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    Stability issues with a Sierra Wireless MC7455 on a SG-1000

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Official Netgate® Hardware
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    • ivorI Offline
      ivor
      last edited by

      That card does not appear to be on this list https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Known_Working_3G-4G_Modems

      Have you tried using the card on a different machine, just to rule out the chance the card might be faulty? Is the card supported in FreeBSD? Seems to me like the card is drawing too much power. I am not sure if buying support incident will help you in this case.

      Need help fast? Our support is available 24/7 https://www.netgate.com/support/

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • J Offline
        jmark
        last edited by

        Hi Ivor,

        You were correct on the power- I plugged in a powered USB hub and have a connection with no dropping. Thank you!

        Support for the MC7455 was recently added according to this:https://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/7137. When I can confirm stability I will request that the MC7455 is added to the list.

        However, now I have a second issue. The SG-1000 will not boot up with a powered USB hub plugged into it via the OTG adapter. I have to remove it and plug it back in when the system has booted. Any guidance on this?

        Thank you for any help!

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • ivorI Offline
          ivor
          last edited by

          @jmark:

          However, now I have a second issue. The SG-1000 will not boot up with a powered USB hub plugged into it via the OTG adapter. I have to remove it and plug it back in when the system has booted. Any guidance on this?

          Thank you for any help!

          Don't do that, you're sending power to device via hub. That might damage it. That explains why it doesn't boot up.

          Need help fast? Our support is available 24/7 https://www.netgate.com/support/

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • N Offline
            NOYB
            last edited by

            @ivor:

            @jmark:

            However, now I have a second issue. The SG-1000 will not boot up with a powered USB hub plugged into it via the OTG adapter. I have to remove it and plug it back in when the system has booted. Any guidance on this?

            Thank you for any help!

            Don't do that, you're sending power to device via hub. That might damage it. That explains why it doesn't boot up.

            Maybe a data only USB cable would work?  Surely someone makes such a thing?

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • ivorI Offline
              ivor
              last edited by

              @NOYB:

              @ivor:

              @jmark:

              However, now I have a second issue. The SG-1000 will not boot up with a powered USB hub plugged into it via the OTG adapter. I have to remove it and plug it back in when the system has booted. Any guidance on this?

              Thank you for any help!

              Don't do that, you're sending power to device via hub. That might damage it. That explains why it doesn't boot up.

              Maybe a data only USB cable would work?  Surely someone makes such a thing?

              Good point.

              Need help fast? Our support is available 24/7 https://www.netgate.com/support/

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              • J Offline
                jmark
                last edited by

                Hi All,

                Please do not take this the wrong way, I greatly appreciate your help. I'm having trouble believing that a USB 2.0 certified powered hub would be supplying power to the SG-1000 via the upstream port. That wouldn't pass USB spec if that were the case.

                The SG-1000 hangs at the following point noted below: HANGS HERE
                If I simply unplug the powered hub and plug it back in, the SG-1000 continues to boot up with no issue.

                Serial Output of a reboot:

                
                [2.4.0-BETA][root@pfsense.farm.markgraf.us]/root: reboot
                ugen0.2: <vendor 0x2001="">at usbus0
                uhub2: <vendor 2="" 9="" 0x2001="" product="" 0xf103,="" class="" 0,="" rev="" 2.00="" 1.00,="" addr="">on usbus0
                uhub2: 7 ports with 7 removable, self powered
                Waiting (max 60 seconds) for system process `vnlru' to stop... done
                Waiting (max 60 seconds) for system process `bufdaemon' to stop... done
                Waiting (max 60 seconds) for system process `syncer' to stop...
                Syncing disks, vnodes remaining... 3 1 0 0 done
                All buffers synced.
                Uptime: 3h58m9s
                Rebooting...
                
