Updating Firmware

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Timothy Woo edited this page Feb 2, 2018 · 26 revisions

NOTE: You will need a LiPo battery (preferably 1000mAH or greater capacity) in order to successfully complete the firmware update!

NOTE: I haven't actually tried the firmware update yet but will update this as soon as I try it on a new v5 board!

Check Current Firmware Version

To check the current firmware version send the command "AT+CGMR" either via micro USB on the AT command port or via the AT command test example sketch. It should reply with the version number. For example, it might respond with "Revision:1351B01SIM7000A". The version number you are mostly interested about is "B01".

Note: As of 2/1/2018 the latest firmware version I got directly from SIMCom was "1351B03"

Setup and Preparation

The board can draw a lot of current during firmware updates so please attach a LiPo battery! You will not be able to update it otherwise.
You should NOT connect an Arduino board to the shield while doing a firmware update because the Arduino might be running a sketch in the background. Regardless, it's just simply unecessary because you should have a LiPo battery connected anyway!
In order to actually turn on the SIM7000 module you need to use a jumper wire and connect the PWRKEY pin to GND for less than half a second, then release. You should see the green PWR LED turn on after a few seconds.
By now you should have followed the previous tutorial to install the drivers. Double-check to make sure you see the COM ports in Device Manager if you don't remember if you installed the drivers or not.

Updating Firmware

First of all, please go to the Firmware folder on Github and download all the files.
Unzip the firmware file ("1351B03V07SIM7000E.rar") to a convenient location. The file name indicates the firmware version number. For example, an older version might have "1351B01" at the beginning.
Unzip the "QPST.WIN.2.7 Installer-00438.3" file and run the "QPST.X.X.XXX.msi" file and follow the installation procedures.
Unzip the "SIM7000 QDL V1.34 Only for Update.zip" file to the same location as the other files and run the "sim7000 qdl v1.XX only for update.exe" file. In the folder you should also see a Word doc named "SIM7000 QDL Only for update User Guide". Follow the instructions in that document and you should be good to go!