Adding 3g new modem - simple Q's

smackus

I'm trying to add a new 3g usb modem (Huawei k4505) to pfSense 2 but I'm having errors.

I get these errors when I plug in the 3g modem:
uhub_reattach_port: port 1 reset failed, error=USB_ERR_TIMEOUT
uhub_reattach_port: device problem (USB_ERR_TIMEOUT), disabling port 1

I built pfSense 2 from scratch using the devwiki - DevelopersBootStrapAndDevIso guide

These are the steps I used

installed freebsd 8.1 with all sources then built pfSense as follows

echo "WITHOUT_X11=yo" >> /etc/make.conf
echo "BATCH=yo" >> /etc/make.conf
mkdir -p /home/pfsense/pfSenseGITREPO /usr/pfSensesrc

portsnap fetch extract 
cd /usr/ports/textproc/expat2 && make depends install
cd /usr/ports/devel/git && make depends install
cd /usr/ports/sysutils/fastest_cvsup/ && make depends install

cd /home/pfsense && git clone git://github.com/bsdperimeter/pfsense-tools.git tools
cd /home/pfsense && git clone https://github.com/sullrich/pfSense-freesbie2.git freesbie2
cd /home/pfsense/tools/builder_scripts && chmod a+rx *.sh

csup -h `fastest_cvsup -c tld -q` /usr/share/examples/cvsup/standard-supfile

I then used the ./menu.sh to Set Version to RELENG_8_1, Apply patches, Rebuild BSDInstaller
after all that I added these two lines

U3G_DEV(HUAWEI, K4505, U3GINIT_HUAWEI),

to /usr/pfSensesrc/src/sys/dev/usb/serial/u3g.c &
/usr/src/sys/dev/usb/serial/u3g.c
and

product HUAWEI K4505		0x1464	3G modem

to /usr/pfSensesrc/src/sys/dev/usb/usbdevs &
/usr/src/sys/dev/usb/usbdevs

and finally Build_deviso.sh which gave me a working copy of pfSense 2 but still can't get it to recognise the 3g modem.

Please help where am I going wrong? I've tried googling and trying a few things but nothing works.
Have I done things in the wrong order or missed something?
(I'm new to freebsd/linux and love pfsense).

thank you.

stephenw10

@smackus:

(I'm new to freebsd/linux and love pfsense).

Really! You seem to be doing some pretty advanced stuff. Correctly.
Are you running this in a virtual environment by any chance?
This USB error is not FreeBSD not recognising the product but rather something more fundamental.
I have seen it before when running virtual.

Steve

smackus

Thanks Steve.
You've guessed right on both counts.
I'm running it under virtualbox. When I use an E220 or E1762 it works but not the K4505. its got me stumped.
I might try loading it as a module. Is it the /boot/loader.conf file in freebsd8.1 I should be editing, and which on for pfsense2?
or maybe I should install it on bare metal and see what happens.

yes I'm new to linux but played with unix some 20yrs ago in uni.

stephenw10

@smackus:

I might try loading it as a module. Is it the /boot/loader.conf file in freebsd8.1 I should be editing, and which on for pfsense2?

Yes, though my own experience is limited. In pfSense you can create a file /boot/loader.conf.local, this will override anything in loader.conf and gets copied across a firmware update.

Have you seen this? http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=40006

Steve

smackus

Thanks Steve. You're right again.
I installed it to bare metal and now it recognised my k4505, however only cua0 shows up not cua0.0 or cua0.x etc

Not sure what to do next?

I also disabled the USB ehci on Virtualbox and it too now 1/2 works. It sees the k4505 as mass storage only.
I need to switch it to modem mode.

So I read up on USB_ModeSwitch (http://www.draisberghof.de/usb_modeswitch/)
It says to download usb-modeswitch-1.1.8.tar.bz2 & usb-modeswitch-data & I'll need libusb and then install.
Any tips on where I should save and install it?

stephenw10

Usb_modeswitch is a Linux utility. u3g is the bsd equivalent, though it doesn't support as many modems.
If you are seeing cua0 when you plug in the modem then it is correctly switched to modem type device. Try sending it some AT commands and see what happens. pfSense has a program for talking to modems terminal style, like minicom, but for the life of me I can't remember what it's called! ::)

Steve

Edit: Found it: tip