                U-Boot SPL 2016.03 (Dec 28 2016 - 14:33:36)
                Trying to boot from MMC
                Card doesn't support part_switch
                MMC partition switch failed
                *** Warning - MMC partition switch failed, using default environment
                
                reading u-boot.img
                reading u-boot.img
                
                U-Boot 2016.03 (Dec 28 2016 - 14:33:36 +0000)
                
                       Watchdog enabled
                I2C:   ready
                DRAM:  512 MiB
                MMC:   OMAP SD/MMC: 0, OMAP SD/MMC: 1
                reading u-boot.env
                
                ** Unable to read "u-boot.env" from mmc0:1 **
                Using default environment
                
                Net:   <ethaddr>not set. Validating first E-fuse MAC
                cpsw, usb_ether
                starting USB...
                USB0:   scanning bus 0 for devices... 1 USB Device(s) found
                       scanning usb for storage devices... 0 Storage Device(s) found
                ** Bad device usb 0 **
                Hit any key to stop autoboot:  0
                Booting from: mmc 1 ubldr.bin
                reading ubldr.bin
                217364 bytes read in 20 ms (10.4 MiB/s)
                ## Starting application at 0x88000000 ...
                Consoles: U-Boot console
                Compatible U-Boot API signature found @0x9ef3ab58
                
                FreeBSD/armv6 U-Boot loader, Revision 1.2
                (root@buildbot2.netgate.com, Mon May  1 09:23:08 CDT 2017)
                
                DRAM: 512MB
                Number of U-Boot devices: 3
                U-Boot env: loaderdev='mmc 1'
                Found U-Boot device: disk
                  Checking unit=1 slice= <auto>partition=<auto>... good.
                Booting from disk1s2a:
                console comconsole is invalid!
                console vidconsole is invalid!
                no valid consoles!
                Available consoles:
                    uboot
                /boot/kernel/kernel data=0x11de424+0x51bdc syms=[0x4+0xad770+0x4+0xc70dc]
                
