ ls /dev/ | grep USB nothing.

I have to keep removing and inserting the modem several times till there's an entry under $ ls /dev/ | grep USB. This is the time I can connect.

After connecting the connection will persist if I am lucky. Otherwise it drops after sometime.

If I am lucky and the connection works it's still much slower than if I use same modem on old PC.

2nd modem is a Huawei USB modem. This one neither loads as a flash disk nor as a modem. I contacted the phone company and they said both the driver and the installation instructions are on the flash disk. But since I can't access the flash disk I am stuck on how to get the second modem working.

I am not sure whether this is hardware issue or OS issue. The laptop is HP pavilion with Intel Core i7 processor.

Any idea?

Thanks.

Edit 1: Additional details

$ uname -a
Linux hppavilion 4.4.0-21-generic #37-Ubuntu SMP Mon Apr 18 18:33:37 UTC 2016 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

When first modem loads the dmesg shows:

[ 3473.319817] usb 2-6: new high-speed USB device number 8 using xhci_hcd
[ 3473.450070] usb 2-6: New USB device found, idVendor=19d2, idProduct=0031
[ 3473.450079] usb 2-6: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=4
[ 3473.450085] usb 2-6: Product: ZTE WCDMA Technologies MSM
[ 3473.450088] usb 2-6: Manufacturer: ZTE,Incorporated
[ 3473.450091] usb 2-6: SerialNumber: P673A3ZTED010000
[ 3473.453414] option 2-6:1.0: GSM modem (1-port) converter detected
[ 3473.453629] usb 2-6: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB0
[ 3473.453831] option 2-6:1.1: GSM modem (1-port) converter detected
[ 3473.454009] usb 2-6: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB1
[ 3473.454161] usb-storage 2-6:1.2: USB Mass Storage device detected
[ 3473.454320] scsi host11: usb-storage 2-6:1.2
[ 3473.454580] option 2-6:1.3: GSM modem (1-port) converter detected
[ 3473.454710] usb 2-6: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB2
[ 3474.453577] scsi 11:0:0:0: Direct-Access     ZTE      MMC Storage      2.31 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[ 3474.455098] sd 11:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
[ 3474.457835] sd 11:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk

When 2nd modem is inserted the dmesg shows:

[  543.661273] usb 1-1.2: new high-speed USB device number 6 using ehci-pci
[  543.755384] usb 1-1.2: New USB device found, idVendor=1bbb, idProduct=022c
[  543.755388] usb 1-1.2: New USB device strings: Mfr=2, Product=1, SerialNumber=0
[  543.755390] usb 1-1.2: Product: HSPA+ USB Modem
[  543.755392] usb 1-1.2: Manufacturer: Spreadtrum
[  543.755870] usb-storage 1-1.2:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[  543.756777] scsi host6: usb-storage 1-1.2:1.0
[  544.755426] scsi 6:0:0:0: CD-ROM            USBModem Mass Storage     2.31 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[  544.764335] sr 6:0:0:0: [sr1] scsi-1 drive
[  544.764549] sr 6:0:0:0: Attached scsi CD-ROM sr1
[  544.764650] sr 6:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 5
[  544.792148] usb 1-1.2: usbfs: interface 0 claimed by usb-storage while 'usb_modeswitch' sets config #2
[  544.810994] usb_modeswitch_[2182]: segfault at 0 ip 00007f18cc79a9f5 sp 00007ffc85117b48 error 4 in libc-2.23.so[7f18cc70e000+1c0000]

Whenever the 1st modem fails to load this is what appears in dmesg:

[ 3057.029719] usb 2-6: new high-speed USB device number 5 using xhci_hcd
[ 3057.159683] usb 2-6: New USB device found, idVendor=19d2, idProduct=2000
[ 3057.159688] usb 2-6: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=4
[ 3057.159690] usb 2-6: Product: ZTE WCDMA Technologies MSM
[ 3057.159692] usb 2-6: Manufacturer: ZTE,Incorporated
[ 3057.159693] usb 2-6: SerialNumber: P673A3ZTED010000
[ 3057.162269] usb-storage 2-6:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[ 3057.162390] scsi host8: usb-storage 2-6:1.0
[ 3058.163841] scsi 8:0:0:0: CD-ROM            ZTE      USB SCSI CD-ROM  2.31 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[ 3058.164981] scsi 8:0:0:1: Direct-Access     ZTE      MMC Storage      2.31 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[ 3058.168188] sr 8:0:0:0: [sr1] scsi-1 drive
[ 3058.168550] sr 8:0:0:0: Attached scsi CD-ROM sr1
[ 3058.168702] sr 8:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 5
[ 3058.169096] sd 8:0:0:1: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 0
[ 3058.183288] sd 8:0:0:1: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk

Tried following instructions here but not lucky.

Answer 1

I got the second modem ativated using the steps at https://askubuntu.com/questions/512092/how-to-set-modem-on-huawei-mobile-broadband:

1. create /etc/usb_modeswitch.d/19d2:2000

   sudo touch /etc/usb_modeswitch.d/19d2:2000

2. sudo nano /etc/usb_modeswitch.d/19d2:2000

   Put:

   ########################################################
   # ZTE WCDMA Technologies MSM MF627/MF628/MF628+/MF636+ HSDPA/HSUPA
   
   DefaultVendor= 0x19d2
   DefaultProduct= 0x2000
   
   TargetVendor= 0x19d2
   TargetProduct= 0x2000
   
   CheckSuccess=20
   
   MessageEndpoint= 0x0f
   MessageContent=
   "55534243123456780000000000000011062000000100000000000000000000"
   

3. sudo nano /lib/udev/rules.d/40-usb_modeswitch.rules

   Add:

   # 2016/05/15: ZTE WCDMA Technologies MSM MF627/MF628/MF628+/MF636+ HSDPA/HSUPA
   ATTRS{idVendor}=="19d2", ATTRS{idProduct}=="2000", RUN+="/usr/sbin/usb_modeswitch -c /etc/usb_modeswitch.d/19d2:2000"
   

4. Unplug and plug the USB modem

Notes/issues:

a) The last step at https://askubuntu.com/questions/512092/how-to-set-modem-on-huawei-mobile-broadband seems unnecessary. The modem still worked without changing /etc/modules. However, it might be useful for older kernels

b) By adding the entry for 1st modem (ZTE) I got the 2nd modem working. So, I didn't need to add another modem config.

c) If usb_modeswitch config is added for 2nd modem it gets loaded as flash disk, not as a modem