I am experiencing an ugly issue on my GL-X3000 (Spitz AX) when trying to connect to the O2 / Telefónica Network in Germany (via my carrier "Lebara").
The Quectel RM520N-GL modem instantly crashes when the radio is activated, falls back from the PCIe bus to the USB bus (ttyUSB0-3), and loops infinitely every ~15-20 seconds. This causes a massive "modem-init restart" process avalanche in OpenWrt.
I have already done extensive hardware troubleshooting via SSH and can 100% confirm this is a Quectel Baseband software crash triggered by the O2 cellular network (likely parsing SIB parameters), and NOT a hardware defect:
I completely replaced the GL-X3000 unit AND the power supply with a brand new one. The exact same issue occurs.
2. The Lebara SIM card is brand new and works perfectly fine in any smartphone.
3. **The Proof:** When I boot the router without the SIM, the modem is stable on PCIe (0001:01:00.0). I then send `AT+CFUN=4` (Airplane Mode) and hot-plug the SIM card. The modem stays 100% stable, does NOT crash, and successfully reads the CCID (`AT+CCID`) of the Lebara SIM.
4. The exact second I send `AT+CFUN=1` to turn on the radio, the modem crashes, disconnects from PCIe, and falls back to USB (`usb 1-1.2: USB disconnect` in dmesg).
Is there maybe a modem firmware update that can fix that issue and if so, could you please provide the latest Quectel RM520N-GL modem firmware package that fixes the O2 Germany reboot issue, along with instructions on how to flash it?
Hello, please download the modem firmware RM520NGLAAR03A04M4G_01.202.01.202 for Spitz AX from here and update it: Upgrade Quectel Module - GL.iNet Router Docs 4
This modem firmware should be helpful.
for the moment I found a way to get the cellular connection working without updating the modem firmware:
The GL-X3000 web UI hides the “Band Mask” menu item when no SIM card is inserted, while inserting the SIM causes the router to crash immediately, this created a chicken-egg situation. The solution was a bypass:
Boot the router without the SIM card, allowing the system to run stably.
Set a temporary band lock using the AT command AT+QNWPREFCFG="lte_band",3:7.
Insert the SIM card while the router is running and now protected by the temporary band lock.
The web UI now loads successfully and enables the “SIM Card Settings” → “Enable Band Masking” menu, which can now be accessed safely (while it still shows an invalid "connecting"-state) .
In the UI, the filter was configured for LTE Bands 3 and 7 with “Masking Mode: Open” and then saved. Because this configuration was officially saved through the UI, it is fully persistent across reboots and power outages.
This workaround permanently resolves the boot loop caused by the O2/Lebara network for the moment in my situation.
As the router remains stable at the moment, there is no immediate need to perform the modem firmware update on my side. If the restarting or registration problem returns even with B3/B7 selected, I will give the update of the modem firmware a try.
Glad to hear it. This issue is possible a known issue related to o2 network. The firmware R03A04 has fixed it. Band masking may affect carrier aggregation. I would recommend to update firmware instead.
I can confirm that there is no issue for me with RM520NGLAAR03A03M4G using o2 - de SIM-Card.
But I need to confess that I never have had such an issue, even with older versions. Using the XE3000 since about 3 years.
Only issue that appears is that o2 does not properly provision the modem after forced-disconnect all 24 hrs. And modem sticks for 30-90 minutes without internet connection but has “carrier”. Reboot fixes it.
