nRF9151DK - UICC failure "Is SIM installed?"

[Tom01]

Dear Nordic team,

we are evaluating the nRF9151 for a data acquisition application/device. Our first goal was to get the official HTTPS client sample to run on the nRF9151DK, but have run into an issue with a UICC failure which I couldn't solve so far.

I've been trying to run the official HTTPS sample with SDK version 3.3.0. The output of the sample application is as follows.

*** Booting nRF Connect SDK v3.3.0-ba167d9f3db4 ***
*** Using Zephyr OS v4.3.99-fd9204a02d52 ***
HTTPS client sample started
Bringing network interface up
Provisioning certificate
Certificate match
Connecting to the network
+CEREG: 90
[00:00:01.019,073] <wrn> nrf_modem_lib_netif: The modem reports a UICC failure. Is SIM installed?

As per the output, the SIM card does not seem to be recognized and at this point I am unsure whether this is a hardware or a software problem. What I've tried/checked so far:

1. inserted one SIM card which came with the development kit and one SIM card which is known to work in another device

2. made sure the SIM cards are inserted correctly

3. made sure the jumper on P30 is connected

4. Added AT command "AT%XSIM?" to the sample which returns "%XSIM: 0" (which seems to mean it's not initialized?)

5. Tried the advice given in this thread: https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/f/nordic-q-a/128147/nrf9151-dk-uicc-failure-no-sim-vcc-after-previous-softsim-usage (all commands yield "OK")

Am I missing some hardware-side configuration for the nRF9151 development kit? 

Best,

Tom

  

[Hakon]

Some comments;

Based on the log file, SIM slot selection is correct (slot 0), but SIM card is not responding when powered on, i.e. no ATR (Answer To Reset) is received from the SIM card.

07:33:48.652916 L23_AT_STRING AT_STRING => +CFUN=1 07:33:48.684868 uicc_apdu_control_ind_t { ... data : 6 (UICC_APDU_CTRL_SELECT_SIM_HAL_SLOT_0) } 07:33:48.685051 POWER_PMIC_SIM_ON power_sim_on 07:33:48.807915 POWER_PMIC_SIM_OFF power_sim_off 07:33:48.807915 APDU_CARD_POWER_ON_NO_ATR apdu_card_power_on: NO ATR, sim_hal_card_activate: -1. 07:33:48.808434 APDU_CARD_ACTIVATE_FAILED apdu_card_activate: Card activation failed.

SIM_VCC is expected to be switched off in this kind of case. That is based on ISO/IEC 7816-3 requirement: “If the answer does not begin within 40 000 clock cycles with RST at state H, the interface device shall perform a deactivation.“

After that there are some retries ending with same result.

Looks like there is some kind of connection problem in some of the SIM interface pins. I’m not sure if this could be some kind of development kit configuration issue. If not, then I suspect that the board HW may be faulty.

[Tom01]

Hello Hakon,

thank you for your response.

How would you proceed in this case? Do you recommend to return the two development kits? 

Best, Tom

[Hakon]

Tom01 said:

How would you proceed in this case? Do you recommend to return the two development kits?

Before we do anything else, can you upload a picture of the two DKs?

[Tom01]

Ok, is there anything specific you need to see, or should I just take a photo of the boards? 

I am out of office until next Monday. I’ll post the photos then.

[Hakon]

Just take a photo for both the back and front side of the DK, and maybe sure everything is visible.