                Hit [Enter] to boot immediately, or any other key for command prompt.
                Booting [/boot/kernel/kernel]...
                /boot/dtb/ufw.dtb size=0x79f4
                Loaded DTB from file 'ufw.dtb'.
                Kernel entry at 0x0x88200100...
                Kernel args: (null)
                Copyright (c) 1992-2016 The FreeBSD Project.
                Copyright (c) 1979, 1980, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994
                        The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
                FreeBSD is a registered trademark of The FreeBSD Foundation.
                FreeBSD 11.0-RELEASE-p8 #0 1b380dbbb0d(RELENG_2_4): Mon May  1 09:25:40 CDT 2017
                    root@buildbot2.netgate.com:/xbuilder/crossbuild/work/obj-ufw-armv6/arm.armv6/builder/factory/tmp/FreeBSD-src/sys/pfSense-uFW arm
                FreeBSD clang version 3.8.0 (tags/RELEASE_380/final 262564) (based on LLVM 3.8.0)
                CPU: Cortex A8-r3 rev 2 (Cortex-A core)
                 Supported features: ARM_ISA THUMB2 JAZELLE THUMBEE ARMv4 Security_Ext
                 WB enabled LABT branch prediction disabled
                LoUU:2 LoC:3 LoUIS:1
                Cache level 1:
                 32KB/64B 4-way data cache WT WB Read-Alloc
                 32KB/64B 4-way instruction cache Read-Alloc
                Cache level 2:
                 256KB/64B 8-way unified cache WT WB Read-Alloc Write-Alloc
                real memory  = 536870912 (512 MB)
                avail memory = 503078912 (479 MB)
                Texas Instruments AM335x Processor, Revision ES1.2
                ipw_bss: You need to read the LICENSE file in /usr/share/doc/legal/intel_ipw.LICENSE.
                ipw_bss: If you agree with the license, set legal.intel_ipw.license_ack=1 in /boot/loader.conf.
                module_register_init: MOD_LOAD (ipw_bss_fw, 0xc031a6b4, 0) error 1
                ipw_ibss: You need to read the LICENSE file in /usr/share/doc/legal/intel_ipw.LICENSE.
                ipw_ibss: If you agree with the license, set legal.intel_ipw.license_ack=1 in /boot/loader.conf.
                module_register_init: MOD_LOAD (ipw_ibss_fw, 0xc031a764, 0) error 1
                ipw_monitor: You need to read the LICENSE file in /usr/share/doc/legal/intel_ipw.LICENSE.
                ipw_monitor: If you agree with the license, set legal.intel_ipw.license_ack=1 in /boot/loader.conf.
                module_register_init: MOD_LOAD (ipw_monitor_fw, 0xc031a814, 0) error 1
                iwi_bss: You need to read the LICENSE file in /usr/share/doc/legal/intel_iwi.LICENSE.
                iwi_bss: If you agree with the license, set legal.intel_iwi.license_ack=1 in /boot/loader.conf.
                module_register_init: MOD_LOAD (iwi_bss_fw, 0xc032452c, 0) error 1
                iwi_ibss: You need to read the LICENSE file in /usr/share/doc/legal/intel_iwi.LICENSE.
                iwi_ibss: If you agree with the license, set legal.intel_iwi.license_ack=1 in /boot/loader.conf.
                module_register_init: MOD_LOAD (iwi_ibss_fw, 0xc03245dc, 0) error 1
                iwi_monitor: You need to read the LICENSE file in /usr/share/doc/legal/intel_iwi.LICENSE.
                iwi_monitor: If you agree with the license, set legal.intel_iwi.license_ack=1 in /boot/loader.conf.
                module_register_init: MOD_LOAD (iwi_monitor_fw, 0xc032468c, 0) error 1
                wlan: mac acl policy registered
                random: entropy device external interface
                ofwbus0: <open firmware="" device="" tree="">simplebus0: <flattened device="" tree="" simple="" bus="">on ofwbus0
                simplebus1: <flattened device="" tree="" simple="" bus="">on simplebus0
                simplebus2: <flattened device="" tree="" simple="" bus="">mem 0x210000-0x211fff on simplebus1
                ti_scm0: <ti control="" module="">mem 0-0x7ff on simplebus2
                aintc0: <ti aintc="" interrupt="" controller="">mem 0x48200000-0x48200fff on simplebus0
                aintc0: Revision 5.0
                cpulist0: <open firmware="" cpu="" group="">on ofwbus0
                cpu0: <open firmware="" cpu="">on cpulist0
                pmu0: <performance monitoring="" unit="">on ofwbus0
                am335x_prcm0: <am335x power="" and="" clock="" management="">mem 0x200000-0x203fff on simplebus1
                am335x_prcm0: Clocks: System 24.0 MHz, CPU 550 MHz
                ti_pinmux0: <ti pinmux="" module="">mem 0x800-0xa37 on simplebus2
                am335x_scm0: <am335x control="" module="" extension="">on ti_scm0
                gpio0: <ti am335x="" general="" purpose="" i="" o="" (gpio)="">mem 0x44e07000-0x44e07fff on simplebus0
                gpiobus0: <ofw gpio="" bus="">on gpio0
                gpioc0: <gpio controller="">on gpio0
                gpio1: <ti am335x="" general="" purpose="" i="" o="" (gpio)="">mem 0x4804c000-0x4804cfff on simplebus0
                gpiobus1: <ofw gpio="" bus="">on gpio1
                gpioc1: <gpio controller="">on gpio1
                gpio2: <ti am335x="" general="" purpose="" i="" o="" (gpio)="">mem 0x481ac000-0x481acfff on simplebus0
                gpiobus2: <ofw gpio="" bus="">on gpio2
                gpioc2: <gpio controller="">on gpio2
                gpio3: <ti am335x="" general="" purpose="" i="" o="" (gpio)="">mem 0x481ae000-0x481aefff on simplebus0
                gpiobus3: <ofw gpio="" bus="">on gpio3
