FONA 3G modules from Digikey won't boot

Adafruit cellular platform - SMS and IoT over celluar

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rskup
 
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Re: FONA 3G modules from Digikey won't boot

Post by rskup »

Me again...not sure if you have drivers installed but the port isn't showing up, or if you're not even able to get the drivers.

Anyways, found this old post where Adafruit put the link to Simcom for drivers and other stuff, scroll to bottom:

viewtopic.php?f=54&t=158486&p=785246&hilit=usb#p785246

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elin05
 
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Re: FONA 3G modules from Digikey won't boot

Post by elin05 »

I'll be adding that to my list of things to try.

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elin05
 
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Re: FONA 3G modules from Digikey won't boot

Post by elin05 »

Does the SIM card even need to be in the FONA for the board to boot up?

It would be difficult to solder and unsolder it to my PCB. I'll try soldering temporary jumper wires for connecting to an Arduino with headers.

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elin05
 
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Re: FONA 3G modules from Digikey won't boot

Post by elin05 »

Made some progress. I was able to get the correct drivers installed and now I see the various COM ports available. I can open the AT com port, but I see no output nor does my input seem to do anything.

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rskup
 
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Re: FONA 3G modules from Digikey won't boot

Post by rskup »

Ah, ok, sounds like (without a sim) you're using the FONA 3G just for the gps?

When you say you're not seeing any input/output I'm guessing you're using something like PuTTY or X-CTU (like in the tutorial) to send AT commands to the FONA?

If so, going by my old-brain memory again, in the past when I'm not seeing anything, or seeing goofy characters, it's been because of baud rates. Not sure what your terminal baud rate is at, but try selecting a lower rate.

Not sure how familiar you are with AT commands, so forgive me if I'm stating the obvious, but the easiest one to test with is sending "AT", hopefully you get back "OK" at some point as you lower the baud rate.

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elin05
 
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Re: FONA 3G modules from Digikey won't boot

Post by elin05 »

I do plan to use a SIM for the cellular network eventually, but I don't have one at the moment.

I am using PuTTY with a baud rate of 115200. It seems like it just isn't echoing my input. I tried typing in "at" and pressing Enter, despite not seeing that input, and was able to get an "OK" response:
Screen Shot 2021-04-08 at 8.09.22 PM.png
Screen Shot 2021-04-08 at 8.09.22 PM.png (16.82 KiB) Viewed 726 times
Anyway, now that I've figured out my board responds to serial AT commands in Direct USB mode, I tried connecting it to my Arduino again. Now I get my original issue again, where the FONA is not responding to my Arduino's AT messages.

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rskup
 
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Re: FONA 3G modules from Digikey won't boot

Post by rskup »

To enable echo, type:

ATE1

and if you ever want to disable echo, type:

ATE0


Ok, now you have it hooked up to the Arduino and no response...let me ask, are you by chance still powering the FONA board with the USB cable?

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SteveM84
 
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Re: FONA 3G modules from Digikey won't boot

Post by SteveM84 »

elin05 wrote:According to the guide, the PS pin should be high when the board has booted up. However, that pin only reads about 0.6V after I press the KEY button down for 5 seconds.
This signal is routed via the 74VHCT125 chip which is only powered up when Vio is powered. So checking PS without providing Vio is not a valid thing to do.

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