cannot connect aircard 340U
 

The firmware shipped with the unit assumes Windows 8 morphing. I downloaded the app (ran it on Windows XP) to reconfigure the firmware.
I installed GobiNet and GobiSerial, per Sierra Wireless instructions.

I have two computers that I would like to operate this with: one is Ubuntu, the other is Debian. I have not gotten as far as trying to install the device on the Debian box. For the Ubuntu laptop, I waited until the hard disk light had stopped flashing, and then plugged in the aircard. (I understand that there is a timing issue.) After the OS got around to recognizing that something was there, I clicked on Network Manager. The DSL New Connection stuff came up.
I filled in the blanks, and told it to connect.

The device came up with a full set of signal strength bars, and said "connecting"
And then nothing. It even locked up the OS.

Suggestions?

you are assuming that we know what a "aircard 340U" is.
i don't. is it a router? a usb wireless?
please post some output.

aircard introduction: http://compnetworking.about.com/od/w...is-aircard.htm
http://support.netgear.com/product/A...U+$28AT$26T$29
It is a USB modem. Modem, as in connects to the cellular telephone network, as apposed to a WiFi which connects to a local network hot spot.
The second link (above) provides instructions from Netgear for connecting to a Linux computer. I have dutifully followed all instructions from Netgear.
My mistake: I assumed that if you didn't know what an aircard was, you wouldn't be able to help me.

it's not only me helping you.- it's always a communal effort. that's why it's a forum.

ok, i know what an aircard is now. a fancy name for a usb mobile broadband adapter, aka dongle.

now please post some output, e.g. like this. also post output of "lsusb".

ps: please try to install it with drivers from your packet manager first. only if that fails should you use those from the manufacturer.

Thank you for your response.
Here are the requested diagnostics:
I do not know what applicable drivers that I should load in addition to what I already have. From /usr/bin/systemsettings I selected Network Settings. After the OS got around to recognizing the USB device, Network Settings opened with the DSL configuration menu. I gave a device nickname and PIN number for the connection, and told it to connect. Then nothing.
I suspect something in the /etc/ppp folder. My due diligence prior to starting this thread said something about /etc/ppp/peers contents, but that wiki was back in '09, and included chap info that is not applicable (my aircard only requires a PIN).

ok, i did some searching on your behalf (for future reference, i entered "linux aircard 340u" as search terms).

your modem wants to use LTE in addition to GPRS and UMTS. that's good, because it's fast.
please forget everything about ppp for now.
please forget network manager and delete all connections you tried to create.

first things first:
what distro are you running? looks like ubuntu but the kernel version looks way too old for any ubuntu that is still supprted.

yes, this is the most important question atm.

only after this question is answered should we move on.
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links for future reference:
http://mtekk.us/archives/guides/netg...rd-340u-linux/
http://wes.skeweredrook.com/raspberry-pi-att-beam/
http://askubuntu.com/questions/43554...h-aircard-340u

I thought that I knew what I was doing.
The /etc/apt/sources.list is "trusty", which is the latest Ubuntu distribution.
I currently have linux-headers-3.14.4 installed, which is the latest.
As root, I did an apt-get update; apt-get dist-upgrade, and I am told that I have the latest distribution.
So why do I have kernel 3.2 when the latest longterm is 3.14?

I know a littl bit more than I did.
Kernel 3.2 is the latest kernnel for both Ubuntu and Debian i386.
LTE capability has been incorporated into the 3.14 kernel, as per the link that you provided. I have an AMD64 box with Debian stable loaded. That kernel is 3.14-1-amd64.
I attempted to cnnect the broadband device to the AMD64 box. Network Tools; Configure network device; add Mobile Broadband; Advanced: APN pulldown select Uniteed States yields an APN = pta; type = 4G (LTE) preferred; pin number; save. Still no connection.
Back to Ubuntu: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/MainlineBuilds states that mainline kernels may be installed for testing purposes, but Ubuntu will not support them.

does this mean that you have to actually install a x86_64 version of ubuntu, to get a higher kernel?
if you don't know what architecture you're running, tryfyi: it is possible to run 32bit systems on a machine with 64bit capability, but not vice versa.

My laptop is _not_ an x86_64. It actually says IBM X41 on the cover; uname reports i686.
Since the Ubuntu page says that it does not support kernels > 3.2, and being tired of a system upgrade 3X per week, I did a wipe & installed Debian stable (wheezy) 3.2.0-4-686-pae. Lo and behold, the kernel is 3.2.60-1+deb7u3.

ok.
and of course, the kernel version is not the newest, because it's debian stable.
i still think you did the right thing.
you have the option to install a higher kernel version on stable (backports, backporting, basically involves adding a line to your /etc/apt/sources.list).

Moving on ...
I found this forum answer http://kb.netgear.com/app/answers/de...ported_Devices
I don't remember how I found it. It is generically helpful, even though the 340U is not listed as a supported device.
Attempting to install using KPPP, I cannot specify the correct modem.

Applicable /var/log/message contents:
I am not sure what the correct entry for "modem" should be in KPPP, but apparently it is not available for me to pick. Do I need to MAKEDEV the applicable device to /dev/?
I expected KPPP to configure a file in /etc/ppp that I could tweek, but apparently that is not the case.

PS The laptop is named "harold" because it has a bluetooth.

Here is the download info for driver
http://downloadcenter.netgear.com/en...S2.12N2.21.zip

In my original post on 8/27/14 I said that I had installed GobiNet and GobiSerial. Those are the names of the S2.12N2.21.zip drivers.
command line "modinfo sierra" tells me that the driver is installed. That is on the i686 machine. I still do not know if the driver presumably installed in the 3.24.12-1 kernel is satisfactory.
The 3.14.12-1 kernel presumably uses bhe "broadband" option. I have not figured out how to test that.
I did find where KPPP stores its data: (user)/.kde/share/config/kppprc . I edited that file and told it device = /dev/bus/usb/001/004 (per lsusb output).
Back to KPPP, I told it to "connect". It wanted a user ID. I gave it "IFP@CINGULAR.GPRS.COM". Connect. That gave me an error message, "Unable to create modem lock file"
That sounds like a permission issue. http://forums.opensuse.org/showthrea...-usr-sbin-pppd It sounds like KPPP is not a good app.

The download from the manufacturer has the actual driver & a pdf of how to install