We currently have several hundred MC7304 modules in the field and lately receiving complains about problems especially in areas with bad coverage. So I thought it would be a good idea to first check whether the moduls have the latest firmware version. It turns out they haven’t. They are running firmware version “SWI9X15C_05.05.58.00 r27038 carmd-fwbuild1 2015/03/04 21:30:23” and version 5.5.78.0 is the latest available.
However, I struggle installing the latest firmware (file: 9999999_9902674_SWI9X15C_05.05.78.00_00_GENEU-4G_005.029_000-field.spk). When calling the SDK function GetImageInfoW, I can see the following log output:
SearchAndParseG5kFiles
GobiApi 00:13:04.857 3766.928986 0x0b3a029e h : + GetG5kImageInfoW
GobiApi 00:13:04.859 3766.930420 0x0b3a029e i : File path: \Storage Card\Images\Sierra\2\9999999_9902674_SWI9X15C_05.05.78.00_00_GENEU-4G_005.029_000-field.spk
GobiApi 00:13:04.862 3766.933777 0x0b3a029e h : - GetG5kImageInfoW (Duration = 3ms - Total time = 35ms - Total calls = 6)
GobiApi 00:13:04.863 3766.935242 0x0b3a029e i : Found configuration image \Storage Card\Images\Sierra\2\9999999_9902674_SWI9X15C_05.05.78.00_00_GENEU-4G_005.029_000-field.spk
GobiApi 00:13:04.865 3766.936707 0x0b3a029e i : versionStr : 05.05.78.00_GENEU-4G
GobiApi 00:13:04.867 3766.938354 0x0b3a029e h : - SearchAndParseG5kFiles (Duration = 9ms - Total time = 98ms - Total calls = 6)
GobiApi 00:13:04.868 3766.939789 0x0b3a029e E : Unable to find valid G5K images
GobiApi 00:13:04.869 3766.941284 0x0b3a029e E : Device error code: 18
Any idea whats going wrong? Are there different images types (SPK and G5K)?
First thing to say is that 5.5.58.0 was a solid build so it should work without issue, upgrading is unlikely to change a bad coverage issue i.e. it does not fundamentally improve the performance of the unit.
Having said that if you want to go to upgrade, a few questions/points
So G5K is short for Gobi 5K which is a Qualcomm brand name.
The SPK files that we issue are combined approved signaling/carrier PRI file pairs.
So I presume you are using the win CE/embedded SDK as given on the source? Have you tried using the image manager application contained in it?
The firmware changelog says that stability issues has been fixed between 5.5.58 and 5.5.78 (when coming back into coverage and under low signal conditions). I don’t have much confidence that this will fix the issues we’re seeing (system freezes, CE kernel log shows exceptions). But a least I’d like to give the latest firmware a try.
Yes, we’re using that SDK. It seems to contain support for firmware updating. The GetImageInfoW() function fails with an error when pointing to the mentioned .spk file, you can see the log output in my first post.
We did try the image manager application, but it doesn’t work. It says “This module is not supported”.
So the questions:
What type of image is supported by the CE SDK? Is the .spk file the right one?
Is there sample source code which shows how to do a firmware update?
