custom nrf9160 board unable to connect : SIP version pb ?

[fgaultier]

Hi,

We developped a custom NRF9160 board and it works fine, it connects to LTE-M. We then designed a new version of the same board by adding few things (like NRF52833 MCU) and it does not connect anymore.

• On the new boards, the schematics related to NRF9160 are essentially the same as on the older version
• On the new boards, the firmware running the NRF9160 modem part looked rather old (somthing like mfw_nrf9160_0.6.x-xx.alpha or mfw_nrf9160_0.5.x-xx.alpha) 
• The AT%XSIM? command always returned 0 and we add to update the firmware to newer version nrf9160_1.2.3 before the SIM card activation successfully returned 1
• But still, the NRF9160 refuse to connect.
• Directement measurements on the antenna PIN show nothings go out
• The SIM card  is the same
• The results of AT commands are similar to those from earlier board (see below)

The SIP on the former board was: nRF9160 SICA B0 2025BC

The SIP on newer board is: nRF9160 SICA B0 191102

 

AT+CFUN?
+CFUN: 4
OK
AT+CFUN=1
OK
AT+CFUN?
+CFUN: 1
OK
AT+CGSN=1
+CGSN: "352656100163024"
OK
AT+CEMODE?
+CEMODE: 2
OK
AT%XCBAND=?
%XCBAND: (1,2,3,4,5,8,12,13,14,17,20,25,26,28,66)
OK
AT+CMEE?
+CMEE: 0
OK
AT+CMEE=1
OK
AT+CNEC?
+CNEC: 0
OK
AT+CNEC=24
OK
AT+CGEREP?
+CGEREP: 0,0
OK
AT+CGDCONT?
OK
AT+CGACT?
OK
AT+CGEREP=1
OK
AT+CIND=1,1,1
OK
AT+CEREG=5
OK
AT+CEREG?
+CEREG: 5,4,"FFFE","FFFFFFFF",7,0,0,"00000000","00000000"
OK
AT%CESQ=1
OK
AT+CESQ
+CESQ: 99,99,255,255,255,255
OK
AT%XSIM=1
OK
AT%XSIM?
%XSIM: 1
OK
AT+CPIN?
+CPIN: READY
OK
AT+CPINR="SIM PIN"
+CPINR: "SIM PIN",3
OK
AT+CIMI
901405101055803
OK

[JONATHAN LL]

Hi,

measurements on the antenna PIN show nothings go out

Have you measured on both the working and not working HW ? 

schematics related to NRF9160 are essentially the same as on the older version

Is the RF part the same ? have there ben any changes in the PCB layout? 
Can you possibly share the schematic and the PCB files ?

Might solve this without having top share schematic and HW files

You have used the same SIM and know it works.

What does AT%XMONITOR return ?

 Regards,
Jonathan

[fgaultier]

Hi,

Thanks for your answer Jonathan.

The RF part on the new board is fine; we were able to connect to LTE-M from the older board using the RF part (antenna and matching circuit) of the newer board.

I will check the result of  AT%XMONITOR on monday morning (I'm teleworking today and have no access to our lab currently), and if we cannot figure anything from it, I will share schematic and HW files with you. 

Best regards,

Franck

[JONATHAN LL]

Ok, sounds good. If you dont want to share the files publicly we can make this case private or you can create a new one, whatever you prefer. 

Regards,
Jonathan

[fgaultier]

Hi Jonathan,

I tried again the AT commands including AT%XMONITOR.

The first response of AT%XMONITOR is 4 and the second is 0

Do you have an Idea ?

The complete results are below

AT%XSYSTEMMODE=1,0,0,1
OK
AT%XSYSTEMMODE?
%XSYSTEMMODE: 1,0,0,1
OK
AT+CFUN=1
OK
AT+CFUN?
+CFUN: 1
OK
AT+CGSN=1
+CGSN: "352656100353088"
OK
AT+CGMI
Nordic Semiconductor ASA
OK
AT+CGMM
nRF9160-SICA
OK
AT+CGMR
mfw_nrf9160_1.2.3
OK
AT+CEMODE?
+CEMODE: 2
OK
AT%XCBAND=?
%XCBAND: (1,2,3,4,5,8,12,13,14,17,20,25,26,28,66)
OK
AT+CMEE?
+CMEE: 0
OK
AT+CMEE=1
OK
AT+CNEC?
+CNEC: 0
OK
AT+CNEC=24
OK
AT+CGEREP?
+CGEREP: 0,0
OK
AT+CGDCONT?
OK
AT+CGACT?
OK
AT+CGEREP=1
OK
AT+CIND=1,1,1
OK
AT+CEREG=5
OK
AT+CEREG?
+CEREG: 5,4,"FFFE","FFFFFFFF",7,0,0,"00000000","00000000"
OK
AT%CESQ=1
OK
AT+CESQ
+CESQ: 99,99,255,255,255,255
OK
AT%XSIM=1
OK
AT%XSIM?
%XSIM: 1
OK
AT+CPIN?
+CPIN: READY
OK
AT+CPINR="SIM PIN"
+CPINR: "SIM PIN",3
OK
AT+CIMI
901405101055802
OK
AT+CGDCONT?
OK
AT%XMONITOR
%XMONITOR: 4
OK
AT%XMONITOR
%XMONITOR: 0

[JONATHAN LL]

Hi,


AT%XMONITOR returning the values 4 and 0 
indicated that it is not recognized by the network. 
- 4 – Unknown (e.g. out of E-UTRAN coverage)
- 0 – Not registered. User Equipment (UE) is not currently searching for an operator to register to.

For +CEREG  4 is the same as %XMONITOR command, 4 – Unknown (e.g. out of E-UTRAN coverage).

Does the SIM work on other HW ? And you are testing with AT_Client  ?

Regards,
Jonathan

[fgaultier]

Yes the SIM is from 1nce (IoT Flat Rate | Konnektivität für M2M und IoT Anwendungen | 1NCE) and it works fine on other HW. 

We're not using AT_Client (no available UART on the board), but sending AT commands from our firmware in debug mode.