Unable to make MC7455 recognize my SIM card

IoT Modules MC/EM Series
1

Dear community,
I am writing as I am trying to set up a PC Engines APU3C4 embedded board (PC Engines apu3a2 product file) with a Sierra Wireless MC7455 module.
The board is running OpenWrt.

I installed all the needed packages, but I cannot seem to make the LTE connection work.
The kernel modules should also be correctly installed:

root@OpenWrt:~# opkg list | grep sierra
kmod-usb-net-sierrawireless - 5.4.154-1
kmod-usb-serial-sierrawireless - 5.4.154-1

However, when I insert the SIM and start the system, I get from the LuCI web interface:
Error: Unknown error (NETWORK_REGISTRATION_FAILED)

And, from the system log (the date is off as the board has not been connected to the Internet yet to get the right date and time):

Wed Apr 12 21:18:15 2017 daemon.notice netifd: Interface 'LTE' is setting up now
Wed Apr 12 21:18:15 2017 daemon.notice netifd: LTE (8194): Waiting for SIM initialization
Wed Apr 12 21:18:16 2017 daemon.notice netifd: LTE (8194): Device does not support 802.3 mode. Informing driver of raw-ip only for wwan1 ..
Wed Apr 12 21:18:16 2017 daemon.notice netifd: LTE (8194): Waiting for network registration
Wed Apr 12 21:18:29 2017 daemon.notice netifd: LTE (8194): Network registration failed, registration timeout reached
Wed Apr 12 21:18:29 2017 daemon.notice netifd: LTE (8266): Stopping network LTE
Wed Apr 12 21:18:29 2017 daemon.notice netifd: LTE (8266): Command failed: Permission denied
Wed Apr 12 21:18:29 2017 daemon.notice netifd: Interface 'LTE' is now down

If I try to set an APN everything works as expected:

AT+CGDCONT?
+CGDCONT: 1,"IPV4V6","mobile.vodafone.it","0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0",0,0,0,0
OK

However, it does not seem to detect the SIM card:

ATI
Manufacturer: Sierra Wireless, Incorporated
Model: MC7455
Revision: SWI9X30C_02.08.02.00 r5428 CARMD-EV-FRMWR2 2016/01/06 20:38:53
MEID: 35457251254237
IMEI: 354572512542374
IMEI SV:  4
FSN: LQ252218290110
+GCAP: +CGSM

AT!PRIID?
PRI Part Number: 9904514
Revision: 001.008
Customer: Generic-M2M

Carrier PRI: 9999999_9904609_SWI9X30C_02.08.02.00_00_GENERIC_002.007_003

OK
AT!GSTATUS?
!GSTATUS:
Current Time:  995              Temperature: 36
Reset Counter: 2                Mode:        ONLINE
System mode:   WCDMA            PS state:    Not attached
WCDMA band:    WCDMA 900
WCDMA channel: 2938
GMM (PS) state:DEREGISTERED     NO IMSI
MM (CS) state: IDLE             NO IMSI

WCDMA L1 state:L1M_PCH_SLEEP    LAC:         ECA4 (60580)
RRC state:   DISCONNECTED       Cell ID:     02E62220 (48636448)
RxM RSSI C0:    ---             RxD RSSI C0:  ---
RxM RSSI C1:    ---             RxD RSSI C1:  ---

OK
AT+CPIN?
+CME ERROR: SIM not inserted
AT+CIMI
ERROR

I tried replacing the MC7455 with an equal new module, replacing the board with an equal new unit (keeping the same modules and antennas), changing the SIM slot (the board is dual SIM) and replacing the SIM card with another one, but I always get this error.
Do you know which could be the cause? Am I missing something software-wise?

I was able, in the past, to configure some APU2C4 boards with MC7455 modules, and never got any issue (however, I’m not sure if I may be now missing some packages that I forgot to note down).

Thank you very much in advance!

2

The firmware is quite old, please upgrade to the latest one for vodafone and test again

https://source.sierrawireless.com/resources/airprime/minicard/74xx/em_mc74xx-approved-fw-packages/

Also make sure it is using correct sim slot in at!uims?

3

Thank you very much for your reply!

Do you know which could be the quickest way to flash the new firmware? I tried with qmi-firmware-update under OpenWrt, but I’m getting:

root@OpenWrt:~/MC7455_FW# qmi-firmware-update -t /dev/ttyUSB2 --ignore-mm-runtime-check -U SWI9X30C_02.24.03.00.cwe SWI9X30C_02.24.03.00_VODAFONE_001.001_002.nvu
error: unsupported download protocol

Under Windows 11, instead, if I use a USB-to-mPCIe adapter, I get:
Device error code: 0x0 - Unknown device error code.

4

In windows, you can run the exe file to update

In linux, are you sure /dev/ttyUSB2 is the DM port?

5

Thanks a lot! It turned out I actually needed to reboot my PC after installing the Sierra Wireless driver. After a reboot, I can now flash the firmware directly using the Windows .exe (that is no more returning the 0x0 error).

I was also able to do some additional tests, after checking the output of AT!UIMS? as suggested, and it seems that the SIM slots have been indeed swapped between the new boards and the old (APU2C4) ones. However, changing the slot in which the SIM has been inserted does not seem to be enough (as I was instead expecting), since it was still giving me the SIM not inserted error, until I did a AT!RESET and then rebooted the board.
After the reset the SIM has been correctly recognized, AT+CIMI/AT+CPIN? work as expected, and the LTE interface is finally up and running!