Help with Dell Dw5821e WWAN card

mikeiver

Sent them to you in pieces via the chat window. Only way they would go as there is a 1000 character limit to each message.

Thanks again,

Mike

stephenw10

ugen1.3: <DELL DW5821e Snapdragon X20 LTE> at usbus1, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=HIGH (480Mbps) pwr=ON (0mA)

bLength = 0x0012
bDescriptorType = 0x0001
bcdUSB = 0x0200
bDeviceClass = 0x0000 <Probed by interface class>
bDeviceSubClass = 0x0000
bDeviceProtocol = 0x0000
bMaxPacketSize0 = 0x0040
idVendor = 0x413c
idProduct = 0x81d6
bcdDevice = 0x0100
iManufacturer = 0x0001 <DELL>
iProduct = 0x0002 <DW5821e Snapdragon X20 LTE>
iSerialNumber = 0x0003 <f1bf4810>
bNumConfigurations = 0x0001

Configuration index 0

bLength = 0x0009
bDescriptorType = 0x0002
wTotalLength = 0x0020
bNumInterfaces = 0x0001
bConfigurationValue = 0x0001
iConfiguration = 0x0000  <no string>
bmAttributes = 0x00c0
bMaxPower = 0x0000

Interface 0
bLength = 0x0009
bDescriptorType = 0x0004
bInterfaceNumber = 0x0000
bAlternateSetting = 0x0000
bNumEndpoints = 0x0002
bInterfaceClass = 0x00ff <Vendor specific>
bInterfaceSubClass = 0x0042
bInterfaceProtocol = 0x0003
iInterface = 0x0007 <fastboot>

 Endpoint 0
    bLength = 0x0007
    bDescriptorType = 0x0005
    bEndpointAddress = 0x0081  <IN>
    bmAttributes = 0x0002  <BULK>
    wMaxPacketSize = 0x0200
    bInterval = 0x0000
    bRefresh = 0x0000
    bSynchAddress = 0x0000

Endpoint 1
    bLength = 0x0007
    bDescriptorType = 0x0005
    bEndpointAddress = 0x0001  <OUT>
    bmAttributes = 0x0002  <BULK>
    wMaxPacketSize = 0x0200
    bInterval = 0x0000
    bRefresh = 0x0000
    bSynchAddress = 0x0000

Hmm, that's the full output from ugen1.3? That's disappointing if so. Only one config index and no useful interfaces really.....

mikeiver

So by your response I take it that I am screwed and likely it will not work?

stephenw10

Not without changing the card in some way. The presented default interfaces are not anything pfSense can use.

Via usb_mode_switch perhaps. Or a different firmware version.

The thread I linked above seems to imply it might be possible:

This module exposes two USB configurations: a QMI+AT capable setup on
USB config #1 and a MBIM capable setup on USB config #2.

If it had presented 2 config indexes we could have changed it. That might have given us an AT port and that can be used.

Steve

mikeiver

@stephenw10 Well I have a usb adapter coming in tomorrow and I will pull the modem and see if I can get it flashed with new firmware i pulled from Dell. Then see if I can get it up in windows 10 pro with the drivers provided by Dell. If that works i might be able to find the indexes and note them. Fingers crossed and thanks again. I will post back when I have more.

Mike

mikeiver

Still unable to post the output of the dump without getting flagged!

So this is the output after loading in the firmware with the dell software. It appears that there is a SIM PIN2 lock. Verizon here seems to think that the modem PIN is PIN2 and thus the reason that I could not get it working under windows10 either. I have contacted the seller to get the pin number or to return the modem. Unless something has changed. I don't know enough to know what I am looking at. Guess the search for a modem that will work might begin again...

stephenw10

You can put the output in pastebin and link to it.

The Sierra EM7455 I showed above works fine as does the EM7355 if you need an internal modem. External Ethernet connected modems generally work much better bother because you can usually position them better and because they are not limited by FreeBSD.

There are some OEM branded versions of those Sierra devices that can take some messing about to make work but they generally can be made to.

Steve

mikeiver

So a little update. It appears that this may be related to the fact that the FCC certified this modem for use in specific Dell products and utilizing specific antenna configurations. IE: This is a packaged product that was certified to be compliant. Not having one of the Dell laptops to play with I am not able to update the firmware on the card and see if that fixes and unlocks the modem. Will work on that next. I do have an old Dell computer and will see if I can get the software to load and run with the modem in the USB adapter on that. Long shot I suspect at the least.

What about the EM7565? I kind of want to stick to the internal card on one of the M.2 risers as the case and the board are already in my possession and working well. In other words I have all the pieces and just need a good modem for this to be a compact and functional package.

Mike

stephenw10

I have never tried an em7565, they are still too expensive for me.

I believe there are some other threads here people have documented that in.

Steve

mikeiver

So it appears that it does work in Linux and that brings some hope to me. Gonna have to do a fair bit more digging to see if I can get this up and running. From the looks of it FreeBSD is rather deficient in comparison to Linux in this area. Bummer because I like PFsense so far and have our home router/ firewall running it right now with no issues so far.

Edit: Spoke with a friend of mine that is a Cray super computer admin and deep into linux. He thinks that since there is a driver for the modem for Linux that given the source we should be able to recompile it to run on the BSD kernel. Does this sound about right?

Mike

stephenw10

Well it's all open source so anything is possible, just a matter of coding!

But no it's not a simple compile issue. There is no MBIM or QMI support on FreeBSD (until someone ports umb from OpenBSD).
If the modem can present a usb com port, as that earlier thread seemed to show, then it may only be a matter of adding the USB IDs to the existing u3g driver in FreeBSD to have it create a usable AT port,

Steve

mikeiver

@stephenw10 Well CRAP! I will refer my friend to this information and to another I found that you recently responded to about the same.

Thanks,

Mike