                gpioc3: <gpio controller="">on gpio3
                uart0: <ti uart="" (16550="" compatible)="">mem 0x44e09000-0x44e0afff on simplebus0
                uart0: console (115384,n,8,1)
                iichb0: <ti i2c="" controller="">mem 0x44e0b000-0x44e0bfff on simplebus0
                iichb0: I2C revision 4.0 FIFO size: 32 bytes
                iicbus0: <ofw i2c="" bus="">on iichb0
                iic0: <i2c generic="" i="" o="">on iicbus0
                icee0: <at24c02>at addr 0xa0 on iicbus0
                iichb1: <ti i2c="" controller="">mem 0x4802a000-0x4802afff on simplebus0
                iichb1: I2C revision 4.0 FIFO size: 32 bytes
                iicbus1: <ofw i2c="" bus="">on iichb1
                iic1: <i2c generic="" i="" o="">on iicbus1
                sdhci_ti0: <ti mmchs="" (sdhci="" 2.0)="">mem 0x48060000-0x48060fff on simplebus0
                mmc0: <mmc sd="" bus="">on sdhci_ti0
                sdhci_ti1: <ti mmchs="" (sdhci="" 2.0)="">mem 0x481d8000-0x481d8fff on simplebus0
                mmc1: <mmc sd="" bus="">on sdhci_ti1
                ti_wdt0: <ti watchdog="" timer="">mem 0x44e35000-0x44e35fff on simplebus0
                ti_mbox0: <ti system="" mailbox="">mem 0x480c8000-0x480c81ff on simplebus0
                ti_mbox0: revision 4.0
                am335x_dmtimer0: <am335x dmtimer2="">mem 0x48040000-0x480403ff on simplebus0
                Event timer "DMTimer2" frequency 24000000 Hz quality 500
                am335x_dmtimer1: <am335x dmtimer3="">mem 0x48042000-0x480423ff on simplebus0
                Timecounter "DMTimer3" frequency 24000000 Hz quality 500
                usbss0: <ti am33xx="" integrated="" usb="" otg="" controller="">mem 0x47400000-0x47400fff on simplebus0
                usbss0: TI AM335X USBSS v0.0.13
                musbotg0: <ti am33xx="" integrated="" usb="" otg="" controller="">mem 0x47401400-0x474017ff,0x47401000-0x474011ff on usbss0
                usbus0: Dynamic FIFO sizing detected, assuming 16Kbytes of FIFO RAM
                usbus0 on musbotg0
                musbotg1: <ti am33xx="" integrated="" usb="" otg="" controller="">mem 0x47401c00-0x47401fff,0x47401800-0x474019ff on usbss0
                usbus1: Dynamic FIFO sizing detected, assuming 16Kbytes of FIFO RAM
                usbus1 on musbotg1
                cpswss0: <3-port Switch Ethernet Subsystem> mem 0x4a100000-0x4a1007ff,0x4a101200-0x4a1012ff on simplebus0
                cpswss0: CPSW SS Version 1.12 (0)
                cpswss0: Initial queue size TX=128 RX=384
                cpsw0: <ethernet switch="" port="">on cpswss0
                miibus0: <mii bus="">on cpsw0
                micphy0: <micrel 10="" 100="" 1000="" ksz9031="" phy="">PHY 1 on miibus0
                micphy0:  none, 10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, 1000baseT, 1000baseT-master, 1000baseT-FDX, 1000baseT-FDX-master, auto
                cpsw0: Ethernet address: ec:11:27:de:76:ab
                cpsw1: <ethernet switch="" port="">on cpswss0
                miibus1: <mii bus="">on cpsw1
                micphy1: <micrel 10="" 100="" 1000="" ksz9031="" phy="">PHY 2 on miibus1
                micphy1:  none, 10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, 1000baseT, 1000baseT-master, 1000baseT-FDX, 1000baseT-FDX-master, auto
                cpsw1: Ethernet address: ec:11:27:de:76:ad
                etherswitch0: <switch controller="">on cpswss0
                ti_adc0: <ti adc="" controller="">mem 0x44e0d000-0x44e0dfff disabled on simplebus0
                ti_adc0: scheme: 0x1 func: 0x730 rtl: 0 rev: 0.1 custom rev: 0
                cryptosoft0: <software crypto="">Timecounters tick every 10.000 msec
                usbus0: 480Mbps High Speed USB v2.0
                usbus1: 480Mbps High Speed USB v2.0
                ugen1.1: <mentor graphics="">at usbus1
                ugen0.1: <mentor graphics="">at usbus0
                uhub0: <mentor 1="" 9="" graphics="" otg="" root="" hub,="" class="" 0,="" rev="" 2.00="" 1.00,="" addr="">on usbus0
                uhub1: <mentor 1="" 9="" graphics="" otg="" root="" hub,="" class="" 0,="" rev="" 2.00="" 1.00,="" addr="">on usbus1
                mmcsd0: 8GB <sdhc 2="" 2010="" sa08g="" 0.4="" sn="" 9c00002c="" mfg="" 07="" by="" tm="">at mmc0 48.0MHz/4bit/65535-block
                uhub0: 1 port with 1 removable, self powered
                uhub1: 1 port with 1 removable, self powered
                ugen0.2: <vendor 0x2001="">at usbus0
                uhub2: <vendor 2="" 9="" 0x2001="" product="" 0xf103,="" class="" 0,="" rev="" 2.00="" 1.00,="" addr="">on usbus0
                mmcsd1: 4GB <mmchc 10="" 112="" 2000="" m62704="" 0.1="" sn="" 364ada94="" mfg="" by="" 0x0000="">at mmc1 48.0MHz/8bit/65535-block
                Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/ufsid/5877c8cdceaf14b9 [rw,noatime]...
                warning: no time-of-day clock registered, system time will not be set accurately
                Configuring crash dumps...
                No suitable dump device was found.
                /dev/ufsid/5877c8cdceaf14b9: FILE SYSTEM CLEAN; SKIPPING CHECKS
                /dev/ufsid/5877c8cdceaf14b9: clean, 642352 free (2872 frags, 79935 blocks, 0.3% fragmentation)
                Filesystems are clean, continuing...
                Mounting filesystems...
                uhub2: 7 ports with 7 removable, self powered
                random: unblocking device.
                
