[qmi-firmware-update] Flashing does not work properly with Sierra em9191 (5g modem)

[Aleksander Morgado]

Hey,

On Wed, Feb 2, 2022 at 12:00 PM Alexander Dydychkin
<alexander.dydychkin at vicuesoft.com> wrote:
>
> " Yes, that version doesn't have support for the EM9191, the only libqmi
> version you can use is git main branch."
>
> Ok, I will use only the latest version. Thanks!
> In addition, one of my modems is "bricked" after flashing with an old tool (no cdc devices and it seems it is in download state). I had the same situation two times with 4G modems but hardware power off fixed the situation. In this case hardware power off does not help. Maybe you know how I can revert the modem to the normal state? :)))
>

If it boots in download mode right away, you can try to perform a
firmware flash on the exposed TTY, with the --update-download option,
and giving the path to the TTY with --tty. If that doesn't help, I
wouldn't know what else to try.

> "Weird, that looks like a device reboot or the qmi-proxy crashing
> behind the scene.
> Have you stopped ModemManager before attempting this operation?
> Can you retry with --verbose to see if we get some additional info on the issue?"
>
> But the configuration from "build-collection-basic" CI should be ok? Maybe should I recompile the tool?

Basic collection should be ok. If it weren't ok, it wouldn't have
built the tool.

> I don`t have ModemManager in my system.

Ok.

> I have a theory that I started this on already "bricked" modem but I am not sure. I don't want to risk because I have only 1 stable modem right now and I want to fix "bricked" before flashing the verbose.
>

I have no idea how you managed to brick 2 devices :) I've worked with
multiple Sierra modules writing the qmi-firmware-update tool and I
haven't bricked a single device myself :) Either you have very bad
luck, or your doing something totally unexpected for some reason! :D

> To sum up:
> I have 3 modems, 2 "bricked" right now, 1 stable right now.  :)
> I started 1.26.10 qmi-firmware-update on the first "bricked" one and 1.31.2 qmi-firmware-update on the second.
>

Attempting to use the older 1.26.10 version wouldn't have bricked the
device, it would have complained about unexpected things during the
firmware update control protocol operation and then bail out, and not
much more. From now on, always try git main branch, that's the one
with support for the EM91xx modules. That patch will also go to the
next stable 1.30.x release, which has already enough patches applied
for a new stable update, but I don't have free time to do that yet.

-- 
Aleksander
https://aleksander.es