Setting up Motorola SB4200 Modem(Broadband)(External)(USB)

[squid69 0]

I am v new to Linux and i am using SuSe 9 personal

 

The problem is that i cannot get on line with said modem and finding any info on drivers etc or even people who have succesfully configured this modem can any one help

 

It did download all updates/patches when i was installing once but then when i rebooted it failed to access again so i know it will work its just how because i had not even configured the modem it just happened ???

 

It would be much appreciated

[Dapper Dan 0]

So you had it working once? Then it should work again. Are you duel booting with Windows? Is there a reset button on the modem? It might be a small hole you have to stick a pin in to do it. If so, try resetting it before booting.

Other than this, I'm afraid I don't know much at this point since I'm totally unfamiliar with SuSe's network setup utility.

[squid69 0]

Yes i am dual booting,i`ve got a 60gb with XP & a 40gb with SuSe

 

I will try to reset

 

Cheers

[squid69 0]

Well reset didn`t work

 

NEXT PLEASE

[danleff 0]

I'll have to look at my SuSE install, as I have the same version.

 

I wonder if the connection ever did work. Did the install really seem to be downloading something, or did the screen just move to the next option?

 

Did you get an option to set up the network, or did it do so without asking any qualifying questions, such as "automatically assign...DHCP", or, start DHCP on boot?"

 

USB modems are a problem with most distros and give a lot of people headaches. Most of us buy a router and NIC card, connect the NIC to the router and the router to the cable modem.

 

Did you happen to look and see if this modem was listed as compatible with SuSe 9?

[struan 0]

For the SB4200E you need the CDCEther module (and one of uhci, usb-suhci or usb-ohci already 'insmod'ed to provide access to your USB bus). If compiled separately to the kernel, do 'modprobe CDCEther' and if you're doing 'tail -f /var/log/syslog' or 'tail -f /var/log/messages' (depending on your system, I'm using Debian) then you should see that an interface is created called 'ethX' where 'X' is the next free number in your system (on my system it's eth0, so I'll continue like that).

 

Now, I've successfully used pump, dhclient or a late version of udhcpc to register my PC with the modem. e.g. 'dhclient eth0'.

 

When the modem is not connected to the internet (because you've pressed the blue button on the top and the Standby light it orange) the modem should, if its dhcp was left enabled, give your PC an IP address between 192.168.100.11 and 192.168.100.42. If the modem is connected to the Internet i.e. not in standby, the modem should negotiate with the ISP's DHCP server to obtain a public IP address to give your PC.

 

Either way, you should be able to do 'ping 192.168.100.1' and also view the web interface on http://192.168.100.1/.

 

If this isn't working, it can be because some ISPs configure the modem to only talk to one PC (actually MAC address) at a time. How to reset this may depend on your ISP.:

 

1. In one setup I've encountered, it was sufficient to restart or power-cycle the modem. The modem will pick up the first new MAC address it identifies and lock to that and will then talk to that interface.

 

2. In another setup the same applies except that you can only access the ISP's special web interface (for formally assigning the MAC address you wish to use) until you have indeed formally assigned the MAC address you wish to use. If this interface exists and you don't know about it, you need to speak to your ISP. If you have found that you can connect different ethernet cards to your modem without problem then this scenario doesn't apply.

 

If I have more info I'll post it at http://praguespringpeople.org/Struan/Software/Configuration/Motorola-SB4200E/

 

 

[danleff 0]

Very nice! Let's hope that squid69 sees this (and others) since he posted last in March.