Thinkpad T410 + Qualcomm Gobi 2000 + LMDE = WWAN connection randomly breaks

Ormu · 01-20-2014, 01:50 PM

I have Gobi 2000 WWAN card in my T410 laptop, and for some reason it randomly disconnects the network without any good reason. It seems that it may disconnect even when the signal quality is good and when data is being transmitted/received, and that the problem doesn't occur on Windows, at least as often.

When the connection breaks the "Mobile Broadband" option disappears completely from the Xfce network manager menu. It gets back after a short time and can be reconnected. (When disconnected manually the option stays in the menu and is just labeled "Not connected".) Could there be a hidden power management setting that causes it? In my opinion an active network connection should never be subjected to power saving of any kind...

Enabling or disabling "Send PPP echo packets" option in the network manager doesn't apparently help. There are two settings for data compression (Allow Deflate & Allow BSD data compression) and they're enabled. I guess those don't affect connection stability...

Distro is Linux Mint Debian 64bit, kernel 3.10-2-amd64. The problem has occurred with many different kernel versions.

Gobi firmware is latest. I have tested both "Generic UMTS" and "Vodafone" firmware. The Vodafone firmware is used on Windows. (My ISP is not Vodafone but it still works...)

PS. The Gobi 2000 card hasn't impressed me. In addition to this problem it has troubles to choose the best available network (EDGE/UMTS etc). Lenovo configuration tools for the card aren't very good either. Using my phone as a wifi hotspot has been the most stable way to get mobile internet for the laptop...

nini09 · 01-22-2014, 02:48 PM

What's dmesg or some manager output when connection is broken?

MaquinaX · 01-22-2014, 08:16 PM

Hey Ormu,

I've found out that on my Linux Machines, WAP-TKIP Cipher doesn't play too nicely with Linux. I have my AP configured as
WAP-AES, and that solved the issue for me. I've confirmed that TKIP is actually the issue, in my case at least, because I had this same issue with about 3 Wireless routers. Hopefully this is also your case.

MaquinaX

Ormu · 01-23-2014, 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nini09

What's dmesg or some manager output when connection is broken?

I'll check dmesg when this problem occurs again. Xfce network manager doesn't give any special messages, only "Network is now disconnected", and the "mobile broadband" option completely disappears from the network list.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaquinaX

I've found out that on my Linux Machines, WAP-TKIP Cipher doesn't play too nicely with Linux. I have my AP configured as
WAP-AES, and that solved the issue for me. I've confirmed that TKIP is actually the issue, in my case at least, because I had this same issue with about 3 Wireless routers. Hopefully this is also your case.

You're talking about wireless LAN? I have this problem with wireless WAN so unfortunately those options don't help.

Ormu · 02-02-2014, 02:53 PM

Here's dmesg output when the connection goes down:

Code:

[ 1907.973997] usb 2-1.4: USB disconnect, device number 6
[ 1907.974210] qmi_wwan 2-1.4:1.0 wwan0: unregister 'qmi_wwan' usb-0000:00:1d.0-1.4, WWAN/QMI device
[ 1908.010561] qcserial ttyUSB0: Qualcomm USB modem converter now disconnected from ttyUSB0
[ 1908.010582] qcserial 2-1.4:1.1: device disconnected
[ 1908.011525] qcserial ttyUSB1: Qualcomm USB modem converter now disconnected from ttyUSB1
[ 1908.011540] qcserial 2-1.4:1.2: device disconnected
[ 1908.011713] qcserial ttyUSB2: Qualcomm USB modem converter now disconnected from ttyUSB2
[ 1908.011726] qcserial 2-1.4:1.3: device disconnected
[ 1908.274527] usb 2-1.4: new high-speed USB device number 7 using ehci-pci
[ 1908.368608] usb 2-1.4: config 1 has an invalid interface number: 1 but max is 0
[ 1908.368614] usb 2-1.4: config 1 has no interface number 0
[ 1908.370727] usb 2-1.4: New USB device found, idVendor=05c6, idProduct=9204
[ 1908.370735] usb 2-1.4: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[ 1908.370740] usb 2-1.4: Product: Qualcomm Gobi 2000
[ 1908.370744] usb 2-1.4: Manufacturer: Qualcomm Incorporated
[ 1908.372393] qcserial 2-1.4:1.1: Qualcomm USB modem converter detected
[ 1908.372545] usb 2-1.4: Qualcomm USB modem converter now attached to ttyUSB0
[ 1912.840988] usb 2-1.4: USB disconnect, device number 7
[ 1912.841279] qcserial ttyUSB0: Qualcomm USB modem converter now disconnected from ttyUSB0
[ 1912.841302] qcserial 2-1.4:1.1: device disconnected
[ 1913.073612] usb 2-1.4: new high-speed USB device number 8 using ehci-pci
[ 1913.168826] usb 2-1.4: New USB device found, idVendor=05c6, idProduct=9205
[ 1913.168833] usb 2-1.4: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[ 1913.168838] usb 2-1.4: Product: Qualcomm Gobi 2000
[ 1913.168842] usb 2-1.4: Manufacturer: Qualcomm Incorporated
[ 1913.172393] qmi_wwan 2-1.4:1.0: cdc-wdm0: USB WDM device
[ 1913.172703] qmi_wwan 2-1.4:1.0 wwan0: register 'qmi_wwan' at usb-0000:00:1d.0-1.4, WWAN/QMI device, 0e:c6:a6:bb:fa:f5
[ 1913.173369] qcserial 2-1.4:1.1: Qualcomm USB modem converter detected
[ 1913.173571] usb 2-1.4: Qualcomm USB modem converter now attached to ttyUSB0
[ 1913.174353] qcserial 2-1.4:1.2: Qualcomm USB modem converter detected
[ 1913.174506] usb 2-1.4: Qualcomm USB modem converter now attached to ttyUSB1
[ 1913.175352] qcserial 2-1.4:1.3: Qualcomm USB modem converter detected
[ 1913.175499] usb 2-1.4: Qualcomm USB modem converter now attached to ttyUSB2

I had the problem four times today and the dmesg messages were almost exactly same every time, only the USB device ID number (here 6 on the first line) changed. Plugging the laptop into AC power didn't have any effect.

Someone on Fedora forum had the same problem but there's no solution:

http://forums.fedoraforum.org/archiv.../t-261001.html

nini09 · 02-03-2014, 02:36 PM

WWAN device is missed when the issue come out. It look like the issue trigger device reset to recover the error.
Suggestion:
1)If you can find out new version for the driver, use it. The new driver could have fixed the issue.
2)Try to improve signal quality to avoid the issue.

Ormu · 02-04-2014, 06:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nini09

1)If you can find out new version for the driver, use it. The new driver could have fixed the issue.

The qcserial driver? Any ideas where should I search for it? I found this via google and it was made in 2009 according to the copyright notices.

http://www.cs.fsu.edu/~baker/devices...ial/qcserial.c

I'll check if there are updates for the Windows driver and the card firmware but it looks like there aren't:

http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/down...cID=MIGR-72938

I might also try other firmware again (such as the "Vodafone" fw) although I didn't have much success last time I tried them.

Quote:

2)Try to improve signal quality to avoid the issue.

The problem is that I haven't (yet) noticed any relation between signal quality and this issue. Sometimes my phone may show almost 100% signal level when the connection breaks. (The phone uses the same provider/network as the computer.) Also, why would the card completely disconnect from the system when it loses the signal?

nini09 · 02-04-2014, 02:30 PM

Normally, driver update is binding with kernel or distribution update. I saw some patch update and the patch should be added into recent kernel.

Ormu · 02-05-2014, 04:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nini09

Normally, driver update is binding with kernel or distribution update. I saw some patch update and the patch should be added into recent kernel.

Can you give a link? LMDE team doesn't provide updates very often so it would be nice if there were a possibility to get the patch earlier.

nini09 · 02-06-2014, 02:30 PM

You can check following patch. The driver version is 1.0.
http://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-usb/msg45272.html

Ormu · 02-07-2014, 10:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nini09

You can check following patch. The driver version is 1.0.
http://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-usb/msg45272.html

But all dates in that seem to be... 2011? Almost 3 years ago... Let's see what happens in the next kernel upgrade...

