Author Archives: Taufiq

Set-up Guide for MOBITEK S80 on LAN

Objective: to set-up MOBITEK® S80 to operate on local area network (LAN) via LAN port.

Applies to:-

  • MOBITEK® S80 SMS Modem Type S-L
  • MOBITEK® S80 3G Modem Type E-L

MOBITEK® S80 for SMS Over 3G Network

 

How to Configure LAN Port of MOBITEK® S80

There are 2 tasks:-

  1. How to Assign/Change IP Address of MOBITEK® S80
    1. IP address has to be assigned to the modem
  2. How to Add A COM Port for MOBITEK® S80
    1. on PC/server, a new COM port has to be added and mapped to the IP address of the modem

 

How to Assign/Change IP Address of MOBITEK® S80

  1. Connect the LAN  (ethernet) cable to the modem and the other end to your router or switch.
  2. Connect power adapter to the modem, turn on the power.
  3. Run the Windows application “USR-TCP232-T24-V5.1.1.20.exe“.
  4. Click “Search in LAN”.
    USR-TCP232-T24-01
  5. It will look for the IP address of MOBITEK® S80, if found it will display the address. In this example it is 192.168.10.210
  6. Click the “Device list in the net” , make the following changes in the “Parameters” section:-
    1. set to “TCP Server”;
    2. change the IP address in “Module IP” that matches your LAN, the IP address is for MOBITEK® S80 (e.g. 192.168.10.210);
    3. change the “Default Gateway” that matches the IP address of your router (e.g. 192.168.10.1);
    4. optional — change “Module port”;
      USR-TCP232-T24-02
  7. Finally, click “Set selected item via Net” or “Set selected item via LAN” to save changes.
    USR-TCP232-T24-03
  8. Exit the Windows application “USR-TCP232-Setup”.

 

How to Add A COM Port for MOBITEK® S80

  1. In Windows PC/Server, install “USR-VCOM” then run it.
  2. Click “Smart Vcom” (you must first exit “USR-TCP232-Setup”, otherwise an error message “Search port 1901 is occupied” will appear):
    USR-VCOM_V3.7.1.520_Setup-01
  3. If MOBITEK® S80 is found, it will be displayed. Check it then click “Next” to create COM port.
    USR-VCOM_V3.7.1.520_Setup-02
  4. A new COM port number will be created under “COM Name”, in this example it is 1.
  5. Also the COM port number can also be seen either in “Device Manager -> Ports”
    or in  “Device Manager -> Virtual Serial Ports (Eltima Software)”. COM port number will be displayed.
    USR-VCOM_V3.7.1.520_Setup-04
  6. “Net State” will show “Connected”.
  7. Your application will communicate with MOBITEK® S80 via the above COM port number.
  8. When your application is connected to MOBITEK® S80  then “COM State” will show “Open”.
  9. When your application is communicating with MOBITEK® S80 to send and read SMS, the values in “COM Received” and “Net Received” will be increasing.
  10. Ensure “USR-VCOM” is set to “AutoRun” (red box) and ensure it is running, otherwise SMS application is unable to connect to MOBITEK® S80 Modem:

 

Appendix: Using “Search” to Find the IP address of MOBITEK S80

  1. If “Smart VCOM” fail to work, then use “Search” function. Select “USR-TCP232-T24”:
  2. If modem is found, it will list the IP address of modem:
  3. Click “Connect Virtual COM” to create a COM port:
  4. Select a COM port for the modem (e.g. COM20), and select “TCP Client”:
  5. MOBITEK® S80 Modem is connected to COM port number 20.

Difference Between “Bridge” and “NAT” Mode in VirtualBox

 

QUESTIONS BRIDGE MODE  NAT MODE
What is the IP address of VM (guest)?
Note: the IP address of host is 192.168.10.56
Note: the IP address of host is 192.168.10.56
Can VM (guest) shared a folder and allow host to access the shared folder?
Can VM see other PCs/laptops on the MOBITEK workgroup? Yes No
Can VM access the internet? Yes Yes

 

How to Set to “Bridge Mode” in VirtualBox

  1. Click on “Settings“ new window will pop up for settings.
  2. Then, go to “Network“ at “Attached to:” option select “Bridged Adapter” and click “OK”.

Note: Not required to stop the machine/ shutdown for this settings.

