885 modem fails to intialize after KR2 warm reboot

cobbers · EVDO Newbie Joined: 28 Nov 2008 Posts: 3

Good Day-
I am using a KR2 router with firmware 1004. The modem being used is an ATT USBConnect 885U Mercury. This modem is on the compatibility list. On cold start, the modem is recognized. After a warm reboot, the modem has LEDs that remain lit, the EVDO status LED goes out and remains off. The modem is not recognized until the modem is removed and reinserted. When the modem is recognized outbound and inbound WWAN operates fine, except sometimes while on an remote connection over EDGE, even though the modem is connected via the WWAN, the modem status does not display in KR2 management screens.
I have not read any posts about these symptoms with any modem, so could it be unique to the 885U? Sierra Wireless has suggested to send an ATZ command and that was ineffective. Kyocera phone support has suggested an APN entry, and this problem occurs whether or not the static IP APN is used or not.

The Logs:
Cold Start
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 05:36:38 2008 Starting WAN Services
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 05:36:38 2008 WAN interface is up. Connection to Internet established with IP Address 166.130.110.86 and
default gateway 0.0.0.0
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 05:36:38 2008 WAN device (PPP) on port USB2 returned status_ok status
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 05:36:38 2008 WAN device (PPP) on port USB2 connected
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 05:36:38 2008 WAN device (PPP) on port USB2 attempting to connect
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 05:36:38 2008 PPP network up with IP Address 166.130.110.86
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 05:36:34 2008 LCP sets local options: ACCM: 00000000, ACFC: 1, PFC: 1, MRU: 1500
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 05:36:34 2008 LCP sets remote auth: C223
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 05:36:34 2008 LCP sets remote options: ACCM: 00000000, ACFC: 1, PFC: 1, MRU: 1500
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 05:36:28 2008 WAN device (PPP) on port USB2 returned status_processing status
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 05:36:28 2008 WAN device (PPP) on port USB2 attempting to connect
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 05:36:27 2008 Above message repeated 1 times
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 05:36:15 2008 WAN device (PPP) on port USB2 returned status_processing status
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 05:36:15 2008 WAN device (PPP) on port USB2 attempting to connect
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 05:36:14 2008 Starting DHCP server
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 05:36:08 2008 WAN device plugged
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 05:36:06 2008 WAN device (Static IP) unplugged port Ethernet
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 05:36:06 2008 WAN interface is down
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 05:36:06 2008 Stopping WAN Services
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 05:36:05 2008 WAN device plugged
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 05:36:05 2008 LAN interface is up
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 05:36:05 2008 LAN Ethernet Carrier Detected
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 05:36:05 2008 Device initialized
[WARN] Fri Nov 28 05:36:05 2008 Unsupported PC Card type detected
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 05:36:05 2008 Wireless link is up
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 05:36:04 2008 Unlock AP setup
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 05:36:04 2008 No Internet access policy is in effect. Unrestricted Internet access allowed to everyone
[INFO] Wed Dec 31 16:00:00 1969 Loaded configuration from non-volatile memory

Warm Reboot
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 05:53:25 2008 Starting DHCP server
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 05:53:18 2008 WAN device plugged
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 05:53:16 2008 LAN interface is up
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 05:53:16 2008 LAN Ethernet Carrier Detected
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 05:53:16 2008 Device initialized
[WARN] Fri Nov 28 05:53:16 2008 Unsupported PC Card type detected
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 05:53:16 2008 Wireless link is up
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 05:53:15 2008 Unlock AP setup
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 05:53:15 2008 No Internet access policy is in effect. Unrestricted Internet access allowed to everyone
[INFO] Wed Dec 31 16:00:00 1969 Loaded configuration from non-volatile memory

Remove and Reinsert Modem
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 06:01:58 2008 Starting WAN Services
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 06:01:58 2008 WAN interface is up. Connection to Internet established with IP Address 166.130.110.86 and
default gateway 0.0.0.0
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 06:01:58 2008 WAN device (PPP) on port USB2 returned status_ok status
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 06:01:58 2008 WAN device (PPP) on port USB2 connected
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 06:01:58 2008 WAN device (PPP) on port USB2 attempting to connect
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 06:01:58 2008 PPP network up with IP Address 166.130.110.86
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 06:01:57 2008 LCP sets local options: ACCM: 00000000, ACFC: 1, PFC: 1, MRU: 1500
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 06:01:57 2008 LCP sets remote auth: C223
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 06:01:57 2008 LCP sets remote options: ACCM: 00000000, ACFC: 1, PFC: 1, MRU: 1500
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 06:01:53 2008 WAN device (PPP) on port USB2 returned status_processing status
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 06:01:53 2008 WAN device (PPP) on port USB2 attempting to connect
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 06:01:52 2008 Above message repeated 1 times
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 06:01:40 2008 WAN device (PPP) on port USB2 returned status_processing status
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 06:01:40 2008 WAN device (PPP) on port USB2 attempting to connect
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 06:01:39 2008 Above message repeated 1 times
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 06:01:27 2008 WAN device (PPP) on port USB2 returned status_processing status
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 06:01:27 2008 WAN device (PPP) on port USB2 attempting to connect
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 06:01:26 2008 WAN device plugged
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 06:01:23 2008 WAN device (Static IP) unplugged port Ethernet
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 06:01:23 2008 WAN interface is down
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 06:01:23 2008 Stopping WAN Services
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 06:01:23 2008 WAN device plugged
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 06:00:58 2008 WAN device (Static IP) unplugged port Ethernet
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 06:00:58 2008 WAN interface is down
[INFO] Fri Nov 28 06:00:58 2008 Stopping WAN Services[/u]

gmcnutt · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 08 Oct 2007 Posts: 14

