Qualcomm Gobi 2000

From ThinkWiki
Revision as of 22:41, 27 April 2011 by Johnny (Talk | contribs) (Choosing the Right Firmware: Added internal UQCN name)
Jump to: navigation, search

Qualcomm Gobi 2000

This is a Qualcomm WWAN Adapter that is installed in a Mini-PCI Express slot

NOTE!
Specific versions of this card may come pre-configured for a certain carrier (AT&T, Verizon, Vodafone UK)

Features

  • Chipset: Qualcomm Gobi 2000
  • USB ID: 05c6:9204 (loader)
  • USB ID: 05c6:9205 (modem)
  • EV-DO/CDMA (800 & 1900Mhz)
  • GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850, 900, 1800 & 1900MHz)
  • HSPA/UMTS (800, 850, 900, 1900 & 2100MHz)
  • GPS, AGPS
  • Up to 7.2Mbps download, 5.76Mbps upload (HSPA/UMTS)
  • Up to 3.1Mbps download, 1.8Mbps upload (EV-DO)
Qualcomm Gobi 2000 WWAN Adapter

Lenovo Partnumbers

  • ThinkPad AT&T® Gobi 2000 Broadband Option 78Y1398
  • ThinkPad Gobi 2000 Broadband Option 78Y1399

Firmware

The firmware for this device is not publicly downloadable. It consists of 3 files:

  • amss.mbn (firmware stage 1)
  • apps.mbn (firmware stage 2)
  • UQCN.mbn (firmware stage 3 - includes configuration and carrier specific settings)

Obtaining the Firmware

There are two ways of obtaining the firmware files:

  1. From the pre-installed Lenovo Windows installation. Or from a clean Windows installation in a virtualizer that supports USB after installing the Qualcomm Gobi 2000 Wireless WAN Driver[1]. The default location for the firmware files is C:\Program Files (x86)\QUALCOMM\Images\Lenovo\
  2. Using Wine to execute the Qualcomm Gobi 2000 Wireless WAN Driver installer[2] that simply unpacks the real installer named GobiInstaller.msi. Then just extract[3] the firmware images from the MSI file by $ wine msiexec /a ~/.wine/drive_c/DRIVERS/WWANQL/Driver/GobiInstaller.msi TARGETDIR=C:\\DRIVERS\\GOBI
Hint:
For enabling GPS, you will need a Windows installation with the Qualcomm Gobi 2000 Wireless WAN Driver installed, anyhow.

Choosing the Right Firmware

The firmware images are located in 11 directories. In general, each "officially" supported carrier has its own directory, as depicted in table "Firmware Images". However, if your UMTS carrier is not listed, the default firmware and the generic UMTS firmware should work. The table "Non-listed Carrier Compatibility" summarizes the experiences of the Talk page.

Firmware Images (Version 1.1.170/2.0.7.3 Released 2010/10/28)
Dir Carrier Image MD5 message digest Internal UQCN name
0 Vodafone UQCN.mbn 25ebf8314ed23394d23fb30ec4d73bf8 02-umts_vod-01024-011
1 Verizon

amss.mbn
apps.mbn
UQCN.mbn

06f76ed398458dad7b91c2d99a85a0a7
88a60ed745d75fb1b92c539574ecc972
2dccbd125ddd2cb327309ba75c6054d2

02-c2k_vzw-00256-018
2 ATT UQCN.mbn 1743cbe6de3172d6a35ff183c2716445 02-umts_att_noxtra-00768-144
3 Sprint

amss.mbn
apps.mbn
UQCN.mbn

d25f247cbe0fa481378d9f92c65c3e5e
46fcb2423c31fd96e4645a90956264d2
0ac877ed109f3c28d844b08f55c56185

02-c2k_sprint-00512-015
4 T-Mobile UQCN.mbn b0f5df651b34601bc21e3d8fcb064b19 02-umts_tmo_noxtra-01280-139
6 Generic UMTS UQCN.mbn bdf27325ebb63251c1310cd3a8f7bab6 02-umts_gen-02304-018
7 Telefonica UQCN.mbn a1b941dd4c24e4f6542916c3e1e4634d 02-umts_tellfon_nogps-03073-012
8 Telecom Italia UQCN.mbn 2f2a1b2b7f81735f0b8e4ea15c72b10b 02-umts_telital_noxtra-03584-139
9 Orange

amss.mbn
apps.mbn
UQCN.mbn

00c612a8a827dbef746f514e939fa77d
7d12b38ec6851bef5039b74bffffd423
735db64a57802e252ca4ff05d06b2f10

02-umts_orange-02816-012
12 DoCoMo

amss.mbn
apps.mbn
UQCN.mbn

4d6203bf9fe8ae1af439d4d163e91596
385a22740f80c0d00f8acdd9ad637032
e868df00bfa88596d588a52f872ff703

