Qualcomm Gobi 2000

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 14 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
0	Vodafone	UQCN.mbn	25ebf8314ed23394d23fb30ec4d73bf8
1	Verizon	amss.mbn apps.mbn UQCN.mbn	06f76ed398458dad7b91c2d99a85a0a7 88a60ed745d75fb1b92c539574ecc972 2dccbd125ddd2cb327309ba75c6054d2
2	ATT	UQCN.mbn	1743cbe6de3172d6a35ff183c2716445
3	Sprint	amss.mbn apps.mbn UQCN.mbn	d25f247cbe0fa481378d9f92c65c3e5e 46fcb2423c31fd96e4645a90956264d2 0ac877ed109f3c28d844b08f55c56185
4	T-Mobile	UQCN.mbn	b0f5df651b34601bc21e3d8fcb064b19
6	Generic UMTS	UQCN.mbn	bdf27325ebb63251c1310cd3a8f7bab6
7	Telefonica	UQCN.mbn	a1b941dd4c24e4f6542916c3e1e4634d
8	Telecom Italia	UQCN.mbn	2f2a1b2b7f81735f0b8e4ea15c72b10b
9	Orange	amss.mbn apps.mbn UQCN.mbn	00c612a8a827dbef746f514e939fa77d 7d12b38ec6851bef5039b74bffffd423 735db64a57802e252ca4ff05d06b2f10
12	DoCoMo	amss.mbn apps.mbn UQCN.mbn	4d6203bf9fe8ae1af439d4d163e91596 385a22740f80c0d00f8acdd9ad637032 e868df00bfa88596d588a52f872ff703
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

Firmware loader

The firmware for this device must be loaded prior to using the device. 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. The firmware can be loaded using the gobi_loader application [4].

Modem

After firmware is loaded, the modem is exposed over USB as id 05c6:9205 which can be accessed as a character (TTYUSB) device under Linux using the qcserial (modified to include correct USB IDs). 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

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, you need to enable it in Windows ThinkVantage GPS(Auto enable tracking checkbox in Preferences). 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

• Gobi 2000 Product sheet

ThinkPads this device may be found in

AT&T service contract may be required

• Edge 14", Edge 15"
• T410, T410s, T510
• W510
• X100e

Verizon service contract may be required

• Edge 14", Edge 15"
• L412, L512
• T410, T410s, T410si, T510
• X201, X201 Tablet

Gobi 2000 WWAN upgradable

NOTE!

not every ThinkPad listed here can actually be upgraded

• Edge 13"
• T410, T410s, T410si, T510
• W510
• X100e, X201, X201 Tablet