Dell WWAN card not recognized or detected #

A newly-installed Dell Mobile Broadband (WWAN) module was not detected in Windows Device Manager (even under hidden devices) despite "WWAN/GPS" being enabled in BIOS Setup → Connection.

u/Dan-in-Va's reddit comment contained the solution:

I disconnected the battery and removed the card, reseated it, reconnected the four antenna cable pins, reconnected the battery, and powered back on. It was immediately recognized. I re-ran the firmware/driver update which worked, where the driver applied on the subsequent reboot.

(The only modification made was to press and hold the power button for some seconds after disconnecting the battery to discharge capacitors (of course, be sure the power cord is unplugged as well).)

The WWAN card appeared in Device Manager under "Other devices" as "PCI Device". Clicked "Update Driver..." and pointed to the directory containing the extracted Dell Wireless 5823e and Intel L860-R LTE Firmware and GNSS Driver; it then appeared under "System devices" as "DW5823e Intel(R) XMM7560 R+ LTE-A UDE Device".

The module disappeared once more after several power cycles, but reappeared after running Windows update and rebooting; the message "Configuring mobile broadband device | Do not shut down or restart Windows." displayed just above the Notification area briefly.

Notes

Environment: Dell Precision 3581, Dell/Fibocom DW5823E 4G module, BIOS version 1.12.0, Windows 11 Pro (23H2).
Dell Mobile Broadband (WWAN) Module Not Detected on a Re-imaged Dell Personal Computer (updated yesterday), only suggests reinstalling the driver or contacting Dell support, though it also includes these details:
- "Some Dell Mobile Broadband (WWAN) modules are not detected by the operating systems device manager after the system has gone through the re-imaging process. (Such as with Microsoft's SCCM.) There is no version of the Windows operating system that this does not occur on."
- "Note: Be aware that this is one of the few occasions where a two-way swap of a known working Dell WWAN module does not prove that the original module is faulty. (Although swapping in a working module from a system that has not been imaged resolves the issue temporarily.)"
- "Note: If you are looking to prevent this from happening in the first place, rather than repairing a module that is not detected once it is failed. You should look to insert a pause after the WWAN installation. This is within the SCCM or imaging software's task sequence scheduler. This stops the issue from occurring. Part of the driver reinstall is a firmware update that loads after 30 seconds of starting the driver update and takes about 1 minute to complete. The system rebooting in the middle of this update is the root cause of why these modules go wrong. Stopping the firmware before it is completed corrupts the module firmware and means that the module can no longer communicate with the Operating System."

/windows | May 10, 2024

Subscribe or visit the archives.