SIM7600 LTE Firmware update.

[SteveAA]

Hi All,

We are currently in the design process of a remote data logging system with the SIM7600 miniPCIe at its core. We are using the on board MQTT AT commands to both send field data to the IOT platform, as well as receiving system parameters for such things as motor speed, sample rates etc. Our initial prototype was based on a SIM7600SA-H and worked as expected.

As we did not need the high speed connection (only sending 2 data points every hour) We have recently purchased a number of SIM7600SA miniPCIe boards and noticed that they would not connect with our MQTT broker. Upon further investigation we found that the MQTT commands available on the "Non -H" boards were limited and not the full SIM7600SA-H spec. For instance these modules do not allow for a username and password with the AT+CMQTTCONNECT=0 command or the ability to select the MQTT version with the AT+CMQTACCQ command. Of course the first thing we checked was the firmware (AT+GMR) which came back as +GMR: LE11B01SIM7600M21-A

After some searching we came across the updater and attempted to flash the firmware, Using a USB adapter board plugged directly into the PC (i.e. no USB cable issues), however we are getting the following error.

First we load all the firmware files from the LE11B14SIM7600M22 file (is this the latest firmware for these???). These seem to load OK. Then press the "Start" tab and it proceeds to talk to the SIM module, after 29 seconds it fails with the error.

Has anyone come accross this error or have any ideas on how to fix this?

Any help woulf be appricated.

Regards
Steve

 

[BradtheRad]

* When it says 'please repower' I imagine it's their way of saying if fails when you try one sequence of connecting and powering-up, try another sequence until it works.

* Do the AT commands allow you to examine whether one unit's communication settings match the other? Baud rate? Data 7 bits or 8 bits? Parity? Full duplex or half-duplex?

* DUT=device under test. Are additional devices hooked up besides the unit you're updating? It's wise to disconnect all unnecessary peripherals.

 

[SteveAA]

Hi Brad,

Thanks for the replay and sorry for my delay in updating you, after quite some time attempting many of the potential solutions you mentioned, as well as many more from various threads on the web, it turned out that the drivers for the SIM module don't all install during the initial module setup.

I thought I would post this answer to the problem as I can't believe that I am the only person who has come across this problem - and hopefully this will help someone out.

It turns out that during the process for updating the firmware, when the error displays concerning the connection to the Sahara Server, If you then go back to the windows device manager you will find two additional drivers missing, (these where not there before this) once you manually update these using the original downloaded SIMCOM drivers file and restart the firmware update process - everything works as expected.

Got there in the end, took a while but I'm now happy with the outcome and can successfully connect to the MQTT server. Thanks for your help.

Steve