 

How to Allow OS in VirtualBox to Access Internet

  1. Click on “Settings“, new window will pop up for settings.
  2. Then go to “Network” -> “Advanced”. In “Promiscuous Mode”, select “Allow VMs” or “Allow All“.

 

 

How to Set-Up MOBITEK S80 Modem in VirtualBox

  1. Connect modem to host OS.Open VirtualBox, go to the setting of your virtual machine.
    How to Set-Up MOBITEK S80 Modem in VirtualBox-01
  2. Go to Serial Ports and set the setting as below:
    • Enable Serial Port.
    • Set Port Number: (port number inside the guest OS)
    • Port Mode: Host Device
    • Path/Address: (port number of modem that is connected to host OS)
      Note: Windows provides legacy names only for COM ports 1 through to 9. For all other COM ports you must use the full device naming convention under Windows. So if you decide to use COM10 instead of COM9, using COM10 at Path/Address won’t work. Instead you have to use “\\.\COM10”. (source: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/37728628/connection-through-com-port-between-host-and-guest-in-virtualbox)
      Click OK
      How to Set-Up MOBITEK S80 Modem in VirtualBox-02
    • Note: if this step is skipped, hyper terminal will have no response if connected to the “Sierra Wireless AT Command Port”
  3. Run the virtual machine.
    How to Set-Up MOBITEK S80 Modem in VirtualBox-03
  4. Go to device manager in VirtualBox to check the COM Port. In this example, the MOBITEK S80 Modem that is connected to the USB port (COM6) of host machine, the USB port is then mapped serial port (COM1) of VirtualBox.
    How to Set-Up MOBITEK S80 Modem in VirtualBox-04
  5. In VirtualBox, the modem is connected to COM1 which is the serial port .
  6. In the host machine, the same modem is connected to COM6 which is the USB port.

How to Recover Lost Partition in Hard Disk

Problem: partition(s) in external hard disk (using hard disk docking station) was lost due (cannot be seen), sometimes Windows will prompt for formatting the hard disk. This problem is caused by:-

  • “safely remove” was not used to remove the external hard disk;
  • hard disk corruption

Solution: there are various recovery tools available

TestDisk is the free and fast while the rest comes with limitations. In this tutorial, TestDisk will be used. The only disadvantage with TestDisk — using command line instead of GUI.

First of all, to recover the lost partition, the same hard disk docking station must be used. I have moved the external hard disk to another docking station and all the above recovery tools cannot detect the lost partition.

  1. run “testdisk_win.exe“
  2. select “Create”:-
    TestDisk-01
  3. select the hard disk having lost partition:-
    TestDisk-02
  4. if hard disk is formatted using Windows, then select “Intel”:-
    TestDisk-03
  5. select “Analyse”:-
    TestDisk-04
  6. select “Quick Search”:-
  7. after “Quick Search”, it will detect lost partitions in green (in this example there are 2 partitions):-
  8. select “Write” to recover the lost partitions:-
  9. type “Y” to write partition:-
  10. select “Ok” to reboot:-
  11. select “Quit”:-
  12. select “Quit”:-
  13. After reboot the hard disk, the 2 lost partitions reappear:-
  14. for more information refer to http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step#Quick_Search_for_partitions

 

 

 

 

How to Install USB Driver of MOBITEK S80 and Find the COM Port Number

Step 1: DO NOT connect USB cable or connect modem to PC/server.

Step 2: Install the USB driver first by clicking on ‘run’. USB driver can be downloaded from here — http://www.mobitek.my/download/USB Drivers/USB Driver for MOBITEK S80.zip
USB driver S80-002
Step 3: Click on ‘next’.
USB driver S80-003

Step 4: Check the ‘I accept the terms in the License Agreement’ and click on ‘Next’.
USB driver S80-004

Step 5: Choose the installation folder or path, then click on ‘Next’.
USB driver S80-005

Step 6: Click on ‘Install’.
USB driver S80-006

Step 7: Make sure to restart the machine or computer in order to use the installed driver.
USB driver S80-007

Step 8: After computer is restarted, connect the modem to the computer. In device manager, the connected modem is listed as ‘Sierra Wireless AT Command Port (UMTS)’. In this example, the modem is connected to COM port number 29.
USB driver S80-008