Latest suggestion to fix modem instability?

[feklee]

I am running SXMO on postmarketOS stable on a PinePhone UBports Edition. My modem crashes several times a day, on bad days every few minutes, on good days maybe just twice. On IRC someone suggested to flash Biktorgj's Pinephone Modem SDK. Now I wonder if this is a good idea, or if there are simpler remedies now. Flashing involves building the whole thing, which requires me to free up 50 GB on disk and probably takes ages.

[mark1250]

I am running SXMO on postmarketOS stable on a PinePhone UBports Edition. My modem crashes several times a day, on bad days every few minutes, on good days maybe just twice. On IRC someone suggested to flash Biktorgj's Pinephone Modem SDK. Now I wonder if this is a good idea, or if there are simpler remedies now. Flashing involves building the whole thing, which requires me to free up 50 GB on disk and probably takes ages.

You don't have to build it yourself, as Biktorgj has pre-made releases available here .

I'm running Phosh on PostmarketOS edge with  01.002.01.002 firmware. The modem does drop out occasionally, but self recovers pretty quickly (I'll wake the phone up and see that there is no cellular signal strength shown on the lock screen. I enter my PIN, and withing 15 seconds the cellular signal strength meter is back in the status bar. And then another few seconds later the 4G symbol is in the status bar.) - I'm in the US using StraightTalk MVNO on AT&T.

I had used Biktorgj's firmware up to 2 weeks ago and in my experience that stock firmware recovers faster. - You experience my differ from mine.

Mark

[feklee]

You don't have to build it yourself, as Biktorgj has pre-made releases available here .

Thanks!

I'm running Phosh on PostmarketOS edge

Edge has some improvements regarding the modem, so maybe I should switch to that. I was just worried that Edge is too unstable in general. The PinePhone is my main phone.

self recovers pretty quickly

Mine doesn't, I have to reboot.

I'm in the US using StraightTalk MVNO on AT&T.

Germany, at the moment, with Telekom.

I had used Biktorgj's firmware up to 2 weeks ago and in my experience that stock firmware recovers faster.

Interesting, glad I asked.

[Juergen]

I'm using and testing PMOS edge for several months now, the modem works very well (improvements to ModemManager daemon) and the OS is really stable.

[feklee]

I'm using and testing PMOS edge for several months now, the modem works very well (improvements to ModemManager daemon) and the OS is really stable.

OK, I just updated to Edge. Already had two modem crashes within an hour. But, diagnostics seems to be a bit better (or I didn't realize it before). When I run nmcli c up Telekom it says: "PIN code is needed [...]"

So I switched to nmcli --ask c up Telekom, and after entering the PIN of my SIM, the network came back up. I assume this PIN is also in the way of the automatic recoveries. Is there any way to hardcode the PIN?

Otherwise I may deactivate the PIN on my SIM, which is OK for that one because it's prepaid anyhow.

[feklee]

Otherwise I may deactivate the PIN on my SIM, which is OK for that one because it's prepaid anyhow.

Did that now, and documented it in the SXMO wiki:

Code:

mmcli -i any --pin=1234 --disable-pin

However, that likely will not mitigate all the modem crashes. Yesterday, for example, I got the error message that the modem is not found, requiring me to reboot.

[feklee]

Update: The modem crashes as often as before, often times requiring a reset of the device. So upgrading to Edge and disabling the PIN did not resolve the issue. So I may as well try the Biktorgj firmware.

Hopefully, the PinePhone Pro will be more robust, and hopefully I can get a dev edition. 

[feklee]

My attempt at flashing the modem bricked it. What to do? 

Here's how I proceeded, with error messages at the end:

1. Checked version of ADSP firmware:
   
   Code:

   $ mmcli -m any --command="AT+QGMR"
response: 'EG25GGBR07A08M2G_01.001.01.001'
2. Upgraded to ADSP version 01.003.01.003:
   
   Code:

   # cd /tmp
# wget https://github.com/Biktorgj/quectel_eg25_recovery/raw/EG25GGBR07A08M2G_01.003.01.003/update/NON-HLOS.ubi
# echo -ne "AT+QFASTBOOT\r" > /dev/ttyUSB2
# fastboot flash modem NON-HLOS.ubi && fastboot reboot
3. Flashed the Biktorgj firmware, and that failed:
   
   Code:

   $ cd ~/src
$ wget https://github.com/Biktorgj/pinephone_modem_sdk/releases/download/0.4.2/package.tar.gz
$ mkdir firmware
$ tar xzf package.tar.gz -C firmware
$ cd firmware
$ sudo ./flashall
Sending AT+QFASTBOOT...
FAILED (remote: 'unknown command')
fastboot: error: Command failed
Sending 'aboot' (486 KB)                          OKAY [  0.024s]
Writing 'aboot'                                    OKAY [  0.209s]
Finished. Total time: 0.244s
Rebooting                                          OKAY [  0.018s]
Finished. Total time: 0.068s
< waiting for any device >
OKAY [  0.002s]
Finished. Total time: 0.003s
Sending 'boot' (4566 KB)                          OKAY [  0.150s]
Writing 'boot'                                    FAILED (Status read failed (No such device))
fastboot: error: Command failed
./flashall: exit: line 11: Illegal number: Failed to flash main kernel

---

Phew fixed, Biktor pointed me to the recovery instructions: My modem won't boot anymore

Afterwards, flashing went smoothly. 

[skunk]

hey feklee, did flashing the modem resolve the stability issue?

[undata]

My suggestion is: don't have preferences. For example I wasn't getting replies in SMS from my wife. I messed around and tried configuring the modem. Luckily I did not do too much damage, because I found out the culprit was iMessage. My carrier still thinks the sim card is in an iPhone. Once she turned off iMessage, everything working just fine. If it looks viable just out of the box, then maybe tweak it. Otherwise, unless you are an expert on whatever speciality, like mobile modems, you will probably be thrashing around in quicksand...