Here's the history and results of my testing. Short story - it's broken.
I approached things differently to what I did with MX-14 when I allowed all upgrades to be installed at once.
Before starting the upgrades I retrieved the following information from the Terminal.
lsusb
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 12d1:1506 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. E398 LTE/UMTS/GSM Modem/Networkcard
dmesg | grep usb
[ 5.380027] usb 1-4: new high-speed USB device number 4 using ehci-pci
[ 5.512985] usb 1-4: New USB device found, idVendor=12d1, idProduct=14fe
[ 5.512992] usb 1-4: New USB device strings: Mfr=2, Product=1, SerialNumber=0
[ 5.512996] usb 1-4: Product: HUAWEI Mobile
[ 5.512999] usb 1-4: Manufacturer: HUAWEI
[ 5.514685] usb-storage 1-4:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[ 5.514836] scsi5 : usb-storage 1-4:1.0
[ 5.515036] usb-storage 1-4:1.1: USB Mass Storage device detected
[ 5.515182] scsi6 : usb-storage 1-4:1.1
[ 18.914700] usb 1-4: USB disconnect, device number 4
[ 24.176029] usb 1-4: new high-speed USB device number 5 using ehci-pci
[ 24.309119] usb 1-4: New USB device found, idVendor=12d1, idProduct=1506
[ 24.309127] usb 1-4: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[ 24.309131] usb 1-4: Product: HUAWEI Mobile
[ 24.309134] usb 1-4: Manufacturer: HUAWEI
[ 24.311259] usb-storage 1-4:1.4: USB Mass Storage device detected
[ 24.314210] scsi7 : usb-storage 1-4:1.4
[ 24.314459] usb-storage 1-4:1.5: USB Mass Storage device detected
[ 24.316079] scsi8 : usb-storage 1-4:1.5
[ 24.451918] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial
[ 24.452266] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial_generic
[ 24.452563] usbserial: USB Serial support registered for generic
[ 24.464903] usbcore: registered new interface driver option
[ 24.465454] usbserial: USB Serial support registered for GSM modem (1-port)
[ 24.466162] usb 1-4: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB0
[ 24.466409] usb 1-4: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB1
[ 24.466624] usb 1-4: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB2
[ 24.582481] usbcore: registered new interface driver cdc_ncm
[ 24.715026] usbcore: registered new interface driver cdc_wdm
[ 24.751831] huawei_cdc_ncm 1-4:1.1 wwan0: register 'huawei_cdc_ncm' at usb-0000:00:10.4-4, Huawei CDC NCM device, 58:2c:80:13:92:63
[ 24.751880] usbcore: registered new interface driver huawei_cdc_ncm
Next, using the Upgrade Manager in Safe Mode, I installed the Third Party upgrades for the packages I mentioned as being the problem in MX-14.
The following 2 images are the output from Upgrade Manager.
After the updates I rebooted.
lsusb produced the same output as before.
dmesg | grep usb
[ 1.944056] usb 1-4: new high-speed USB device number 4 using ehci-pci
[ 2.084869] usb 1-4: New USB device found, idVendor=12d1, idProduct=1506
[ 2.084877] usb 1-4: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[ 2.084881] usb 1-4: Product: HUAWEI Mobile
[ 2.084884] usb 1-4: Manufacturer: HUAWEI
[ 2.086841] usb-storage 1-4:1.4: USB Mass Storage device detected
[ 2.087131] scsi5 : usb-storage 1-4:1.4
[ 2.087314] usb-storage 1-4:1.5: USB Mass Storage device detected
[ 2.087469] scsi6 : usb-storage 1-4:1.5
[ 19.968331] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial
[ 19.968357] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial_generic
[ 19.968375] usbserial: USB Serial support registered for generic
[ 19.970912] usbcore: registered new interface driver option
[ 19.970938] usbserial: USB Serial support registered for GSM modem (1-port)
[ 20.040501] usb 1-4: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB0
[ 20.040727] usb 1-4: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB1
[ 20.040858] usb 1-4: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB2
[ 20.550967] usbcore: registered new interface driver cdc_ncm
[ 20.645337] usbcore: registered new interface driver cdc_wdm
[ 20.691237] huawei_cdc_ncm 1-4:1.1 wwan0: register 'huawei_cdc_ncm' at usb-0000:00:10.4-4, Huawei CDC NCM device, 58:2c:80:13:92:63
[ 20.691288] usbcore: registered new interface driver huawei_cdc_ncm
And as you can see the Modem was properly detected and I was able to connect etc.