We've seen this with that particular modem. If it has an active WAN connection and you do a warm reboot of the router then on coming back up the modem does not respond to the USB endpoint that is used to make the connection. We tried some workarounds in the modem driver to get it to respond, including a USB reset, but no joy. The only thing that seems to work is physically replugging the modem.

Modems that fail to initialize are not reported very well up to the status pages, which is probably why your pages and log just show nothing about it. There's an enhancement request logged to do something better in these cases.

I suspect the only way to workaround this problem in the router would require a h/w change (eg, a switch to turn power off entirely to the USB bus for a certain length of time).

I'll ask if we can put something in the release notes about this particular problem.

Meanwhile if you have to do warm reboots often, and you don't want to do physical replugs (maybe you're remote or something), you should be able to workaround this by first disconnecting the WAN via the Status page button, then doing the reboot. In fact, maybe we can force that in f/w... I'll make a note and re-open that bug.

cobbers · EVDO Newbie Joined: 28 Nov 2008 Posts: 3

Thanks gmcnutt!
I will keep an eye out for a fix someday. We are using the KR2 units in a remote unattended application. Our only access is via the WWAN. Fortunately, we can manage the power supply of the KR2 via a relay output on another device near the router that automatically resets. We will start testing this as an immediate solution.

timscottyoung · EVDO Newbie Joined: 31 Jan 2009 Posts: 3

I am using the KR2 with the Mercury AT&T USB Modem. I just added my new Wilson Cellular Trucker antenna (from the 3G Store) to the system in hopes to prevent the almost daily disconnecting. So far, I am seeing no improvment and now I believe I am seeing the symptoms you describe. The one thing I have noticed and this may be a coincidence, is that when I use my desktop PC which is CAT5 wired right into the router, I don't seem to loose connection. But when I use my laptop over wireless (WEP) enabled, I loose connection randomly. My fix for that may be to plug a standard router into the CAT5 port on the KR2 if I can't get another fix. Also, I noticed that "rebooting" the router through the Kyocera administrator doesn't get me reconnected. I have been powering all the way down to get reconnected. I'll be watching this thread for help.

cobbers · EVDO Newbie Joined: 28 Nov 2008 Posts: 3

This week's shipment of KR2 routers have version 1.0.3 firmware installed. The firmware version is displayed in the status screen. The 1.0.3 firmware will [at least] recognize a Mercury modem. Have you updated to version 1.0.4?
This can be done automatically in the tools-firmware tab.
We have not had a disconnect problem with the kr2 version 1.0.4 firmware if we have a strong 3G cellular signal. However, in our case we skipped using 1.0.3 firmware. Perhaps this behavior may have been cured between revisions.
When connected over EDGE (orange modem lamp) instead of 3G (blue modem lamp) we sometimes have disconnections and things that work fine on 3G timeout over EDGE.
So far, we have not seen a relation between dropped connections and WiFi versus cat5 LAN connections.

timscottyoung · EVDO Newbie Joined: 31 Jan 2009 Posts: 3

I confirmed that I am at rev. 1.0.4. I live in KY and we were hit by the ice storm which affected cellular communication for several days, so this MAY be a coincicence. I set my wife's iPhone to connect through our KR2, and right up to the point I turned off her phone's WiFi, we could not keep the KR2 connected for more than 30 min. The moment we turned off WiFi on the iPhone, the KR2 stayed connected for 5 days. I haven't had time to test my KR2 with the iPhone back on WiFi, but am trying it now and haven't lost connection. Will update sometime later with latest information. As for Cat5 versus WiFi, I have not seen this issue since my last post.

timscottyoung · EVDO Newbie Joined: 31 Jan 2009 Posts: 3

After an additional 2 months of "disconnects" with my KR2, I broke down and bought a Cradlepoint MBR 1000 from Best Buy. To my surprise, the setup looked hauntingly familar to my KR2. I went ahead and set up this router with no security just to get it going. I got distracted with other stuff for a couple of hours and during this time there were no disconnects (small victory). I then enabled the WEP security, like my KR2, since we have some "toys" that cannot talk WPA. I immediately started getting the disconnect problem on my brand new MBR1000. So I removed security from the KR2 (hadn't tried this before) and my disconnect problem stopped. Not wanting to go without security, I enabled the WPA2 security and have been connected on the KR2 for 3 days. At the end of this week, I'll be taking back the MBR1000, hopefully. FYI, I am still using the ATT Mercury Aircard and all firmware is up-to-date. Hope this helps someone.