Stability issues with a Sierra Wireless MC7455 on a SG-1000
-
Hello pfSense community,
I have purchased a SG-1000 in order to set up a cellular internet connection for my father's farm.
I have attached a Sierra Wireless MC7455 via USB OTG cable and the OS detects the modem. I am able to get a connection via T-Moble and get internet access at bootup. However, after a few minutes it becomes unstable. At some point, the modem will loose access and seems to disconnect from USB and reconnect. Additionally, any change to the connection config will not allow the modem to reconnect. It seems to me (I am a complete novice when it comes to freebsd) that the modem will disconnect itself reconnect itself continually when this happens. If the connection drops, the modem will also not reconnect without pulling the power plug and booting again.
During this time, I see the following in DMESG:
u3g0: at uhub1, port 1, addr 2 (disconnected) ugen0.2: <sierra wireless,="" incorporated=""> at usbus0 u3g0: <sierra 0="" 2="" wireless,="" incorporated="" sierra="" wireless="" mc7455="" qualcomm="" snapdragon ="" ="" x7="" lte-a,="" class="" 0,="" rev="" 2.10="" 0.06,="" addr=""> on usbus0 u3g0: Found 5 ports. ugen0.2: <sierra wireless,="" incorporated=""> at usbus0 (disconnected) u3g0: at uhub1, port 1, addr 2 (disconnected) ugen0.2: <sierra wireless,="" incorporated=""> at usbus0 u3g0: <sierra 0="" 2="" wireless,="" incorporated="" sierra="" wireless="" mc7455="" qualcomm="" snapdragon ="" ="" x7="" lte-a,="" class="" 0,="" rev="" 2.10="" 0.06,="" addr=""> on usbus0 u3g0: Found 5 ports. ugen0.2: <sierra wireless,="" incorporated=""> at usbus0 (disconnected) u3g0: at uhub1, port 1, addr 2 (disconnected) ugen0.2: <sierra wireless,="" incorporated=""> at usbus0 u3g0: <sierra 0="" 2="" wireless,="" incorporated="" sierra="" wireless="" mc7455="" qualcomm="" snapdragon="" x7="" lte-a,="" class="" 0,="" rev="" 2.10="" 0.06,="" addr=""> on usbus0 u3g0: Found 5 ports.</sierra></sierra></sierra></sierra></sierra></sierra></sierra></sierra>If I go look at /dev, the modem's device has changed from cuaU0.2, to cuaU1.2. I have attached the PPP.log to this post. I can provide any logs necessary, just let me know where to find them.
To me, it looks like there is an issue with the driver for my modem. What can I do to fix this? Open a ticket in the bug tracker? Pay the support fee for help from Netgate?
Thank you for any help!
ppp.txt -
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.
-
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!
-
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.
-
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?
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
Is there a USB version of this card? all I see is a PCIe version. Do you have a link for a USB version?
-
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?)
-
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. -
great. Let me know how it goes. The module goes for about $125-$150 right?
-
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.
-
just ordered one. Can you please let me know what steps you went through to get it up and running?
Thank you
M