I just changed to "Vodafone" firmware but the problem is still here. I'm in a train at the moment so signal quality will fluctuate but the fact that the card completely disconnected from the computer is strange.

dmesg here:
edit: removed redundancy

Ormu · 02-16-2014, 02:01 PM

LMDE kernel just updated to 3.11-2-amd64 but it seems that the problem persists. "Vodafone" firmware is used.

dmesg here, note that there are new errors:

Code:

[  710.138046] usb 2-1.4: USB disconnect, device number 4
[  710.138155] qmi_wwan 2-1.4:1.0 wwan0: unregister 'qmi_wwan' usb-0000:00:1d.0-1.4, WWAN/QMI device
[  710.139232] qcserial ttyUSB1: usb_wwan_indat_callback: resubmit read urb failed. (-19)
[  710.143492] qcserial ttyUSB1: usb_wwan_indat_callback: resubmit read urb failed. (-19)
[  710.147745] qcserial ttyUSB1: usb_wwan_indat_callback: resubmit read urb failed. (-19)
[  710.150155] qcserial ttyUSB0: Qualcomm USB modem converter now disconnected from ttyUSB0
[  710.150181] qcserial 2-1.4:1.1: device disconnected
[  710.150487] qcserial ttyUSB1: usb_wwan_indat_callback: resubmit read urb failed. (-19)
[  710.151224] qcserial ttyUSB1: Qualcomm USB modem converter now disconnected from ttyUSB1
[  710.151247] qcserial 2-1.4:1.2: device disconnected
[  710.151781] qcserial ttyUSB2: Qualcomm USB modem converter now disconnected from ttyUSB2
[  710.151807] qcserial 2-1.4:1.3: device disconnected
[  710.349775] usb 2-1.4: new high-speed USB device number 5 using ehci-pci
[  710.443948] usb 2-1.4: config 1 has an invalid interface number: 1 but max is 0
[  710.443955] usb 2-1.4: config 1 has no interface number 0
[  710.445777] usb 2-1.4: New USB device found, idVendor=05c6, idProduct=9204
[  710.445784] usb 2-1.4: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[  710.445788] usb 2-1.4: Product: Qualcomm Gobi 2000
[  710.445791] usb 2-1.4: Manufacturer: Qualcomm Incorporated
[  710.447303] qcserial 2-1.4:1.1: Qualcomm USB modem converter detected
[  710.447437] usb 2-1.4: Qualcomm USB modem converter now attached to ttyUSB0
[  715.004876] usb 2-1.4: USB disconnect, device number 5
[  715.005205] qcserial ttyUSB0: Qualcomm USB modem converter now disconnected from ttyUSB0
[  715.005231] qcserial 2-1.4:1.1: device disconnected
[  715.204780] usb 2-1.4: new high-speed USB device number 6 using ehci-pci
[  715.299872] usb 2-1.4: New USB device found, idVendor=05c6, idProduct=9205
[  715.299879] usb 2-1.4: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[  715.299883] usb 2-1.4: Product: Qualcomm Gobi 2000
[  715.299886] usb 2-1.4: Manufacturer: Qualcomm Incorporated
[  715.303507] qmi_wwan 2-1.4:1.0: cdc-wdm0: USB WDM device
[  715.303774] qmi_wwan 2-1.4:1.0 wwan0: register 'qmi_wwan' at usb-0000:00:1d.0-1.4, WWAN/QMI device, 16:7a:2f:1e:73:e9
[  715.304653] qcserial 2-1.4:1.1: Qualcomm USB modem converter detected
[  715.304802] usb 2-1.4: Qualcomm USB modem converter now attached to ttyUSB0
[  715.305684] qcserial 2-1.4:1.2: Qualcomm USB modem converter detected
[  715.305815] usb 2-1.4: Qualcomm USB modem converter now attached to ttyUSB1
[  715.306501] qcserial 2-1.4:1.3: Qualcomm USB modem converter detected
[  715.306623] usb 2-1.4: Qualcomm USB modem converter now attached to ttyUSB2

Code:

