[Bug 129433] USB subsystem confuses serial devices with ehci controller

[sergio.callegari]

Public bug reported:

Binary package hint: linux-386

System configuration

DELL Latitude D820 laptop with
Kubuntu Linux Feisty
Kernel Linux version 2.6.20-16-generic (root at terranova) (gcc version 4.1.2 (Ubuntu 4.1.2-0ubuntu4)) #2 SMP Thu Jun 7 20:19:32 UTC 2007

I am trying to use a PCMCIA PC-CARD GPRS/UMTS/UMTS/HSDPA MODEM

PC-CARD is branded as ONDA NH501HS and is extremely popular in Italy since it is the "default" UMTS PC-CARD by the largest provider in the country (Telecom Italia / Tim / Alice).
PC-CARD is actually a re-branded ZTE MF330 so it should be quite popular in other countries as well.
Apparently, also the newer ONDA H600 is again a ZTE MF330, so the following should apply also to that card.

When the card is inserted into the PCMCIA slot, the following should happen:
- kernel should recognize an OHCI Host Controller
- kernel should recognize an ONDA CDMA Technologies MSM (Manufacturer: Qualcomm, Incorporated) attached to it
- kernel should configure 3 ttyUSB devices provided by the 3 serial interfaces of the ONDA MSM

Unfortunately, with the above kernel this does not happen
Rather, the kernel gets confused, detects an EHCI Controller, loads the kernel module for it and no serial interfaces appear.

As an hack, the correct behaviour can be obtained by blacklisting the ehci_hcd for instance in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-modem.
When the ehci_hcd is blacklisted everything works correctly and the ONDA Wireless UMTS PC-CARD gets perfectly usable.

I believe that the newer Sierra wireless PC-CARDS have a very similar
problem (and probably are also based on a similar Qualcomm chipset).

Please report this upstream, so a proper fix can be introduced in the
mainline kernel and the ONDA/ZTE PC-CARDS can be come nicely working
under Linux and Ubuntu.

Possibly useful information:
- Linux kernel has already misbehaved on ehci, with blacklisting as quick hack to get the correct behaviour (see for instance bug 21613 on the ubuntu bug archive)
- USB Vendor/Product IDs of the ONDA CDMA Technologies MSM are 05c6/6613
- Some users have suggested adding the above ID couple as:
   { USB_DEVICE(0x05C6, 0x6613) }, /* Onda H600 ZTE MF330 */
in the array
   static struct usb_device_id id_table []
and in the
   static struct usb_device_id id_table_3port []
of the sierra.c file in the kernel sources, but I do not know if this is the correct location since the sierra.c file is meant for sierra's devices and the ONDA/ZTE one is not a sierra PC_CARD (to the best of my knowledge is not even a rebranded one, for instance it has a different AT extended command set).

** Affects: linux-meta (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

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USB subsystem confuses serial devices with ehci controller
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/129433
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