BPi-R4 + Fibocom FM190W-GL = No sim detected

[ajax_crooked]

My BPi-R4 is running OpenWRT 24.10.0.rc2 I am not able to install picocom on this image, it is not found by opkg.

Originally the sim card was detected. The sim slot led indicator would blink. Then I installed the modem m.2 card in m.2 slot 1. The sim LED would be steady and not blink. The sim was detected, and so was the modem. But the modem would show as “disabled”. I ran mmcli --modem=0 -enable and this enabled the modem, but it was stuck on “searching”. I did not configure the interface, nor give it an apn. I did not know this at the time, so I restarted the bpi-r4. Upon restart, i started seeing “modem failed. sim not found”. My sim card slot on the bpi-r4 would no longer light up. Attached are the relevant screenshots.

My suspicion is that the modem card does not know where the sim cards on the bpi-r4 is. And the modem card is defaulting to some empty pins that do not have a sim card.

I would appreciate anyone who is more knowledgeable to chime in, and ask me for any more required information.

Thank you

[ajax_crooked]

Update 1:

I actually power cycled from cold start (whereas i kept hitting “reboot” in the openwrt gui before), now sim card is detected, and modem is too. Modem still complains the sim is missing, but presents a path to the sim as shown with mmcli -m 0

[ajax_crooked]

Update 2: I installed picocom manually by downloading the ipk file at Index of /releases/24.10.0-rc2/packages/aarch64_cortex-a53/packages/ using wget

file is named, picocom_3.1-r5_aarch64_cortex-a53.ipk

I found this directory by looking at vi /etc/opkg/distfeeds.conf and seeing the src/gz openwrt_packages Index of /releases/24.10.0-rc2/packages/aarch64_cortex-a53/packages/ link

This is what I was seeing when trying to download picocom myself from opkg:

root@OpenWrt:~# opkg -V install picocom
opkg_conf_parse_file: Loading conf file /etc/opkg.conf.
opkg_conf_parse_file: Loading conf file /etc/opkg/customfeeds.conf.
opkg_conf_parse_file: Loading conf file /etc/opkg/distfeeds.conf.
pkg_hash_load_feeds:
pkg_hash_load_feeds:
pkg_hash_load_status_files:
pkg_info_preinstall_check: Updating file owner list.
Unknown package 'picocom'.
opkg_configure_packages: Configuring unpacked packages.
opkg_configure_packages: Reordering packages before configuring them...
Collected errors:
 * opkg_install_cmd: Cannot install package picocom.
root@OpenWrt:~# opkg -V install picocom_3.1-r5_aarch64_cortex-a53
opkg_conf_parse_file: Loading conf file /etc/opkg.conf.
opkg_conf_parse_file: Loading conf file /etc/opkg/customfeeds.conf.
opkg_conf_parse_file: Loading conf file /etc/opkg/distfeeds.conf.
pkg_hash_load_feeds:
pkg_hash_load_feeds:
pkg_hash_load_status_files:
pkg_info_preinstall_check: Updating file owner list.
Unknown package 'picocom_3.1-r5_aarch64_cortex-a53'.
opkg_configure_packages: Configuring unpacked packages.
opkg_configure_packages: Reordering packages before configuring them...
Collected errors:
 * opkg_install_cmd: Cannot install package picocom_3.1-r5_aarch64_cortex-a53.

In the end, after downloading the ipk file with wget, and running: opkg -V2 install picocom_3.1-r5_aarch64_cortex-a53.ipk I was able to install picocom with this workaround.

[ajax_crooked]

Update 3: For some reason, even though the sim is detected by banana-pi, as shown in update 1, the modem will still not see it. See log when I reset modem. AT commands are now working btw.

