Firmware update not working on an 02.08 Dell EM7455

[Robin Dinse]

qmi-firmware-update fails every time after it restarts the modem in boot & hold mode with either of the following two errors (roughly 50:50 chance), running on Ubuntu 18.04.5 in VMware on a Windows 10 host.

download mode detected
error: error creating device: unexpected response received in dload sdp: 0x13```

Or:

download mode detected
error: error creating device: timed out waiting for the response

After that, the modem is stuck in low-power mode because the firmware image preference refers to the image that is not yet flashed to the modem, hence mismatching the one loaded by default.

VMware is setup to automatically connect the modem to the guest. I've tried this with firmware version 02.20 (which is the next highest version from it's current version 02.08) as well as the most recent one, 02.33. Below are the modem's characteristics after a reset using AT!RMARESET=1. Strangely, the active firmware slot FW 1 is empty.

Updates with fwdwl-litehostx86_64 (Ubuntu 18.04.5) and fdt.exe (Windows 10) fail too.

---

ATI
Manufacturer: Sierra Wireless, Incorporated
Model: EM7455
Revision: SWI9X30C_02.08.02.00 r5428 CARMD-EV-FRMWR2 2016/01/06 20:38:53
[...]
+GCAP: +CGSM
OK

AT!HWID?
Revision: 1.0
OK

AT!USBINFO?
VID: 0x413C
APP PID: 0x81B6
BOOT PID: 0x81B5
Manufacturer: Sierra Wireless, Incorporated
Product: DW5811e Snapdragon�™ X7 LTE
OK

AT!PCINFO?
State: Online
LPM voters - Temp:0, Volt:0, User:0, W_DISABLE:0, IMSWITCH:0, BIOS:0
LPM persistence - None
OK

AT!IMPREF?
!IMPREF:
 preferred fw version:    02.08.02.00
 preferred carrier name:  GENERIC
 preferred config name:   GENERIC_002.007_000
 current fw version:      02.08.02.00
 current carrier name:    GENERIC
 current config name:     GENERIC_002.007_000
OK

AT!IMAGE?
TYPE SLOT STATUS LRU FAILURES UNIQUE_ID   BUILD_ID
FW   1    EMPTY  0   0 0
FW   2    EMPTY  0   0 0
FW   3    EMPTY  0   0 0
FW   4    EMPTY  0   0 0
Max FW images: 4
Active FW image is at slot 1

TYPE SLOT STATUS LRU FAILURES UNIQUE_ID   BUILD_ID
PRI  FF   GOOD   0   0 0      002.007_000 02.08.02.00_GENERIC
Max PRI images: 50
OK

[Robin Dinse]

I managed to update the module on a (bare metal) 2009 Dell Windows 7 Pro 32-bit machine. I do not know which steps are actually necessary. It may even work directly under Windows 10 with any machine and old drivers/firmwares, or under Windows 7 with the newest driver/firmware, but I do not have more time to experiment.

1. In Ubuntu via e.g. minicom -D /dev/ttyUSB2 restore the modem to the Generic factory defaults (AT!ENTERCND="A710", AT!NVRESTORE=0, followed by AT!RESET).
2. Install driver build 4743 on Windows 7.
3. Update to 02.20 with updater exe.
4. Uninstall driver.
5. Install driver build 4836.
6. Update to 02.33 with updater exe.
7. Done. It's online and working.

Finally, I did the recommended settings from the README.md for the X1C6, but had to flash the SIM card chip with the following fix (even though it is for EM7345 equipped devices): https://support.lenovo.com/lk/en/solutions/HT501750