                     ___
                 ___/ f \
                / p \___/ Sense
                \___/   \
                    \___/
                
                Welcome to pfSense 2.4.0-BETA...
                
                Dump device does not exist.  Savecore not run.
                ...ELF ldconfig path: /lib /usr/lib /usr/lib/compat /usr/local/lib /usr/local/lib/ipsec /usr/local/lib/perl5/5.24/mach/CORE
                Soft Float compatibility ldconfig path:
                done.
                *****HANGS HERE*****
                ugen0.2: <vendor 0x2001="">at usbus0 (disconnected)
                uhub2: at uhub0, port 1, addr 2 (disconnected)
                External config loader 1.0 is now starting... mmcsd1s1 mmcsd1s2 mmcsd1s2a mmcsd0s1
                Launching the init system....... done.
                Initializing.................. done.
                Starting device manager (devd)...done.
                Loading configuration......done.
                Updating configuration...done.
                Cleaning backup cache.........ugen0.2: <vendor 0x2001="">at usbus0
                uhub2: <vendor 2="" 9="" 0x2001="" product="" 0xf103,="" class="" 0,="" rev="" 2.00="" 1.00,="" addr="">on usbus0
                ......uhub2: 7 ports with 7 removable, self powered
                ..................done.
                Setting up extended sysctls...done.
                Setting timezone...done.
                Configuring loopback interface...done.
                ugen0.3: <sierra wireless,="" incorporated="">at usbus0
                u3g0: <sierra 0="" 3="" wireless,="" incorporated="" sierra="" wireless="" mc7455="" qualcomm="" snapdragon="" x7="" lte-a,="" class="" 0,="" rev="" 2.10="" 0.06,="" addr="">on usbus0
                u3g0: Found 5 ports.
                Starting syslog...done.
                Starting Secure Shell Services...done.
                Setting up interfaces microcode...do</sierra></sierra></vendor></vendor></vendor></mmchc></vendor></vendor></sdhc></mentor></mentor></mentor></mentor></software></ti></switch></micrel></mii></ethernet></micrel></mii></ethernet></ti></ti></ti></am335x></am335x></ti></ti></mmc></ti></mmc></ti></i2c></ofw></ti></at24c02></i2c></ofw></ti></ti></gpio></ofw></ti></gpio></ofw></ti></gpio></ofw></ti></gpio></ofw></ti></am335x></ti></am335x></performance></open></open></ti></ti></flattened></flattened></flattened></open></auto></auto></ethaddr></vendor></vendor> 
                

                Again, help pointing me in the right direction on this is greatly appreciated.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • J Offline
                  jmark
                  last edited by

                  Hello pfSense community,

                  I have brought this issue to the attention of hardware support and am working through it with them.

                  I will update this thread with results so that anyone else who may have the same issue in the future will benefit.

                  Thank you for your help.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • M Offline
                    madas
                    last edited by

                    Is there a USB version of this card? all I see is a PCIe version.  Do you have a link for a USB version?

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • M Offline
                      madas
                      last edited by

                      i assume you are using something like this?

                      https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01J705MTC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_npqizbMXZ2AQC

                      how does it show up in pfsense? and how to you configure all the settings (like APN, etc?)

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • Q Offline
                        q54e3w
                        last edited by

                        I am trailing one of them amazon enclosures with the em7455 modem. So far so good other than my poor reception on my ATT account.
                        You configure the modem directly, i.e. With AT commands to set APN and bands etc.

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • M Offline
                          madas
                          last edited by

                          great.  Let me know how it goes.  The module goes for about $125-$150 right?

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • Q Offline
                            q54e3w
                            last edited by

                            you can buy a Lenovo or Dell branded version for 75-$90 but TBH, I think Id suggest spending the additional few dollars to get an original Sierra version. They end up the same, its just additional config to make the dell or Lenovo act like a Sierra version.

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • M Offline
                              madas
                              last edited by

                              just ordered one.  Can you please let me know what steps you went through to get it up and running?

                              Thank you

                              M

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