02-umts_doco-03328-009
UMTS Default Firmware

amss.mbn
apps.mbn

80fcfbb41a7d4331d4b7145972f5f3c4
00cbd411048cdadc3e4caf0d89d14fca

Non-listed Carrier Compatibility
Dir Image Works with
0 Vodafone ePlus Germany
1 Verizon
2 ATT
3 Sprint
4 T-Mobile
6 Generic UMTS O2 UK?
O2 Germany
7 Telefonica
8 Telecom Italia
9 Orange
12 DoCoMo
UMTS Default Firmware UMTS unlocked, O2 UK?
O2 Germany
ePlus Germany

Loading the Firmware

The firmware for this device must be loaded prior to using the device. It persists in the memory of the device until the next cold boot. Then, it has to be loaded again. The firmware can be loaded automatically via udev using the gobi_loader application[4]. This application expects the firmware image files (amss.mbn, apps.mbn, and UQCN.mbn) in /lib/firmware/gobi/. Thus, create this directory as root, when it does not exist, and copy the appropriate firmware files into the directory. The previous section helps you to obtain the correct files.

Technically, the firmware loading interface is exposed over USB as id 05c6:9204 which can be accessed as a character (ttyUSB) device under Linux using the qcserial driver. After successfully loading the firmware, the device switches to the USB id 05c6:9205 and exposes three character devices (ttyUSB).

Modem

After the firmware is loaded, the modem is exposed over USB as id 05c6:9205 which can be accessed as a character (ttyUSB) device. Normal dial-up software can be used to create a 3G connection.

GPS

Since kernel 2.6.37, or with a small kernel patch (submitted upstream: [5]), two additional serial ports are available: Diagnostics Monitor and NMEA GPS. The three serial ports are:

       # /dev/ttyUSB0 -> Diagnostics
       # /dev/ttyUSB1 -> 3G Modem
       # /dev/ttyUSB2 -> NMEA GPS port

There is a PPA for the qcserial module for Ubuntu 10.10 which uses DKMS: ppa:dveeden/thinkpad-fixes.

If you have another serial USB device activated before the Gobi the ttyUSB-numbers will certainly change.

The Diagnostics Monitor uses Qualcomm's DM protocol; I used libqcdm (ModemManager) to talk to it, found it working, but at least DM commands 12 and 64 are not implemented on my device (Thinkpad x100e).

The GPS port and how to enable it has been confirmed now in the Gobi 3000 source code at: https://www.codeaurora.org/patches/quic/gobi/ Enable/disable GPS with:

       echo "\$GPS_START" > /dev/ttyUSB2
       # use GPS
       echo "\$GPS_STOP"  > /dev/ttyUSB2
NOTE!
Preconditions: this has only been tested with and without a 3G SIM card attached to the device and the firmware successfully loaded. It is not necessary though to be connected via 3G to be able to use GPS.

Also before you can use "$GPS_START/$GPS_STOP" feature, "Auto tracking" has to be enabled in the Options of the Lenovo Thinkvantage GPS Windows application[6]. The Thinkvantage GPS Windows application works with a clean Windows installation in a virtualizer that supports USB. However, it requires the Qualcomm Gobi 2000 Wireless WAN Driver[7] to be installed.

You will need to enable it only once.

To verify if the device is in the right mode use gpscat

$ gpscat /dev/ttyUSB2
6,,,,26,,,,13,,,*70
$GPGSV,4,2,16,14,,,,25,,,,08,,,,09,,,*7B
$GPGSV,4,3,16,32,,,,24,,,,,11,,,*73

You could use gpsctl to verify if gpsd detected the device correctly:

$ gpsctl
gpsctl: /dev/ttyUSB2 identified as Generic NMEA at 9600

If gpsd didn't detect the serial port the use the following line:

sudo /lib/udev/gpsd.hotplug add /dev/ttyUSB2

Use xgps or cgps to verify if the GPS has a fix. If it does have a fix you could use TangoGPS or any other GPS tool which uses gpsd.

Carrier specific configurations

Each device is intended to be used with a specific carrier, and is shipped with firmware to support that carrier. Notebooks are often also shipped with a pre-installed SIM. Other carriers may work by loading a different firmware version. The 'generic UMTS' stage 3 firmware is known to with with O2, an unsupported UK carrier. See above for a list of known firmware files.

NOTE!
It may be illegal or a breach of contract in various countries to bypass a carrier lock


Troubleshooting

Some users have experienced the modem entering a strange state in which it refuses any attempt of loading the firmware. There seem to be at least two ways to reset the modem to get it working as normally again:

1) try to disable WWAN in BIOS and boot your computer. Then shut down it, and enable WWAN again. OR:

2) remove the AC adapter as well as the battery pack and then hold the power button for some time (approx 30 sec. - 1 min.). Then insert the battery again and boot as usual.

See discussion page (22 - 23 January 2011) for further details. --stman 10:10, 23 January 2011 (UTC)


Links

ThinkPads this device may be found in

AT&T service contract may be required

Verizon service contract may be required

Gobi 2000 WWAN upgradable

NOTE!
not every ThinkPad listed here can actually be upgraded