Portege M700 and Mobilink stopped working

Question

This used to work efficiently before but suddenly stopped working 3 days ago and I do not know why. I have a USB option with Huawei or inserting the SIM card under the battery then use Mobilink. It always worked with both but now neither works. In Mobilink it reports Radio Off and with the USB it reports that the modem is already used. Wifi works normally.
Anybody have any ideas?

Answer 1

Toshset is a command line tool allowing access to much of the Toshiba hardware interface. It can do things like control display brightness, set the fan speed, and enable the optional Bluetooth interface. It has current version Toshset 1.75.
Toshset version 1.75 brings support for switching on the 3G modem.
Download the new version of toshset.
Make the 3G recognized as a Mobile Broadband Modem
To get the modem to be recognized you will need to patch the "option" module and recompile the kernel
This take long time, but maybe you can try it.
Solution:
Re-compiling the kernel:
Getting needed packages:
The linux source code, the curses library and some other tools need to be installed to help compile .
sudo apt-get install linux-source-2.6.17 kernel-package libncurses5-dev fakerootthe source will be installed to the /usr/src directory in as a compressed file.
To make things easier, put yourselv in root mode by using sudo to open a new shell. There??s other ways to do this, but this I prefere.
sudo /bin/bashNow change directory into the source location so that you can install. Note that you may need to install the bunzip utility if it??s not installed.
cd /usr/src
echo $(uname -r) | bunzip2 linux-source-$(cut -c -6).tar.bz2
echo $(uname -r) | tar xvf linux-source-$(cut -c -6).tar
echo $(uname -r) | ln -s linux-source-$(cut -c -6) linux
Patching the option module:
http://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-usb/msg18847.html)
cp /usr/src/linux/drivers/usb/serial/option.c /usr/src/linux/drivers/usb/serial/option.c.orig
gedit /usr/src/linux/drivers/usb/serial/option.c
Ctrl+F and find this string "#define NOVATELWIRELESS_PRODUCT_EU870D"
Insert new line after the EXPEDITE PRODUCTS section and add the following text:
/* TOSHIBA PRODUCTS */
#define TOSHIBA_VENDOR_ID 0x0930
#define TOSHIBA_PRODUCT_HSDPA_MINICARD 0x1302
Ctrl+F and find this string "{ USB_DEVICE(0x1da5, 0x4515) }, /* BenQ H20 */" insert a new line after this line and paste the following:
{ USB_DEVICE(TOSHIBA_VENDOR_ID, TOSHIBA_PRODUCT_HSDPA_MINICARD ) }, /* Toshiba 3G HSDPA == Novatel Expedite EU870D MiniCard */
save the file and close it.
Configure the New kernel:
Make a copy of your existing kernel configuration to use for the custom compile process. Note that the ` character is the one below the tilde ~
cp /boot/config-`uname -r` /usr/src/linux/.config Now will launch the utility that will let you customize the kernel:
cd /usr/src/linux
make menuconfig
First, go down to Load an Alternate Configuration File, and load the .config file. (just hit enter)
http://www.howtogeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/12/WindowsLiveWriter/CustomizeYourKernelonUbuntu_86BF/loadaltconfig.png
Hit Exit and save the configuration when prompted.
Compile the kernel:
Now you are ready for compile. First do a make clean, just to make sure everything is ready for the compile.
make-kpkg cleanNext we??ll actually compile the kernel. This will take long time! Maybe you can go watch movie with your wife.
fakeroot make-kpkg --initrd --append-to-version=-custom kernel_image kernel_headers
This process will create two .deb files in /usr/src that contain the kernel. The linux-image**** file is the actual kernel image, and the other file contains the headers. You can install both with dpkg. The filenames will probably be different on your system.
*Please note that when you run these next commands, this will set the new kernel as the new default kernel. This could break things! If your machine doesn??t boot, you can hit Esc at the GRUB loading menu, and select your old kernel. You can then disable the kernel in /boot/grub/menu.lst or try and compile again.*
dpkg -i linux-image-*-custom_*-custom-10.00.Custom_i386.deb
dpkg -i linux-headers-*-custom_*-custom-10.00.Custom_i386.deb
Now reboot your machine. If everything works, you should be running your new custom kernel. You can check this by using uname. Note that the exact number will be different on your machine.
uname -r
2.6.28.9-ubuntu1-custom
Final Touches
Now if you click on the Network Manager Applet you will find that the Mobile Broadband modem is recognized. In my case it is recognized as two modems which forces nm-applet to put the full name of the modem "Toshiba Wireless Broadband (3G HSDPA) SM-Bus Minicard Status Port".
To connect, you will need first to run this command
sudo toshset -3g on
You will see the 3G modem indicator light switched on. Now you can click on the Network Manager icon and if you have two entries for the modem choose the upper one, that is the one that works for me
To make things easier, there is a written script that will toggle the 3g modem on and off and created a launcher icon for it in my pannel. I have also created a keyboard short cut for it.
sudo gedit /usr/bin/3g-togglepaste the following in the new file:
#!/bin/bash
modem_status=$(gksudo "toshset -3g")
echo $modem_status | grep "on"
if [[ $? -eq 0 ]] ; then
gksudo "toshset -3g off"
else
gksudo "toshset -3g on"
fi
save the file and close it then make it executable:
sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/3g-toggle
Now right-click on any free space on your panels and choose "Add to panel..." then double-click on "Custom Application Launcher" and create it as follows:
Type: Application
Name: Toggle 3G Modem
Command: 3g-toggle
Comment: Toggle 3G Modem on and off
press on the icon to choose a meaningful icon then press Close to save your new launcher.
You can also have a keyboard shortcut to toggle the 3G on and off by going to System => Preferences => Keyboard Shortcuts. Press "Add" then write "Toggle 3G Modem" as the name and 3g-toggle as the command. A new shortcut will be created under "Custom Shortcuts" named "Toggle 3G Modem". Click on the word "Disabled" and when you see "New shortcut.." press the keyboard combination of your choice. Then press "Close".
*Important Note:*
*The patched "option" kernel module will be lost on every kernel upgrade.*
*To fix this, you either repeat the process of patching the "option" module and recompile the kernel or just copy the patched binary (option.ko) from your previous kernel to the new one.*
So if you use this solution for patching, the location of the patched module will be in /lib/modules/2.6.*custom*/kernel/drivers/usb/serial/option.ko
so you will need to adjust the commands accordingly.
I don??t know if you want to try use this, maybe it can help.
You said you live in Switzerland. I like it very much is it cold in this year?