Chatty, SMS does not work - could hardware be at fault?

[AntonReiser]

After the Lamination Issue wrecked my old Pinephone, I received a new one yesterday and installed the latest Mobian nightly.

However, I cannot send or receive text messages via Chatty. 

At first I thought Mobian Bookworm is at fault. But it seems to  be a hardware issue: SMS does not work either, when I boot Mobian Bullseye from an SD card.

By contrast, when I boot from the very same card on my old phone, SMS works. The standard installation of course works as well. Also, I can make an receive calls on both phones.

Since the same Mobian istallation on the same SD card works on one phone and not on the other I don't have any other explanation than a hardware issue. 

Could that be? Any ideas?

[bcnaz]

Just grabbing at possibilities here :
Once your sd card has done the initial install on one phone, perhaps some firmware is different on the two phones. ?

I would suggest trying a fresh flashed sd card in your new phone.

That is what I would try myself.

[AntonReiser]

I would suggest trying a fresh flashed sd card in your new phone.

Thank you!

I reflashed the new phone (the eMMC) with today's nightly, that didn't help. Using another SD card with an older Mobian version didn't work either.

I can receive text messages, but I cannot send them. Calls work. I inserted another SIM card from another provider, same result.

So: Phone 1 (3GB) works with BOTH SIM cards and that too BOTH booted from eMMC and SD card.
Phone 2 (2GB Debian Edition) does NOT send Messages with either of the SIM cards and no matter what I boot (I tried two different Mobian nightlies (17. and 18. September) on the eMMC, Mobian Bullseye, Ubuntu Touch on the first SD card, an older version of Mobian Bookworm (26. August) on the second SD. [Interestingly on Manjaro Plasma there's a notification saying "Network Management:Modem (quectelqmi_0) The modem shows no carrier"])

Is there any chance that this is not a hardware issue, that there is anything I can do?

(This would be the third broken 3GB Pinephpone sent to me: In the first one the contacts for the battery were missing, so it only worked when plugged in. The second one had a flickering screen with vertical lines. I really, really do not want to have to send this one back again.)

[ragreenburg]

I agree that you should try a fresh flash or better yet, try a flash of a different distro like Manjaro Phosh just to see make sure something wasn't messed up with you Mobian download. Happened to me a few weeks back that I kept trying to boot from my SD and it wasn't working and it turned out to be my Mobian iso.

[AntonReiser]

I agree that you should try a fresh flash or better yet, try a flash of a different distro like Manjaro Phosh just to see make sure something wasn't messed up with you Mobian download. Happened to me a few weeks back that I kept trying to boot from my SD and it wasn't working and it turned out to be my Mobian iso.

Thanks! The moderator had not released my reply to @bcnaz (see above) when you replied, so you did not have a chance to read it. So yeah, I have tried all these options: Reflashing the eMMC (twice), booting from two different SD cards with three different Operating Systems (Mobian Bullseye, Mobian Bookworm and Ubuntu), trying out two different SIM cards. No matter what, the phone will not send text messages. 

What could be the reason?

[kqlnut]

Just a stab in the dark, but you could check which modem firmware you are on and try upgrading it. Maybe also try the alternative firmware (which has been working well for me; easy to follow instructions for flashing can be found here). I don't belive this would have a direct effect on SMS handling, but it could be worth a try.

[AntonReiser]

Just a stab in the dark, but you could check which modem firmware you are on and try upgrading it. Maybe also try the alternative firmware (which has been working well for me; easy to follow instructions for flashing can be found here). I don't belive this would have a direct effect on SMS handling, but it could be worth a try.

Great, thank you for the links. Is there a way to find out which modem firmware is installed? Wouldn't this brandnew phone probably have the latest reliable firmware? (I am a bit wary of killing something with a stab in the dark, especially in case it turns out to be a hardware issue and I would, God forbid, have to give the phone back again...)

[kqlnut]

Great, thank you for the links. Is there a way to find out which modem firmware is installed? Wouldn't this brandnew phone probably have the latest reliable firmware? (I am a bit wary of killing something with a stab in the dark, especially in case it turns out to be a hardware issue and I would, God forbid, have to give the phone back again...)

I'm not sure if the newest stable firmware is flashed to modem in the factory, I don't think it is. You can check the version with

Code:

mmcli -m any --command='AT+QGMR'

The recommended stable stock firmware version is 02.002.02.002. More info can be found here.

[walter1950]

Hello,

be carefully,

Just a stab in the dark, but you could check which modem firmware you are on and try upgrading it. Maybe also try the alternative firmware (which has been working well for me; easy to follow instructions for flashing can be found here). I don't belive this would have a direct effect on SMS handling, but it could be worth a try.

I did it (Mobian Bookworm => Modem Firmware) and since then I cant send SMS'es anymore :-(
Recieving SMS works...
SIM Card works fine in an another Phone.

Ciao
Walter

[AntonReiser]

The recommended stable stock firmware version is 02.002.02.002. More info can be found here.

Thank you!

The old, functioning phone has the older version 'EG25GGBR07A08M2G_01.001.01.001' 
The new, malfunctioning phone already has the most recent firmware 'EG25GGBR07A08M2G_01.002.01.002' from your link .

What to do? Leave it as it is because that is already the optimum and search for another cause? Reinstall the new firmware because you never know? Or install the OLD firmware (if it's available) since it works on the other phone?

Do you remember which firmware version you replaced with which, @walter1950 ?

I'm sorry, but I'm undecided, confused and afraid to make things worse.