NetMetal ax (L23UGSR) — miniPCIe LTE modem not detected, slot delivers nothing on USB bus while type-A port works

Hardware MikroTik hardware general
1

Hardware: NetMetal ax, board-name: L23UGSR-5HaxD2HaxD, IPQ-5010, architecture-name: arm
Module: R11e-LTE (Cat 4) in the miniPCIe slot, Nano SIM inserted, antenna pigtails connected
RouterOS: tested on 7.20.8 (long-term) and 7.23.1

Problem: The LTE modem is never detected. /interface lte print is always empty and no modem appears on the USB bus.

Diagnostics:

/system resource hardware print — only the host controller, nothing behind it:

# LOC  TYP  VENDOR                NAME                  SPE  DEVICE-PATH
0 1-0  usb  Linux 5.6.3 xhci-hcd  xHCI Host Controller  480  bus/usb/001/001

A USB flash drive in the external type-A port does enumerate, so the USB controller and port work — only the miniPCIe slot delivers nothing:

# LOC  TYP  VENDOR                NAME                  SPE  DEVICE-PATH
0 1-0  usb  Linux 5.6.3 xhci-hcd  xHCI Host Controller  480  bus/usb/001/001
1 1-1  usb  General               USB Flash Disk        480  bus/usb/001/002  sda1 sda

What I've already ruled out:

  • Not firmware: same empty result on 7.20.8 and 7.23.1.

  • Not the module: two different LTE modules behave identically.

  • Not seating/antennas: modules reseated, retention screws fitted, pigtails connected.

  • Not a SIM issue: a missing SIM wouldn't remove the interface anyway.

  • No USB-2.0 jumper is documented for the NetMetal ax (the jumper I found applies to the RBM33G, a different multi-slot board).

2

It's expected that the LTE modem show up on the USB bus, not the PCI bus. AKAIK, but don't have a R11e 4G/EC200A-EU specifically, but USB is how most 4G modems typically integrate. i.e. the miniPCI bus does have USB pins that modems use.. But it should not show up as a disk under /system/resources/usb.

More it's poorly documented. It's in the block diagram. I don't have one verify so trusting the HW diagram.

So that means you CANNOT use both the USB port and the modem.

So you likely DO actually need a:

/system/routerboard/usb set type=miniPCI

See routerboard | RouterOS Manual

Now... if you assume you could use BOTH LTE and an external disk.... that explain why a disk is shown and why LTE is not working... e.g. there is actually USB disk is actually on the USB port, meaning /system/routerboard/usb's type must by =USB-Type-A

3

That worked, thanks a lot.

A big flashy note here would´ve helped a lot:

Documentation really is lacking.

Thanks again

4

Good to hear. MikroTik has been improving their documentation, but... it remain very poor at handling where features/abilities that vary by device.

Now...I'm guessing you asked some LLM first, and then came here to forum. While this likely‡ would NOT have helped in this case... but the steering AI towards the new manual.mikrotik.com is likely helpful generally, see ✨ Steering AI to use new manual.mikrotik.com - #9 by Amm0 .

‡ note: I tried testing AI with OP + my RouterOS tools/skills/MCPs... but the LLM "cheated" and found this thread with my answer and OP's response it work... Now Claude did "flag" MY human-made error of using type=miniPCI is type=mini-PCI above in its answer "Note: the forum post showed /system/routerboard/usb set type=miniPCI , but the canonical property value per the CLI reference is mini-PCIe ."

Seems like you figured it out, but just to correct the record:

/system/routerboard/usb set type=mini-PCI