Need help troubleshooting Quectel EG25 modem in Pine64 Pinephone

Wed Jun 2 09:47:07 UTC 2021

Hello,

thanks for responding!

> You might have to issue a command to push the modem to DT?
> 
> --3gpp-register-in-operator=MCCMNC ??

Tried that numerous times, what I usually get is this:

```
$ mmcli -m 0 --3gpp-register-in-operator=26201 --timeout=300
error: couldn't register the modem:
'GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.ModemManager1.Error.MobileEquipment.Networ
kTimeout: Network timeout'
```

and other times I will see errors like this:
'GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.libqmi.Error.Protocol.CallFailed: QMI
protocol error (14): 'CallFailed''

But I don't know QMI and can't make any sense of that error.

Yesterday I went to get a prepaid-SIM from a different provider (O2),
but the result is the same. So I'm pretty certain that the issue isn't
related to the provider now, which really doesn't help me at all...

> Are you certain the IMSI is not providing access/roaming to Vodafone?

How would I diagnose something like this? But even if it did, why would
it constantly run into "Network Timeout" errors while trying to connect
to the operator network that my SIM "originally" belongs to?

I'm pretty naive on this sort of thing, because I haven't dealt much
with modems in my life before. Does anyone have some good "literature"
where I could read up on it? I was thinking about performing a
connection "by hand", directly using the AT commands from the ground
up, to see what the modem itself tells me. But I'm not sure whether
that would be of any use... Does anyone have thoughts on this?

Thank you!

Andreas

On Tue, 2021-06-01 at 10:05 -0600, Scott Lemon wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I'm learning Modem Manager, but looking at the output that you provided
> it appears that the modem is registered on Vodafone (current), not DT.
> 
> > $ mmcli -m 0 --3gpp-scan --timeout=120
> >   ---------------------
> >   3GPP scan | networks: 26203 - o2 - de (lte, forbidden)
> >             |           26202 - Vodafone (lte, current)
> >             |           26201 - TDG (lte, available)
> 
> 
> You might have to issue a command to push the modem to DT?
> 
> --3gpp-register-in-operator=MCCMNC ??
> 
> Are you certain the IMSI is not providing access/roaming to Vodafone?
> 
> 
> --
> Scott C. Lemon
> Principal IoT Solutions Engineer
> 
> 
> 
> Mobile: +1 (801) 336-4476
> Email:   slemon at twilio.com
> 
> 
> 
> On Mon, May 31, 2021 at 3:21 AM Andreas Hartmann <hartan at 7x.de> wrote:
> > Hello,
> > 
> > 
> > I'm looking for guidance diagnosing what is wrong with the Quectel
> > EG25
> > modem in my PinePhone. I am aware that the modem works for pretty
> > much
> > all people, however there seem to be some exceptions to this,
> > including
> > me. I have tried several Operating Systems (Manjaro, postmarket OS,
> > Fedora, mobian) but with none of these I had any success so far.
> > Currently I'm tempted to believe that the hardware in my phone isn't
> > entirely functional, but I wanted to make sure of that before
> > randomly
> > replacing parts.
> > 
> > The issue I see is that the modem is recognized by the OS, and I can
> > communicate with it through ModemManager, too. But it cannot connect
> > to
> > my carrier. I can neither make phone calls, nor receive SMS or setup
> > a
> > mobile data connection. However, the modem clearly shows that is has
> > a
> > signal reception, and I can confirm that a signal is present from
> > another Android phone. I have suspected the SIM card, but when I
> > insert
> > it into an Android device it works just fine. Just to make sure I
> > have
> > even removed the SIM PIN, but that hasn't changed the situation
> > (apart
> > from some added convenience for me). I live in Germany, and the SIM
> > is
> > registered with "Deutsche Telekom".
> > 
> > I can confirm that a 3GPP scan yields useful results:
> > 
> > ```
> > $ mmcli -m 0 --3gpp-scan --timeout=120
> >   ---------------------
> >   3GPP scan | networks: 26203 - o2 - de (lte, forbidden)
> >             |           26202 - Vodafone (lte, current)
> >             |           26201 - TDG (lte, available)
> > ```
> > 
> > As my operator is "Deutsche Telekom", the correct MCC/MNC is 26201,
> > but
> > mmcli shows that modem attempts to register with 26202. I seemingly
> > cannot override this:
> > 
> > ```
> > $ mmcli -m 0 --simple-connect="apn=internet.t-mobile,user=t-
> > mobile,password=tm" --timeout=120
> > error: couldn't connect the modem:
> > 'GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.ModemManager1.Error.MobileEquipment.Netw
> > or
> > kTimeout: Network timeout'
> > ```
> > 
> > I attempted to define an initial bearer with `mmcli -m 0 --3gpp-set-
> > initial-eps-bearer-settings`, but that didn't change the situation.
> > The simple-connect doesn't work either, even if I explicitly specify
> > the operator ID to use.
> > 
> > Interestingly the behavior is pretty consistent. It happened to me
> > with
> > the stock firmware that the Pinephone Modem (Manjaro edition) shipped
> > with in December/2020, it persisted after I had updated to the most
> > recent modem firmware available February/2021, and it's still there
> > after flashing biktorgjs custom firmware [1].
> > 
> > I have tried to use various APN settings, including:
> > 
> > 1. The one mentioned in the Pine64 wiki [2]
> > 2. APN "internet.telekom", which is available on my Android device
> > 3. APN "internet.t-d1.de", which my Android device actually uses
> > 
> > I don't know whether this is relevant, but the SIM is part of a
> > multisim contract (Same phone number, same data plan for all SIMs).
> > 
> > Curiously, recently I could accept a phone call on the Pinephone and
> > talk to the other person. However this was a unique event and I
> > couldn't reproduce it ever since. I can neither make calls, nor use
> > mobile data.
> > 
> > I'm running out of ideas as to what may cause such a behavior. I'd be
> > thankful for any hints on what else to try, or possibly a diagnosis
> > on
> > whether the Modem is actually broken... Thank you in advance!
> > 
> > 
> > Cheers,
> > Andreas Hartmann
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > [1]: https://github.com/Biktorgj/pinephone_modem_sdk
> > [2]: https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/PinePhone_APN_Settings#Telekom_.28Germany.29
> > _______________________________________________
> > ModemManager-devel mailing list
> > ModemManager-devel at lists.freedesktop.org
> > https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/modemmanager-devel

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