Logs and debugging¶

When something does not work, such as no network or no SIM card, start with the phone's hardware. If it is not that, a shell on the phone reads what the phone and its modem report, from the phone's Terminal app or from a computer. This page is for that: you need some ease with a command line.

No modem, no SIM card¶

First look at what the phone says: swipe down from the top of the screen, or open Settings › Network. The status bar shows the same thing as an icon.

It says	Check
No modem	The modem's switch (below). Then switch the phone off and on, and wait half a minute: the modem takes a few seconds to start.
No SIM card	The SIM card: in its slot, the right way up, pushed in fully. With an adapter (a nano-SIM in a larger frame), check that the card has not slipped.
SIM locked (PIN)	The card has a PIN, which this phone cannot unlock yet: turn the PIN off in another phone.
SIM blocked (PUK)	The PIN was entered wrong too often: unblock the card in another phone, with the PUK from your operator.
SIM error	Try another SIM card, to tell a faulty card from a bad contact.
Searching or No service	The modem and the card work: the phone looks for a network. If it never finds one, try where another phone on the same operator has signal.

Switch the phone off and take the battery out before you touch the SIM card.

The hardware switches¶

Under the back cover, the PinePhone has six small switches that cut parts of the phone off, whatever the software does. Taking the cover off to put a SIM card in, it is easy to move one.

Switch	When off
1	The modem has no power: no calls, messages or mobile data, and the phone says No modem.
2	No Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.
3	No microphone.
4	No rear camera.
5	No front camera.
6	The headphone jack is a serial port instead (see A serial cable).

For normal use, all six are on. Switch the phone off before moving them.

A shell on the phone¶

The quickest is on the phone itself: open Terminal from the menu, under Tools. Every command on this page works there, without a computer. A computer's keyboard and screen are more comfortable for long sessions; the ways below open the same shell from one.

On a console the phone asks for a login: type root and press Enter. There is no password.

A USB cable¶

The simplest way. Plugged into a computer with a USB-C cable, the phone shows up as a serial port as well as a network:

LinuxmacOSWindows

The port is /dev/ttyACM0:

picocom /dev/ttyACM0

Any terminal program does: screen /dev/ttyACM0, tio /dev/ttyACM0. Without permission on the port, add yourself to the dialout group (uucp on Arch Linux) or use sudo.

screen /dev/cu.usbmodem*

Find its port (COM3, COM4...) in Device Manager under Ports (COM & LPT), then open it in PuTTY, as Serial.

Press Enter if nothing shows: the phone had asked for the login before you connected. In picocom, Ctrl+A then Ctrl+X quits.

The port exists once the phone has started. If the phone does not start that far, use the serial cable.

A serial cable in the headphone jack¶

The headphone jack doubles as a serial port, the phone's console from the moment it is switched on: you see the phone start, then the login. You need the PinePhone serial cable (or a 3.3 V USB serial adapter wired to a jack plug: not 5 V), and switch 6 off.

Plug the adapter into the computer and find its port:

LinuxmacOSWindows

ls -l /dev/serial/by-id/ lists each adapter by name, pointing at its port (ttyUSB0). Or run sudo dmesg -w and plug it in: a line such as ch341-uart converter now attached to ttyUSB0 names it.

ls /dev/cu.*, before and after plugging it in.

Device Manager, under Ports (COM & LPT).
Open it at 115200 baud:
```
picocom -b 115200 /dev/ttyUSB0
```
picocom says Terminal ready: that is the computer's side, not the phone's yet.
Plug the cable into the phone's jack, fully: the jack is stiff.
Switch the phone on. Within a few seconds text scrolls (the bootloader, then Linux), then the phone asks for the login.

You see	Check
Nothing at all, not even while the phone starts	Switch 6 off, the plug fully in, the right port.
Garbled characters	The speed: 115200.
The phone starting, but typing does nothing	The cable's wiring (its transmit line), or the plug.

The phone also prints its own messages on this console, in the middle of what you type. To quiet them until the phone restarts, type dmesg -n 1.

SSH¶

SSH needs the computer allowed on the phone once, over the USB cable. From a Linux or macOS computer:

Make a key, if you have none:
```
ssh-keygen -t ed25519
```

With the phone plugged in and awake, send the key to it:

bash -c 'exec 3<>/dev/tcp/172.16.42.1/7022; head -n 1 ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub >&3; cat <&3'

The phone asks Allow this computer? with the key's fingerprint: check it against ssh-keygen -lf ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub, then tap Allow. The command prints allowed.
Log in:
```
ssh root@172.16.42.1
```

Once allowed, SSH also works over Wi-Fi, at the phone's address on it (in Settings › Network). The phone keeps allowed computers when it is updated. On Windows, the USB serial port is simpler.

What to look at¶

The root filesystem is read-only: nothing can be installed on it. /var/lib keeps what you write there (also across updates), /tmp until the phone restarts.

Command	Shows
`tail -F /tmp/phone-ui.log`	The phone's interface's log, live (`Ctrl`+`C` stops).
`grep modem /tmp/phone-ui.log`	What the phone asked the modem, and what it made of the answers. Each call's course: how it started (`call dialing, on 4G`), what you did (`call answered here`), how it ended (`call ended: busy, never connected`) and the network's reason (`how it ended:`). Phone numbers are left out.
`ls /var/lib/phone-ui/log/`	The interface's earlier logs: `phone-ui.log.1` is the one before it last started, up to `phone-ui.log.5`.
`dmesg`	Linux's messages: devices found, errors.
`lsusb`	The modem, when it is on: `2c7c:0125 Quectel`. Missing: it has no power (switch 1) or did not start.
`ls /dev/ttyUSB*`	The modem's ports.

The interface's log is kept across restarts: each time the interface starts, the earlier logs move along in /var/lib/phone-ui/log/ (phone-ui.log.1 the last one) and the oldest of five is dropped. Each starts with the time it began. So after a problem and a restart, look in phone-ui.log.1. Without a terminal, copy them from the Logs folder over USB file transfer.

Asking the modem¶

The modem answers AT commands on its second port, /dev/ttyUSB3, while the phone uses the first:

microcom -s 115200 /dev/ttyUSB3

Type a command and press Enter; Ctrl+X quits.

Command	Answers
`AT+CPIN?`	The SIM card: `+CPIN: READY`, `+CPIN: SIM PIN` (locked), or `+CME ERROR: 10` (none found).
`AT+QSIMSTAT?`	Whether the modem detects a card in the slot: `+QSIMSTAT: 0,1` yes, `0,0` no.
`AT+COPS?`	The network it is registered on, if any.
`AT+CSQ`	The signal: the first number from 0 (none) to 31, 99 unknown.

Leave the phone's port alone

Do not open /dev/ttyUSB2: the phone talks to the modem there, and what you type would mix with its commands. Ask, do not change settings: some stay in the modem across restarts and updates, and can stop calls or messages from reaching the phone.

Reporting a problem¶

Open an issue on GitHub with:

What you did and what the phone showed, in its words, or a screenshot (Power+Volume Down).
The version you installed (the file's name), and whether the phone runs it from a microSD card: Settings › About phone, Started from.
For the modem or the SIM card: the output of grep modem /tmp/phone-ui.log, lsusb and AT+CPIN?.