Modem is always visible/connected but stops working after a while

[dante404]

Hello,

my Mobian-PinePhone has a new and very serious issue since a few days :
After a reboot the modem (sms, calling, mobile data) works for a while, but soon (after the phone goes to sleep I guess?) the modem completely stops working.
Very strange: It is still visible in the phosh top bar (with signal strength, settings and in modem manager! It's not 'gone', it's just not working/doing anything.

Never read anything about this specific problem.
Do you think this is a hardware or a Mobian issue?

Best Regards,
dante404

[alaraajavamma]

Most of the time this is configuration problem.

What is not working? You don't receive calls or sms?
Network connection is not working?
What is your carrier (I don't need to know but some carriers are working better than others - as far as I know there are more problems in USA because you need to register your Phone/Modem before full 4G access or something)

Can you try in terminal:
sudo systemctl suspend
and wait a while and press power button - are you having the problem now?
If yes it is something related to suspend or more precise waking from suspend.

[dante404]

I don't get many calls anyway so I don't know for sure about calls (have to test), but (old) SMS suddenly are recieved after an reboot, and mobile data (surfing via Firefox, using Axolotl) only works temporary after a reboot. I guess calls will also only work just after a reboot then... but have to test.

Provider is called 'Congstar' (prepaid), which in fact is just a brand of T-Online/German Telekom (the biggest provider here in germany).

Can you try in terminal:
sudo systemctl suspend
and wait a while and press power button - are you having the problem now?
If yes it is something related to suspend or more precise waking from suspend.

I will try this and check!

Thank you!

[rx137]

Set power/control to "on" in /usr/lib/udev/rules.d/80-modem-eg25.rules. Mobian sets it to "auto" for the stock firmware instead.

/usr/lib/udev/rules.d/80-modem-eg25.rules
ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="usb", DRIVERS=="usb", ENV{DEVTYPE}=="usb_device", ATTRS{idVendor}=="2c7c", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0125", ATTR{power/control}="on"
ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="usb", DRIVERS=="usb", ENV{DEVTYPE}=="usb_device", ATTRS{idVendor}=="2c7c", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0125", ATTR{power/autosuspend_delay_ms}="3000"
ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="usb", DRIVERS=="usb", ENV{DEVTYPE}=="usb_device", ATTRS{idVendor}=="2c7c", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0125", ATTR{power/wakeup}="enabled"
ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="usb", DRIVERS=="usb", ENV{DEVTYPE}=="usb_device", ATTRS{idVendor}=="2c7c", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0125", ATTR{power/persist}="0"

[dante404]

Set power/control to "on" in /usr/lib/udev/rules.d/80-modem-eg25.rules. Mobian sets it to "auto" for the stock firmware instead.

Interesting! So I should set it definitively to "on"? Or only when using the open source modem firmware? (I'm still on stock modem firware at the moment.)
Will setting this to "on" instead "auto" reduce battery life?
Thank you for your reply!

[rx137]

Set it to on whether you're using stock or otherwise. This fixed the issue you're describing for me. Presumably it reduces battery life to some degree or other, but that's moot if the modem doesn't work otherwise..

[dante404]

Presumably it reduces battery life to some degree or other, but that's moot if the modem doesn't work otherwise..

...hm, kind of. If you have to make an emergency call (for example) and can restart the egm manager (or the whole phone) to get it to work, that's still better than having a useless phone with a complete discharged battery (and I don't want to take a second battery with me wherever I go)...
At the moment my PP battery barely makes it through a work day... with 10-15% remaining when plugging in at home. No room for wasting battery life time here.
It would also be just a ugly workaround for a new problem (modem sleep and wakeup did work before).

But thank you for the hint!