R404 Not working (enumeration and power brown out)

Just had to add, with adding the udev rule i can remove and reinsert but it does need roughly a 5 minute break before reinserting. But it still cant handle a reboot of the device.

Is there any follow-up regarding enumeration issues and failure to power-on with reboot? Earlier it was stated that hologram was going to disucss with u-blox. Given the current issue, I am unable to deploy the R404 with the Raspberry Pi. Please provide a current status update. Thank you.

Bob

Hi @rmarlan - Thanks for following up and sorry to hear this is preventing you to deploy the Nova R404 Engineering Samples.
Our conversations with u-blox and further testing continue to show that the R404 is not ready for prime time production scenarios which is why we intentionally released these as engineering samples. We’re really excited about what Cat-M1 means as new IoT-focused radio access technology for cellular connectivity, but it’s a new technology with its own quirks as hardware providers, carriers, and IoT providers work to fully support it.
Because of these inconsistencies, we’re already working on the next run of a Cat-M Nova which will have support for both Cat-M1 and NB-IoT channels. Our goal is for the experience to be as reliable as our current 3G Nova and hope that the new module will peform better than R404s on existing samples. Our success team will also be reaching out directly with some follow-ups.

Ryan,

How can I reach someone directly at hologram (ie phone) so I can discuss this situation. I have been stuck here for two weeks with no progress. Please let me know how I can connect with you or the appropriate person. Thank you for your help with this.

@rmarlan great getting in touch earlier! will be following up directly via e-mail.
-Ryan

Thanks so much for the follow-up. Much appreciated. All good.

Bob

So to date I am still not good… I never received a follow-up e-mail or even an indication mine was received. I fail to see how anyone can deploy this modem properly (as its sold to work with single board computers like the pi) and you have stated it is too power hungry to do so. Mine can only work on the newest pi and still cant handle a reboot, so in effect it dosen’t work as described. That’s a significant price to pay for something i cant use. I thought i was buying a faster modem not some sample that may or may not work. Will there be a solution, or fix? is there a timeframe?

@ryanHologram I noticed i have the same problem too. Device refuses to enumerate on either Windows or Linux.
I decided to bust out my in-line USB power meter and see if the device is actually drawing any power when it’s misbehaving like this. Results:

  1. When plugging in, there’s usually a short power draw of ~0.02A.
  2. If it decides it wants to work, power draw goes to ~0.05A.

Not sure if that helps. It’s a bummer this has been so unreliable. =/

It is now May 13th, is there a means to use Verizon CAT M1 with ANY product?
Thanks

Hi @zenn1999,

Cellular modems are power hungry, but the Nova product works with a Raspberry Pi with sufficient power supply. The Nova R404 Engineering Samples utilize the u-blox R404 module; which, as @ryanHologram mentioned, does have some known limitations that will need to be addressed prior to non-sample production uses (although I’m not positive whether the problem you’re experiencing is due to one of the u-blox R404 limitations or not). The next run of the LPWAN version of the Nova will support both Cat-M1 and Cat-NB1 and is utilizing a u-blox module that is meant to address several of the limitations in the R404 baseband.

Best,
PFW

Hi @brotherdust,

Thanks for posting these results with your Nova R404 Engineering Sample. These observations have been passed along to the appropriate engineers who are working on the version of the Nova that supports Cat-M1.

Best,
PFW

Seems to me to be a power issue as I see the following sometimes:
Under-voltage detected! (0x00050005)

I have noticed sometimes when plugging in the nova I get this under-voltage and then in dmesg I show both of them being detected again (usb stick and nova). Like the usb is going down and then coming back up. Maybe the Nova isn’t handling this correctly on the Pi.

To note I have the latest Pi3 b+

Has there been any update on this topic? I just received my R404 and it will not work and causes my Pi to brown out. I connected it via a powered USB hub and was able to get lights on the R404. But the Pi Says Modem not detected even after running said commands

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