[ 1013.941151] usb 2-1.4: USB disconnect, device number 6
[ 1013.941264] qmi_wwan 2-1.4:1.0 wwan0: unregister 'qmi_wwan' usb-0000:00:1d.0-1.4, WWAN/QMI device
[ 1013.942246] qcserial ttyUSB1: usb_wwan_indat_callback: resubmit read urb failed. (-19)
[ 1013.946628] qcserial ttyUSB1: usb_wwan_indat_callback: resubmit read urb failed. (-19)
[ 1013.950876] qcserial ttyUSB1: usb_wwan_indat_callback: resubmit read urb failed. (-19)
[ 1013.955153] qcserial ttyUSB1: usb_wwan_indat_callback: resubmit read urb failed. (-19)
[ 1013.961838] qcserial ttyUSB0: Qualcomm USB modem converter now disconnected from ttyUSB0
[ 1013.961864] qcserial 2-1.4:1.1: device disconnected
[ 1013.963026] qcserial ttyUSB1: Qualcomm USB modem converter now disconnected from ttyUSB1
[ 1013.963049] qcserial 2-1.4:1.2: device disconnected
[ 1013.963750] qcserial ttyUSB2: Qualcomm USB modem converter now disconnected from ttyUSB2
[ 1013.963776] qcserial 2-1.4:1.3: device disconnected
[ 1014.165250] usb 2-1.4: new high-speed USB device number 7 using ehci-pci
[ 1014.259266] usb 2-1.4: config 1 has an invalid interface number: 1 but max is 0
[ 1014.259271] usb 2-1.4: config 1 has no interface number 0
[ 1014.261150] usb 2-1.4: New USB device found, idVendor=05c6, idProduct=9204
[ 1014.261157] usb 2-1.4: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[ 1014.261161] usb 2-1.4: Product: Qualcomm Gobi 2000
[ 1014.261164] usb 2-1.4: Manufacturer: Qualcomm Incorporated
[ 1014.262712] qcserial 2-1.4:1.1: Qualcomm USB modem converter detected
[ 1014.262858] usb 2-1.4: Qualcomm USB modem converter now attached to ttyUSB0
[ 1019.064675] usb 2-1.4: USB disconnect, device number 7
[ 1019.065004] qcserial ttyUSB0: Qualcomm USB modem converter now disconnected from ttyUSB0
[ 1019.065025] qcserial 2-1.4:1.1: device disconnected
[ 1019.264229] usb 2-1.4: new high-speed USB device number 8 using ehci-pci
[ 1019.359011] usb 2-1.4: New USB device found, idVendor=05c6, idProduct=9205
[ 1019.359018] usb 2-1.4: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[ 1019.359022] usb 2-1.4: Product: Qualcomm Gobi 2000
[ 1019.359026] usb 2-1.4: Manufacturer: Qualcomm Incorporated
[ 1019.362959] qmi_wwan 2-1.4:1.0: cdc-wdm0: USB WDM device
[ 1019.363224] qmi_wwan 2-1.4:1.0 wwan0: register 'qmi_wwan' at usb-0000:00:1d.0-1.4, WWAN/QMI device, 16:7a:2f:1e:73:e9
[ 1019.364107] qcserial 2-1.4:1.1: Qualcomm USB modem converter detected
[ 1019.364271] usb 2-1.4: Qualcomm USB modem converter now attached to ttyUSB0
[ 1019.365105] qcserial 2-1.4:1.2: Qualcomm USB modem converter detected
[ 1019.365234] usb 2-1.4: Qualcomm USB modem converter now attached to ttyUSB1
[ 1019.365945] qcserial 2-1.4:1.3: Qualcomm USB modem converter detected
[ 1019.366062] usb 2-1.4: Qualcomm USB modem converter now attached to ttyUSB2

nini09 · 02-17-2014, 03:15 PM

Someone has reported similair issue, maybe not exactly same. Developer comment is relative to USB or power.
Check following link.
https://dev.openwrt.org/ticket/14127

Ormu · 02-17-2014, 04:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nini09

Someone has reported similair issue, maybe not exactly same. Developer comment is relative to USB or power.
Check following link.
https://dev.openwrt.org/ticket/14127

Hm, that dmesg data looks quite similar. Maybe I have to recheck my power management settings once more. I find it absolutely unacceptable if an active network (or any) connection gets throttled or terminated for power-related reasons.

Today the problem occurred in good signal environment. Connection was up for over 30 minutes but then it broke.

Ormu · 03-09-2014, 12:03 PM

I didn't find any settings related to USB or networking from the Xfce power manager. Any ideas where I should search for them? The problem is still here, the kernel upgrade didn't solve it.