Updating Firmware on the Librem 5

Hardware Librem 5
22

Yes I installed the BM818 tool, and used it to find the existing firmware version so I could cut and paste it to my email. I even provided the order number from when I bought the phone as I read somewhere that support@puri.sm required it.

I fiddled with the BM818 tool turning it off and on a few times and rebooting etc. I get this:
root@pureos:~# bm818-volte-check
chat: Mar 05 18:22:03 +BMRAT: FDD LTE
BMRAT state active FDD LTE

yet voice calls are forced to 3G.

The NZ telcos used to only enable VoLTE for approved devices. This has been relaxed and now at least my Pixel 6a (which was purchased in Australia and is not on their approved list) works with VoLTE. Before chasing their head network engineers I thought I would at least get the firmware up to date.

2 Likes
23

For completeness, you would also need to tell Purism Support your modem variant. I assume -T1.

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24

Yes I included the existing firmware version (it’s different for the different regions) and provided the order number and the L5 serial number as given on the invoice. I described being in NZ and the reason I wanted the firmware. They should have been able to work it out. If they could not work it out then I would have expected someone to get back to me to ask within a day or two. It has been a week. If they are too busy, I am prepared to ask the community here on the forum. Which I have done above.
Reading the firmware upgrade instructions, the file has firmware for all 3 of the modem versions and I choose when I run the upgrade program. It should not be necessary to know which version I have to provide the file.

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25

I would ask your carrier if they will actually support the L5. Here in Canada, having VoLTE on the L5 isn’t possible because they don’t recognize the L5 as a qualified device, I would suspect that this is happening in many other places around the globe, so before you go beating your head against a wall trying to make it work I would find out if they will support it first. My workaround will be (once HSPA is turned off here) will be to port my number to chat.jmp as they offer SIP accounts then I will just use the 4G data only to do texting and calls.

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26

I happen to have recent (although I don’t know if they are the most recent) BM818 firmware files from Purism. And I don’t even have a Librem 5. As luck would have it, someone challenged me on whether these were actually available on the forums … and they were.

In any case, I’m not sure the version number 1.00000002 make sense. I’ve got a zip file from Purism: BM818-reflash.zip . It contains two debs:

BM818-reflash/firmware-bm818-nonfree_0.6pureos1+librem5ci83034.2dcae67_arm64.deb  
BM818-reflash/qdl_0.2pureos1+librem5ci77119.0103259_arm64.deb

And the firmware versions listed in the firmware-bm818-nonfree*.deb are:

-rwxr-xr-x root/root  30966674 2023-03-27 14:09 ./usr/lib/firmware-bm818-nonfree/YCSN0_M100E_1ACD_B325_V1.0.0.2_20220930_BM818-A1.tgz
-rwxr-xr-x root/root  30908101 2023-03-27 14:09 ./usr/lib/firmware-bm818-nonfree/YCSN0_M100E_1BAD_3117_V1.0.0.2_20220930_BM818-E1.tgz
-rwxr-xr-x root/root  30967318 2023-03-27 14:09 ./usr/lib/firmware-bm818-nonfree/YCSN0_M100E_1CMD_B227_V1.0.0.2_20220930_BM818-T1.tgz

The A1, E1, T1 appear to be the regions. The versions appear to be v1.0.0.2 from 2022/09/30.

Since I’m not sure those are the most recent … and since you have no reason to trust me, it would probably be best to wait for support.

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27

Or, more accurately, the modem variant, which in turn determines the supported bands, which relates to but is not strictly limited by the region in which you might intend to use the modem.

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28

They are the latest version:

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29

I used to have issues with the modem data connection going stale, requiring a hardware switch flick or restarting the modem and the network manager service.

After upgrading the modem firmware, I’ve had no issues with the data connection anymore.

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30

Well done Privacy2 for finding it. You may be hinting that I could find it the same way. Otherwise I don’t know if this forum has private messages.

My L5 is not my daily driver so I am prepared to try the firmware even without having a copy of the current version on the modem.

In the last day or so I went to get a SIM for the 3rd telco of 3 in NZ. This also went to 3G to initiate a call. 3 for 3.

1 Like