So, next I installed the Security Upgrades which were the following:
libgcrypt11_1.5.0-5+deb7u2_i386.deb
libnss3_2%3a3.14.5-1+deb7u3_i386.deb
libmagic1_5.11-2+deb7u6_i386.deb
file_5.11-2+deb7u6_i386.deb
libcurl3-gnutls_7.26.0-1+wheezy11_i386.deb
iceweasel_31.2.0esr-3~deb7u1_i386.deb
wget_1.13.4-3+deb7u2_i386.deb
xulrunner-24.0_24.8.1esr-2~deb7u1_i386.deb
libmozjs24d_24.8.1esr-2~deb7u1_i386.deb
python-libxml2_2.8.0+dfsg1-7+wheezy2_i386.deb
libxml2_2.8.0+dfsg1-7+wheezy2_i386.deb
libtasn1-3_2.13-2+deb7u1_i386.deb
wpasupplicant_1.0-3+deb7u1_i386.deb
openssl_1.0.1e-2+deb7u13_i386.deb
libssl1.0.0_1.0.1e-2+deb7u13_i386.deb
Upgrade Manager produced the output you can see in the following image.
And now there was not an option available to Enable Broadband Modem and the Connection I had previously created wasn't listed as being available.
lsusb produced the following:
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 12d1:14fe Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
dmesg | grep usb produced the following:
[ 5.384033] usb 1-4: new high-speed USB device number 4 using ehci-pci
[ 5.525187] usb 1-4: New USB device found, idVendor=12d1, idProduct=14fe
[ 5.525196] usb 1-4: New USB device strings: Mfr=2, Product=1, SerialNumber=0
[ 5.525200] usb 1-4: Product: HUAWEI Mobile
[ 5.525203] usb 1-4: Manufacturer: HUAWEI
[ 5.526824] usb-storage 1-4:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[ 5.544374] scsi5 : usb-storage 1-4:1.0
[ 5.544660] usb-storage 1-4:1.1: USB Mass Storage device detected
[ 5.567617] scsi6 : usb-storage 1-4:1.1
So, it would appear, there is a conflict between one or more of the packages for the Security Upgrades and the Third Party Upgrades for Device and Hotplug Management or something missing from one of them.
The next thing I did was to downgrade the Upgrades, for Device and Hotplug Management, back to 204-8~bpo70+1 and BINGO the USB Modem is being properly detected (activated) again and able to connect to the Internet.
The following is the output from the Downgrade.
dpkg: warning: downgrading libgudev-1.0-0:i386 from 204-14~bpo70+1 to 204-8~bpo70+1
(Reading database ... 95621 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace libgudev-1.0-0:i386 204-14~bpo70+1 (using libgudev-1.0-0_204-8~bpo70+1_i386.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement libgudev-1.0-0:i386 ...
dpkg: warning: downgrading libsystemd-login0:i386 from 204-14~bpo70+1 to 204-8~bpo70+1
Preparing to replace libsystemd-login0:i386 204-14~bpo70+1 (using libsystemd-login0_204-8~bpo70+1_i386.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement libsystemd-login0:i386 ...
dpkg: warning: downgrading libudev1:i386 from 204-14~bpo70+1 to 204-8~bpo70+1
Preparing to replace libudev1:i386 204-14~bpo70+1 (using libudev1_204-8~bpo70+1_i386.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement libudev1:i386 ...
dpkg: warning: downgrading udev from 204-14~bpo70+1 to 204-8~bpo70+1
Preparing to replace udev 204-14~bpo70+1 (using udev_204-8~bpo70+1_i386.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement udev ...
Setting up libsystemd-login0:i386 (204-8~bpo70+1) ...
Setting up libudev1:i386 (204-8~bpo70+1) ...
Setting up udev (204-8~bpo70+1) ...
Installing new version of config file /etc/init.d/udev ...
Installing new version of config file /etc/init/udev-finish.conf ...
Installing new version of config file /etc/modprobe.d/fbdev-blacklist.conf ...
[ ok ] Stopping the hotplug events dispatcher: udevd.
[ ok ] Starting the hotplug events dispatcher: udevd.
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
update-rc.d: warning: default start runlevel arguments (2 3 4 5) do not match udev Default-Start values (S)
update-rc.d: warning: default stop runlevel arguments (0 1 6) do not match udev Default-Stop values (none)
update-rc.d: warning: default start runlevel arguments (2 3 4 5) do not match udev-finish Default-Start values (S)
update-rc.d: warning: default stop runlevel arguments (0 1 6) do not match udev-finish Default-Stop values (none)
Setting up libgudev-1.0-0:i386 (204-8~bpo70+1) ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools ...
update-initramfs: /boot/initrd.img-3.13-0.bpo.1-486 has been altered.
update-initramfs: Cannot update. Override with -t option.
Next I installed the Distribution Updates using Upgrade Manager with the Safe Upgrade option.
The modem is still correctly detected and activated.
I only have the remaining Third Party Upgrades to install before this round of testing is completed.
Hasta pronto, Michael.