Sat Dec 21 01:48:37 2024 daemon.notice netifd: Interface 'broadband' is setting up now
Sat Dec 21 01:48:37 2024 daemon.notice netifd: broadband (14123): modem available at /org/freedesktop/ModemManager1/Modem/0
Sat Dec 21 01:48:37 2024 daemon.notice netifd: broadband (14123): SIM missing
Sat Dec 21 01:48:37 2024 daemon.notice netifd: broadband (14150): stopping network
Sat Dec 21 01:48:37 2024 daemon.notice netifd: broadband (14150): couldn't load bearer path: disconnecting anyway
Sat Dec 21 01:48:37 2024 daemon.notice netifd: Interface 'broadband' is now down

[ajax_crooked]

Update 4: Im trying with QMI Mode this time, with these settings in /etc/config/network:

and this is what the log is giving me:

Sat Dec 21 02:06:05 2024 daemon.notice netifd: Interface 'qmibb' is setting up now
Sat Dec 21 02:06:06 2024 daemon.warn odhcpd[2420]: No default route present, overriding ra_lifetime to 0!
Sat Dec 21 02:06:35 2024 daemon.notice netifd: qmibb (4806): Waiting for SIM initialization
Sat Dec 21 02:06:35 2024 daemon.notice netifd: qmibb (4806): Failed to parse message data
Sat Dec 21 02:06:35 2024 daemon.notice netifd: qmibb (4806): PIN verification is disabled
Sat Dec 21 02:06:36 2024 daemon.notice netifd: qmibb (4806): Device does not support 802.3 mode. Informing driver of raw-ip only for wwan0 ..
Sat Dec 21 02:06:37 2024 daemon.notice netifd: qmibb (4806): Waiting for network registration
Sat Dec 21 02:06:42 2024 daemon.notice netifd: qmibb (4806): Device stopped network registration. Restart network registration
Sat Dec 21 02:06:43 2024 daemon.notice netifd: qmibb (4806): Device stopped network registration. Restart network registration
Sat Dec 21 02:06:44 2024 daemon.notice netifd: qmibb (4806): Device stopped network registration. Restart network registration
Sat Dec 21 02:06:46 2024 daemon.notice netifd: qmibb (4806): Device stopped network registration. Restart network registration
Sat Dec 21 02:06:47 2024 daemon.notice netifd: qmibb (4806): Device stopped network registration. Restart network registration
Sat Dec 21 02:06:49 2024 daemon.notice netifd: qmibb (4806): Device stopped network registration. Restart network registration
Sat Dec 21 02:06:50 2024 daemon.notice netifd: qmibb (4806): Device stopped network registration. Restart network registration
Sat Dec 21 02:06:51 2024 daemon.notice netifd: qmibb (4806): Device stopped network registration. Restart network registration
Sat Dec 21 02:06:53 2024 daemon.notice netifd: qmibb (4806): Device stopped network registration. Restart network registration
Sat Dec 21 02:06:54 2024 daemon.notice netifd: qmibb (4806): Device stopped network registration. Restart network registration
Sat Dec 21 02:06:55 2024 daemon.notice netifd: qmibb (4806): Network registration failed, registration timeout reached
Sat Dec 21 02:06:55 2024 daemon.notice netifd: qmibb (5117): Stopping network qmibb
Sat Dec 21 02:06:55 2024 daemon.notice netifd: qmibb (5117): Command failed: ubus call network.interface notify_proto { "action": 0, "link-up": false, "keep": false, "interface": "qmibb" } (Permission denied)
Sat Dec 21 02:06:55 2024 daemon.notice netifd: Interface 'qmibb' is now down

[ajax_crooked]

Sim was actually in an illegal state. Two reasons. APN for tmobile static IP address is b2b.static not fast.t-mobile.com

Second, even though tmobile business internet plan says you can bring your own device (BYDO) doesnt mean they do. You need to cl@ne the IMEI of your provided device onto your x75 modem card.

[Konrad]

If the SIM isn’t detected at all, please check first via terminal programm “at+cpin” and “at+cimi”. First will show whether SIM is detected (and may need a PIN), second will show IMSI of the SIM card. IMEI “AT+CGMI” just shows presence of the modem. More expressive error codes you may get by “at+cmee=2” followed by above commands. Background, the logic of the SIM card holder on BPI-R4 may not follow assumptions, see https://forum.banana-pi.org/t/4g-modem-wwan0-on-debian11-not-working/19560 for further details.

On other hand, if the modem does not support SIM hotplug, it may be that modem was powered without SIM, so “no SIM present”. Then SIM was seated, But modem has no chance to detect (because not observing the SIM insert pin), SIM still not present. Then by power cycle modem got restarted as well with inserted SIM and detection OK. Even with a wrong APN, above commands should return success, showing presence of SIM.