Ericsson F5521gw WWAN on Toughbook (Windows support)

I've come across a guy that sells half a dozen 3G cards, including Gobi2000, Ericsson F5521gw, F3607gw(dell wireless 5540) and Sierra Wireless MC8775(which is a rebranded qualcomm).

The one I'm really interested in is the F5521gw: http://www.ericsson.com/solutions/mobile_broadband_modules/docs/F5521gw-screen.pdf
as it's low power, has gps, AND HSPA 21Mbps!!, linux support, etc).

I have the option to try them first - i.e. installed them and see if they're detected. I'm not sure he can let me search/install/test drivers to see whether they're working properly, a few hours, etc.

I searched Panasonic's support website (download section), and the modem driver for F5521gw is listed only for CF-19mk5 and CF-C1 mk2.

They say it won't install in (any) other toughbook.

I have my CF-C1 mk1, which I'll want to have it installed in, and probably a CF-19 mk2, soon.

My Gobi2000 (Lenovo branded) is working fine in Linux in my C1 (3G + GPS), but I didn't manage to get past the QDownloader part - getting drivers to load the firmware on the card. Lenovo drivers won't accept the Panasonic, and Panasonic drivers won't accept the Lenovo Card.


Do any of you have any experience with F5521gw in Toughbooks ?

Thanks,

 

With my official and unofficial hats on, I would recommend against putting a F5521GW into a CF-C1mk1 currently.

 

can you please elaborate on that ?

why would it work properly on mk2 (qm67) and not on mk1(qm57).
IMHO, they only certified it on mk2 (FCC, etc).

I find it curious that even tough the configurator for C1 lists a few models with 3G modems, the download section search page doesn't list any driver for WAN on mk1.

 

Many of those cards on eBay are carrier unlocked but BIOS locked...so those Dell and Lenovo cards are for the most part useless to us. I'm looking for an LTE card myself. Sierra Wireless doesn't sell to end users, and companies that do resell them are defense contractors or only interested if you want four-digit quanitites.

 

The card in question (F5521gw) shows up as HP hs2340 HSPA+ Mobile Broadband.
All the cards are used ones, and were on HP's and Dell's. No ebay here, just a local equivalent (perhaps from a laptop service centre).

As for the BIOS lock, I solved it with gobi unlocker tool (thanks to the one that post it here), booting up a FreeDOS USB and running the EXE from there.

I plugged it in, it works in Linux at least (didn't have to install any additional drivers - that's Plug and Play ).

I still am unsure which of the antenna wire is which: there is a Green one and a Grey one - First I put the green to MAIN, and grey to AUX, but it seems to work vice-versa too.

 

I was thinking of getting one of those cards, but I want to be able to choose either AT&T or Verizon, so I need CDMA (EV-DO rev. a specifically) support as well as GSM. None of the listings I've seen have mentioned EV-DO for this card. Do you know if it supports the CDMA networks (Verizon and Sprint)?

 

I don't think it supports CDMA (EVDO) as the only mention in the specs file si WCDMA which is UMTS (3G).
I think it's targeted at European networks, and it should work with AT&T and T-Mobile in the US, but not Verizon or Sprint.

the pdf link above is 404 now, but it's still google cached

 

Dead thread but since I spent DAYS making this stupid card work, I thought I'd share my findings.

The F5521GW that I put into my CF-52 MK3 (P-sumthin) works flawlessly on Windows7 Pro 64... GPS included. Bought it new off EBAY for like $20. It's a generic card (Hardware ID 2XGNJ)

Here's the rub... Since it's Generic and not Panasonic, the BIOS locks the PC up just as soon as I hit the power button - Can't even get into setup. Tried the WWANEXE.exe tool with several different WWAN IDs (00, 01, 02, 03, 04, etc.) and the card still can't get past the BIOS checks with WWAN enabled.

In a dangerous last ditch effort, I installed the card once Windows had loaded... It's "USB" after all hahaha. Joy! Windows recognized it, installed the drivers and everything was peachy until I rebooted (and it locked up again).

