Field Notice: FN - 70401 - Mandatory Firmware Upgrade for Cisco Products That Use a GPS Device With the MC73xx Modem Due to 2019 GPS Date Rollover - BIOS/Firmware Upgrade Recommended

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Updated:July 23, 2020
Document ID:FN70401

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Notice

THIS FIELD NOTICE IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS AND DOES NOT IMPLY ANY KIND OF GUARANTEE OR WARRANTY, INCLUDING THE WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY. YOUR USE OF THE INFORMATION ON THE FIELD NOTICE OR MATERIALS LINKED FROM THE FIELD NOTICE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. CISCO RESERVES THE RIGHT TO CHANGE OR UPDATE THIS FIELD NOTICE AT ANY TIME.

Revision History

Revision Publish Date Comments
1.0
18-Apr-19
Initial Release
2.0
05-Nov-19
Updated the Workaround/Solution Section
2.1
23-Jul-20
Updated Terminology

Products Affected

Affected Product ID Comments
C819G-4G-GA-K9
C819G-4G-NA-K9
C819G-4G-ST-K9
C819G-4G-VZ-K9
C819G-LTE-MNA-K9
C819GW-LTE-GA-EK9
C819GW-LTE-MNA-AK9
C819HG-LTE-MNA-K9
C881G-4G-GA-K9
C887VAG-4G-GA-K9
C896VAG-LTE-GA-K9
C897VAG-LTE-GA-K9
C897VAGW-LTE-GAEK9
C897VAMG-LTE-GA-K9
C899G-LTE-GA-K9
C899G-LTE-JP-K9
C899G-LTE-NA-K9
C899G-LTE-ST-K9
C899G-LTE-VZ-K9
CGM-4G-LTE-GA
CGM-4G-LTE-MNA
CGM-4G-LTE-MNA-AB
EHWIC-4G-LTE-AT
EHWIC-4G-LTE-ATPRM
EHWIC-4G-LTE-AU
EHWIC-4G-LTE-CA
EHWIC-4G-LTE-GB
EHWIC-4G-LTE-GBPRM
EHWIC-4G-LTE-ST
EHWIC-4G-LTE-STPRM
EHWIC-4G-LTE-VZ
EHWIC-4G-LTE-VZPRM
IR809G-LTE-GA-K9
IR809G-LTE-NA-K9
IR809G-LTE-VZ-K9
IR829GW-LTE-GA-CK9
IR829GW-LTE-GA-EK9
IR829GW-LTE-GA-SK9
IR829GW-LTE-NA-AK9
IR829GW-LTE-VZ-AK9
NIM-4G-LTE-GA
NIM-4G-LTE-GAPRM
NIM-4G-LTE-NA
NIM-4G-LTE-NAPRM
NIM-4G-LTE-ST
NIM-4G-LTE-STPRM
NIM-4G-LTE-VZ
NIM-4G-LTE-VZPRM

Defect Information

Defect ID Headline
CSCvp04707 GPS week counter will reset again in November 2019 for all MC73xx modems

Problem Description

Certain Cisco products (see the Products Affected section) will have their Global Positioning System (GPS) Week Number (WN) counter reset on 2019-11-03. This field notice is to raise awareness of the GPS rollover issue for those customers who are dependent on Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) from GPS devices in Cisco products.

Background

The GPS contains a 10-bit binary number WN parameter. The valid range of values for the WN parameter is 0 to 1023 (or 1024 weeks). The WN parameter is incremented by one each week. At the end of the 1024th week, the counter experiences a rollover (resets) to 0. The last WN rollover was 1999-08-21. The next WN rollover is 2019-04-06.

However, Cisco's vendor built in a buffer such that our products will NOT be affected on 2019-04-06. The date for the GPS rollover on Cisco's products that use these modems is 2019-11-03.

Problem Symptom

Once the GPS WN counter resets, the ability to get a GPS position fix is NOT affected. The only impact is with the time reported to the external GPS application, and it might affect how the date associated with the location of the device is reported.

Notes:

  • If the platform's GPS is NOT used as a time source for any application on the platform, no issue will be seen.
  • If the platform's GPS is used as a time source, customers are advised to update the time source to the Network Time Protocol (NTP) primary server in their network before 2019-11-03.

Workaround/Solution

Customers with affected units are advised to upgrade the modems with the new firmware packages available from Cisco LTE Wireless WAN Interfaces.

Customers can use the show inventory command in order to get the PID and modem information.

IR800_FTX2108Z040#show inventory

NAME: "IR829GW-LTE-NA-AK9", DESCR: "IR829GW-LTE-NA-AK9 chassis"

PID: IR829GW-LTE-NA-AK9, VID: V01 , SN: FTX2108Z040

NAME: "1000BASE-T SFP", DESCR: "1000BASE-T SFP"

PID:   , VID: B2 , SN: AGM1828208Y

NAME: "Modem 0 on Cellular0", DESCR: "Sierra Wireless MC7354 4G-NA"

PID: MC7354            , VID: 1.0, SN: 356734060396904

For customers with Cisco PIDs that use MC73xx products, who use the date reported with the show cellular gps command or GPS Mobile RMC (GPRMC) information in National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) sentences, Cisco recommends that you upgrade the modems with the new firmware packages available from Cisco LTE Wireless WAN Interfaces.

There are two options to resolve this problem.

Option 1

Upgrade using the firmware package MC73xx_GPS_Rollover_Fix.spk.

This package can be applied to any of the MC73xx modems (MC7304, MC7350, MC7354, MC7354MNA, and MC7330) that run on any carrier firmware. An upgrade to the modems with this package will fix the GPS rollover issue.

 

Option 2

This option is recommended for customers who want to upgrade the modem firmware and also apply a fix for the GPS rollover issue.

The firmware packages are:

  • MC7304: MC7304_1102029_05.05.58.00_00_TELSTRA_005.014_000.spk
  • MC7350: MC7350_1102036_05.05.58.01_00_VZW_005.009_000.spk
  • MC7354MNA: MC7354MNA_1102407_05.05.58.01_00_VZW_005.006_000.spk
  • MC7354: MC7354_1102037_05.05.58.00_00_ATT_005.013_000.spk

Note: If the modem is already on Release 5.5.58.x, an upgrade with this package will upgrade only the modem OEM PRI file to address the GPS rollover issue. The modem firmware version will continue to be Release 5.5.58.x. If modems run earlier firmware versions, the modem firmware will be upgraded to Release 5.5.58.x along with the OEM PRI file in order to address the GPS rollover issue. Based on the carrier network these SKUs are deployed on, follow the firmware upgrade instructions in Cisco Firmware Upgrade Guide for Cellular Modems.

The caveat with Option 2 is for customers who run these carrier firmware packages:

  • MC7304 modem > Generic (GENEU) firmware
  • MC7350 modem > Sprint firmware
  • MC7354 modem > Generic (GENNA) firmware and US-Cellular firmware
  • MC7354MNA > ATT firmware, US-Cellular firmware, Generic (GENEU) firmware, and Verizon firmware

These customers must follow these steps:

  1. Upgrade using the package (listed previously in this section) that contains the fix for the GPS rollover issue that corresponds to the modem.
  2. Complete a second upgrade to load the corresponding carrier that they operate on. The steps are outlined in Cisco Firmware Upgrade Guide for Cellular Modems.

For More Information

If you require further assistance, or if you have any further questions regarding this field notice, please contact the Cisco Systems Technical Assistance Center (TAC) by one of the following methods:

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