Receiving SMS stopped working

[treebeard]

My Pinephone stopped receiving SMS while it has a Verizon SIM.  This worked fine for months but stopped abruptly a couple weeks ago.  The phone can still send SMS, and both send and receive MMS.  There are no messages in the logs when a SMS should be processed.  The text messaging history on my Verizon account shows the messages so it seems certain they were sent.

When my Ting/T-Mobile SIM is installed in the Pinephone it will send and receive SMS and MMS fine.  When the Verizon SIM is in my backup phone, it will send and receive SMS and MMS normally.

I've swapped SIMs several times and the pattern holds. The phone has been through several reboots & battery removals with no change in symptoms.  I've booted from several different SD cards and the problem persists across OS. 

Firmware is EG25GGBR07A08M2G_01.001.01.001.  Any ideas for diagnosing this?

[jsch]

Your firmware might be outdated. On https://github.com/Biktorgj/pinephone_mo...ARRIERS.md you will find links to newer versions and a table where providers and recommended firmware are listed.

[epiii2]

My Pinephone stopped receiving SMS while it has a Verizon SIM.  This worked fine for months but stopped abruptly a couple weeks ago.

Wait a minute, you too?  I thought I was just having trouble with my software but I might be seeing the same thing recently.  I'm on the same original firmware version too (EG25GGBR07A08M2G_01.001.01.001) and the wiki's firmware update blurb links to Biktorgj's stuff on github as jsch suggested.  We should probably check that out.

[treebeard]

I put ModemManager in debug mode and captured the output while receiving a SMS message with both Verizon and Ting SIMs.  The output looks substantially different,  With the Ting SIM I can see things like ...

Code:

ModemManager[4738]: <debug> [1656078833.298040] [modem0/ttyUSB2/at] <-- '<CR><LF>+CMTI: "ME",0<CR><LF>'
ModemManager[4738]: <debug> [1656078833.298448] [modem0] locking SMS storages to: mem1 (ME), mem2 (none)...
ModemManager[4738]: <debug> [1656078833.298589] [modem0/ttyUSB2/at] device open count is 3 (open)
ModemManager[4738]: <debug> [1656078833.298890] [modem0/ttyUSB3/at] <-- '<CR><LF>+CMTI: "ME",0<CR><LF>'
ModemManager[4738]: <debug> [1656078833.299260] [modem0/ttyUSB2/at] --> 'AT+CPMS="ME"<CR>'
ModemManager[4738]: <debug> [1656078833.321372] [modem0/ttyUSB2/at] <-- '<CR><LF>+CPMS: 1,23,1,23,1,23<CR><LF><CR><LF>OK<CR><LF>'
ModemManager[4738]: <debug> [1656078833.322124] [modem0/ttyUSB2/at] device open count is 4 (open)
ModemManager[4738]: <debug> [1656078833.322316] [modem0/ttyUSB2/at] device open count is 3 (close)
ModemManager[4738]: <debug> [1656078833.322573] [modem0/ttyUSB2/at] --> 'AT+CMGR=0<CR>'
ModemManager[4738]: [/dev/cdc-wdm0] Received message...

... followed by more messages parsing the SMS packet and acknowledging receipt.

With the Verizon SIM there are just occasional "Get Packet Statistics" and "Dormancy Status" messages (that look like normal idle activity).  It appears Verizon has simply decided to quit sending SMS to my Pinephone, so I guess I need to take that up with them. 

---

Wait a minute, you too?  I thought I was just having trouble with my software but I might be seeing the same thing recently.  I'm on the same original firmware version too (EG25GGBR07A08M2G_01.001.01.001) and the wiki's firmware update blurb links to Biktorgj's stuff on github as jsch suggested.  We should probably check that out.

I've looked at the flashing process and am still a bit intimidated by it.  Especially the part about 'flashing usually fails" and then having to take the phone apart to short some pins.  Despite the trouble I've been having, I've become rather dependent on the pinephone and don't want to brick it.

[treebeard]

I've looked at the flashing process and am still a bit intimidated by it.  Especially the part about 'flashing usually fails" and then having to take the phone apart to short some pins.  Despite the trouble I've been having, I've become rather dependent on the pinephone and don't want to brick it.

Here's a new video that shows the use of gnome firmware updater.  Looks very straightforward.  I see many versions of biktorgj's firmware available but don't yet see how to install newer Quectel firmware.

The fwupd package has a fwupdmgr command that should be able to do all this stuff but it shows no updates available.



June 25 edit: Here's some info on enabling a local fwupd repo, and clues for the packaging of the Quectel firmware.

[jsch]

If you are using biktorgj's firmware, then only the NON-HLOS.ubi needs to be flashed (all following steps as root -- 'sudo su -'):

Code:

echo -ne "AT+QFASTBOOT\r" > /dev/ttyUSB2
fastboot flash modem NON-HLOS.ubi && fastboot reboot

If you are still on stock firmware, then follow https://github.com/Biktorgj/pinephone_mo...ECOVERY.md (files are in folder update on https://github.com/Biktorgj/quectel_eg25_recovery). Change the git branch to pick a different stock release.

[treebeard]

I installed biktorgj's v0.6.6 modem firmware (via gnome-firmware gui) and it had no impact on my symptoms, as expected.  So far Verizon has been no help, also as expected.

[treebeard]

A breakthrough, at last!!!

But first, after installing Biktorjg's firmware I found that the Quectel firmware is still used.  Biktorjg's stuff acts kinda like a layer on top of the Quectel stuff (which he calls the ADSP firmware.  I upgraded that to 01.002.01.002, but I think the firmware upgrades are irrelevant to this problem.

I had spent time exploring the AT commands and found "AT+CMGL=4" to display all messages in the modem's storage.  With my Ting SIM installed, that command consisterntly returns an empty response.  With the Verizon SIM and a fresh boot, it returns 35-40 messages.  I then used "AT+CMGD=,2" to purge all read incoming and sent outgoing messages.  After that I was able to properly receive SMS on Verizon and "AT+CMGL=4" shows an empty response.

I think this clearing of messages will need to be done whenever ModemManager is started.  Needs more research, but a path to a permanent solution seems to be at hand.  Finally!

[treebeard]

I have summarized the issue for the ModemManager folks as best I can, and will mark this issue solved.

The stored messages are not some sort of FIFO for the most recent X messages of any type as I initially suspected.  They all appear to be SMS messages, though apparently not all SMS messages get stored in this manner.

A person can use AT+CPMS? to see the storage size and how much is used.  A response like '+CPMS: "ME",35,99,"MT",35,99,"MT",35,99' would mean 35 of a maximum of 99 messages are currently stored.  I think doing a AT+CMGD=,2 in a daily or even weekly cron will keep the system from getting clogged again until a proper solution is found.  It seems like doing the purge too often risks interfering with normal modem operations.

[epiii2]

Great!  I'll have to look at all this.  And just to reiterate like I said in the other thread I appreciate you sharing the info as you're finding it.