Solution: Remove the card, enable WWAN in the BIOS "Advanced" menu, then enable FAST BOOT MODE in the "Boot" menu. Turn it off, insert the card and voila... Everything works flawlessly (Just don't try to turn "Normal Boot Mode" on with the card installed").

I installed Panasonic drivers for the card and the Toshiba firmware upgrade. You can search the interwebs for these two filenames:

Drivers: F5521gw(Ericsson)WWANDriver_v1.07l10_G1A_W764_ss13088,exe
Firmware: os2013190a_ericsson_fw_update_f5521gw.exe

No connection manager needed, WWAN reads the SIM and the mobile network shows up among the WiFi networks in the native WiFi system tray icon. Couldn't get the Toughbook Connection Manager to recognize the card anyway.

GPS is trickier, I had to write DOS batch files that sends these AT commands to the proper ports:

AT*E2GPSCNT=1,5,1 (Enables the GPS, send it to the DM port)
AT*E2GPSNPD (Starts the NMEA stream, send it to the GPS port)
AT*E2GPSCNT=0,0,0 (Disables the GPS and stops NMEA, send it to the DM port)

Anyhow hope this helps some other poor (as in cheap) soul save some time and a few bucks.

 

Great writeup

rep points given

could you post a photo of the card?

I want the exact numbers off of it....

 

Very cool idea

 

If I got it right... here's a pic. Bought mine off Ebay from this dude (Clicky)

F5521GW by BillyBrownEyes posted Mar 25, 2015 at 5:42 PM

F5521GWSW by BillyBrownEyes posted Mar 25, 2015 at 5:51 PM

 

Following up on this... Still works flawlessly with Fast-Boot option is enabled in the BIOS. I've noticed that GPS reception is far better with the black antenna cable to "AUX", and the white antenna cable to "MAIN". Why is beyond my RF knowledge but since I primarily wanted the card for the GPS capabilities I'm not terribly concerned about the MBB performance

I can also also tell you that setting up the GPS under Win7 was a breeze... Simply echo the start AT strings to the GPS serial port. BUT gpsd was a total whore. Umbuntu never worked OpenSuse 13.2 took several days to sort out. This forum post explains what to do but if you don't follow it to the letter, you'll spend countless sad hours "almost there".

Anyhow good luck.

 

Can you explain this?

 

On mine, DM is on COM19 and GPS is on COM6:

Make 5 files in a folder somewhere.

The first three TXT files are simply echoed to the COM ports by the two BAT files. The reason I'm noting TWO lines in each of the TXT files is there must be a <CR> at the end of each AT command (so be sure and hit ENTER when you type the lines in):

GPSUP.TXT contains the following TWO lines:

AT*E2GPSCTL=1,1,0
(empty line)​

GPSDN.TXT contains the following TWO lines:

AT*E2GPSCTL=0,0,0
(empty line)​

NMEASTRT.TXT contains the following TWO lines:

AT*E2GPSNPD
(empty line)​

GPSUP.BAT contains the following lines:

@echo OFF
TYPE GPSUP.TXT > \\.\COM19
TYPE NMEASTRT.TXT > \\.\COM6​

GPSDN.BAT contains the following lines:

@echo OFF
TYPE GPSDN.TXT > \\.\COM19​

Wait until windows loads COMPLETELY (the drivers/firmware have to load), then run GPSUP.BAT to turn it on, and GPSDN.BAT to turn it off.

The GPSUP.TXT and GPSDN.TXT files really ought to have "AT+CFUN=" commands also to actually power up and down the modem but I didn't need them in my case. Also, sometimes I have to run GPSUP.BAT twice to get NMEA streaming... If the GPSUP.BAT file paused a second or waited for "OK" after sending GPSUP.TXT before sending NMEASTRT.TXT it would work better but I'm not proficient enough with batch files to make that happen.