Cannot connect to 3G Broadband on usb or Bluetooth

[mpeter]

I have just installed Sabayon 4.1 Gnome on an Asus A8s laptop Core 2 duo T 7300 with 2Gig RAM.

I was initially delighted with the new distribution. The new install is working very well, is wonderfully responsive and stable and has not frozen once since the install - despite all my explorations!]. However, I have become somewhat frustrated by my inability to connect to the internet. My only access to the internet is by using a Motorola V6maxx cellphone as a modem either by USB or bluetooth connection.

Although the nm-applet recognised the motorola cellphone, it would not connect. In Ubuntu, there is a further configuration for location and service provider (Vodacom in my case) which I have been unable to find in Sabayon.

Then I tried connecting using wvdial. I configured wvdial.conf correctly, but ran into a problem in that there is no module cdc-acm.ko in /lib/modules/2.6.29-sabayon/usb/class. Wvdial typically uses /dev/ttyACM0 to connect with the modem.
In desperation, I tried copying a cdc-acm.ko from another distro, but obviously got the error: Invalid module format.

I am unable to compile a new module cdc-acm.ko because the installation of Sabayon 4.1 does not include genkernel or the kernel sources and I have no way of installing them without a working internet connection.

I then tried using bluetooth. I reconfigured wvdial.conf to use /dev/rfcomm0. However, the difficulty I ran into here was that I could not pair the bluetooth device with the laptop. I tried installing bluez-4.36.tar.gz (and bluez-gnome-1.8.tar.gz) by downloading it from the website using my old Ubuntu installation, copying it to the Sabayon partition and installing it manually. The installation did not show any errors. But when I try to run the bluetooth-wizard, I get a segmentation fault.

It seems that the system generates a unique PIN each time I try to pair the devices, which is unknown to me and the pairing fails.

Is there any way to obtain a kernel specific module cdc-acm.ko for 2.6.29-sabayon, alternatively, how do I find the PIN to be able to pair the devices?

Can anyone assist me?
Thanks
mpeter

[WarraWarra]

Someone recently in the last 2 weeks about posted a working wvdial config and how they got a 3g modem to work.
I used to use umtsmon but is has issues with my 3g modem and needs some special attention to get it to work.

You should be able to using wvdial and kppp or ppp to connect.

Bluetooth pairing no idea.
Apple creates its own code and shows this to you when connecting + add to phone and connect.
If connecting / pairing from phone to pc then you have to enter say 6 digits 123456 and then on pc as well 123456 .

Maybe you can try to pair from the phone to the pc but this is about what I care to know about bluetooth , using usb and setting phone as either mass storage device on phone or pc studio or media player and then the phone reacts differently , could have similar settings on the motorola.

[mpeter]

I have discovered that after doing a fresh install of Sabayon, if I copy a "wrong" cdc.amc.ko to /lib/modules/2.6.29-Sabayon/usb/class from another system and do:

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# mknod /dev/ttyACM0 c 166 0
# depmod -a
# modprobe cdc-amc


I am able to connect successfully to the internet using wvdial with the /etc/wvdial.conf file having the following configuration:

[Dialer Defaults]
Dial Command = ATM1L3DT
Baud = 460800
Carrier Check = on
Password = 0
Modem Type = USB Modem
;Minimize = off
Check Def Route = on
Abort on Busy = off
Abort on No Dialtone = on
Ask Password = off
Init = ATZ
Username = 0
Phone = *99#
Init1 = ATZ
Init2 = ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
Auto Reconnect = off
ISDN = 0
Auto DNS = on
Idle Seconds = 0
Stupid Mode = on
;Dock = on
Dial Attempts = 1
Modem = /dev/ttyACM0

However, after a reboot, when I do

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 # modprobe cdc-acm

I get the error: error inserting cdc-acm: Invalid module format and I am again unable to connect.

I am going to do another fresh install later this evening and install genkernel, the kernel sources and most of the apps I need before rebooting and then I should be able to compile a kernel specific cdc-acm.ko which should solve my problem.

I will report back how it went.

Thanks
mpeter

[mpeter]

I have managed to successfully configure Sabayon to connect to the internet using wvdial over my Motorola V6maxx cellphone as a usb modem. It was quite an adventure and I am not sure how or why it is now working.

I followed the initial procedure as suggested in my last post. I did a fresh install of Sabayon.
I then did:

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$ su
$ password
# mkdir -p /lib/modules/2.6.29-sabayon/usb/class
# cp /path to cdc-acm.ko /lib/modules/2.6.29-sabayon/usb/class
# mknod /dev/ttyACM0 c 166 0
# depmod -a
# modprobe cdc-acm

I then ran

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# wvdialconf /etc/wvdial.conf

and edited the /etc/wvdial.conf file to reflect my previous post.

wvdial then successfully connected to the internet.

I ran:

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# equo update
# equo install gnome-ppp
# equo install genkernel
# equo install linux-sabayon-2.6.29

When these were successfully installed, I thought I would try my hand at compiling a new kernel to make sure that it had cdc-acm support:

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# genkernel --menuconfig all

I edited the menuconfig dialog [leaving most of it at the defaults] and genkernel successfully compiled and installed the new kernel - or so I thought.

I must have done something wrong because the system would not boot.

I got error messages:
mdev did not work; and then:
could not mount specified root
could not find root block device

I tried editing /boot/grub/grub.conf [/boot/grub/menu.lst] every which way, but nothing helped.
I could not find any solution that got me out of my predicament.

Finally I inserted the Sabayon 4.1 live dvd and did a reinstall:
formating /boot
not formating / [preserving my data]

When I rebooted after the install, everything worked!
The downloaded repos, the programs I installed, viz. genkernel, gnome-ppp and linux-sabayon-2.6.29 were all there and the cdc-acm.ko now seems to be the proper version for the kernel.

Gnome-ppp now connects me to the internet flawlessly, even after a reboot and without having to do a modprobe cdc-acm every time.

I can happily start to get to know Sabayon, which I am really looking forward to.

mpeter

[WarraWarra]

It would have replaced any new installed programs with the default as is associated with the live dvd and left the other files not on dvd alone.

It would be good to reinstall the software you added after the previous install and then

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equo deptest && equo libtest && equo world

just to make sure everything is stable and not just reading a file + missing a few linked library's or linked now to older versions that can cause stability issues.

[mpeter]

Did as you suggested. Certainly was necessary.

System seems fine now.
I am extremely impressed with Sabayon, It is evident that a great deal of thought and care has gone into creating this release.

Thank you for your kind assistance it is much appreciated.

mpeter