I'm comfortable taking them apart, not so comfortable with putting them back together again...It's probably in an M.2 slot, so I expect it to show up with pciconf(8). If all else fails you could open up the laptop an look. But that does assume you're comfortable taking it apart. Although a lot of laptops have special trapdoors at the bottom to make it easier to swap things like this in and out, so look for those first.
So it looks like it's connected through USB. Try loading umodem(4), see if that finds anything useful.Code:ugen1.4: <Sierra Wireless Inc Sierra Wireless MC8355 - Gobi 3000(TM) Module> at usbus1
It's probably in an M.2 slot, so I expect it to show up with pciconf(8). If all else fails you could open up the laptop an look. But that does assume you're comfortable taking it apart. Although a lot of laptops have special trapdoors at the bottom to make it easier to swap things like this in and out, so look for those first.
So it looks like it's connected through USB. Try loading umodem(4), see if that finds anything useful.
The T-series don't have a trap door, unfortunately. There are normally 6 or so screws in the bottom and then you have to pop the entire bottom off by working a spudger all around the base and popping the catches - not for the faint of heart.
That's good to hear. My only real experience with disassembly has been on the T480, which is a bit more difficult to work on.On the T420 the memory cover exposes a memory slot opposite a slot for a WWAN which I suspect could be exchanged for an mSata card. It's very accessible.
These cards are best described as "twitchy". You did the right thing (IMHO) by trying it under Windows 10 first. Is the SIM you are testing with from a 4G device? If it is from an older 3G device the card may or may not recognize it.Since I'm stuck with this thing not knowing what to do I installed a copy of Windows 10 to see if I could actually make a connection somewhere... After installing a device driver for the modem I got the Network Connections folder up and it listed the Sierra Wireless MC8355 as a Mobile connection, but showed it as Not Connected. A SIM card which works on my WWAN router has been inserted but I can't get it to connect. I can't find anywhere to enter an APN etc. So at this point I can't tell if the modem has stopped functioning or maybe it is locked.
What exactly do you get when you click on the Network icon in the system tray? Do you see the name of your cellular carrier there (as shown in my first photo)? If not, verify that your SIM is inserted the correct side up and orientation (there should be an indentation in the case near the SIM slot that shows the correct orientation). My T480 takes a Nano SIM - if yours takes a larger SIM, you'll need an adapter unless your SIM is already that size. It isn't possible to reliably position a too-small SIM in a larger socket.I'm using a 4G SIM which works fine in ThinkPad X1 Carbon, as well as a TP-LINK 4G router. I just downloaded the driver from Lenovo eaarlier today. Previously the device was not recognised. Now in Network connections it shows Mobile but not connected. If I click on it it shows another screen where I can select Mobile from a list of interfaces. If I click on that nothing happens, it shows that it is turned off. On my X1 it says 'Insert SIM' when I select Mobile. Clicking on Properties -> Configure -> General it says the device is working properly.
You already installed the Lenovo driver, so you should be good to go.Not sure what you mean about installing a vendor-specific driver for the card.
I don't think you're getting far enough for that to be an issue. What does the Mobile Broadband SMS Toolkit I linked to show?I remeber Phishfry telling me about some program a few years ago which lifted some restriction on a card I was trying with an X61. I'll try and locate that thread.
They are pretty much the theoretical maximum for the card I have, in the notebook I have (it is a 10-year-old Dell Studio 1558 with the latest available Mini-PCIe WWAN card). I have a Lenovo T480 with an L850-GL card which is a newer M.2 Class 9 card, which should be able to get 450Mbit/sec down (but not here in NYC where the cell towers are running at capacity).I'm staggered by your SPEEDTEST results!
Some progress....I found the SIM was inserted upside down! It is the other way round to my X1, also, it is possible to insert it the wrong way round. The diagram on the tab used to help extract the SIM is tiny, also it isn't spring loaded so you need to pull the tab to extract the SIM.
When the SIM is in another device, does that one show the account as active? If it does, then you probably need to contact your cellular provider and tell them you are using the SIM in a new device and give them the IMEI from your T420's modem. If it isn't active in another device, then you probably need to get your account reinstated.Thanks to the program you mentioned, it showed that the Hardware radio state was off, so I searched around for the switch, not easy to find.. and once it was on I could select Mobile from the list of interfaces, and it turned blue, only to reveal 'Account not active'.
Are you talking about flashing the custom BIOS for Thinkpads?I remeber Phishfry telling me about some program a few years ago which lifted some restriction on a card I was trying with an X61. I'll try and locate that thread.
You need a SIM card associated with an activated data plan. As long as the modem is recognized, you're good to go at the OS level. I just tried an AT&T SIM from a defunct account and got this:I found another WWAN card in my deceased X220 - another Sierra Wireless MC8355, installed in my T420 and booted up Windows 10, got onto the Lenovo site and downloaded drivers and tried to get connected, but am told the account is not active.
That driver is for Windows 7. Windows 10 uses a completely different architecture for mobile broadband. All you need is the Windows 10 driver for your particular computer and card (which you downloaded from Lenovo with the previous modem) and an active SIM for the cellular provider you want to use.Searching around lenovo broadband actvation led me here:-
https://support.lenovo.com/gb/en/do...tivation-for-windows-7-32-bit-64-bit-notebook
Installed it and nothing...still get Account not active, so I guess it's blocked. Any way to confirm this and maybe unblock it from FreeBSD?
That is unlikely to be the case. Carrier lock normally happens on subsidized devices like tablets that you get from the carrier.In this case the modem is supported but it is likely locked to a particular ISP.
This is controlled by the registry key HKLM > SOFTWARE > Sierra Wireless > QDL > USBCOMP. Changing it from the default of 9 (MBIM only) to 8 (MBIM / DM / NMEA / AT) gets you the full AT command set and enables the GPS. There's also a Linux script called swi_usbcomp.pl if you prefer to boot from a Linux live CD and avoid the Windows registry (assuming you're changing it for use with FreeBSD).Using a Sierra Modem in Windows 10 is bad news.
Windows 10 will download new firmware onto your Sierra modem via Windows Updates.
This firmware will leave you with only MBIM protocol.
No AT Terminal present. MBIM only.
This is a disaster for anything but Windows.