Using NUT for UPS monitoring on Alt-F

[Tom Schmidt]

I know that this is a 10 year old thread at https://groups.google.com/g/alt-f/c/Wtc6geFyypk that never got resolved.  I recently added an APC UPS behind my DNS-327L Alt-F 1.0 NAS (and some other hardware) that I likewise am trying to use NUT on.  After a reboot, the USB connection to the UPS is not seen by NUT unless I unplug the USB cable and plug it back into the DNS-327L.  I am using the NUT package from Entware-ng.

After a reboot, lsusb does see it, but NUT does not:

[root@nas1]# lsusb -tv

/:  Bus 03.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=xhci_hcd/2p, 5000M

/:  Bus 02.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=xhci_hcd/2p, 480M

    |__ Port 1: Dev 2, If 0, Class=HID, Driver=usbhid, 1.5M

/:  Bus 01.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=orion-ehci/1p, 480M

[root@nas1]# dmesg | grep -i usb
ehci_hcd: USB 2.0 'Enhanced' Host Controller (EHCI) Driver
orion-ehci d0050000.usb: EHCI Host Controller
orion-ehci d0050000.usb: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
orion-ehci d0050000.usb: irq 27, io mem 0xd0050000
orion-ehci d0050000.usb: USB 2.0 started, EHCI 1.00
hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found
xhci_hcd 0000:01:00.0: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 2
hub 2-0:1.0: USB hub found
xhci_hcd 0000:01:00.0: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 3
usb usb3: We don't know the algorithms for LPM for this host, disabling LPM.
hub 3-0:1.0: USB hub found
usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage
usbcore: registered new interface driver usbhid
usbhid: USB HID core driver
usb 2-1: new low-speed USB device number 2 using xhci_hcd
usb 2-1: ep 0x81 - rounding interval to 64 microframes, ep desc says 80 microframes
usbcore: registered new interface driver usblp
usbcore: deregistering interface driver usblp
usbcore: registered new interface driver usblp

[root@nas1]# upsdrvctl start

Network UPS Tools - UPS driver controller 2.8.0

Network UPS Tools - Generic HID driver 0.47 (2.8.0)

USB communication driver (libusb 1.0) 0.43

kill: No such process

Driver exited abnormally

Network UPS Tools - Generic HID driver 0.47 (2.8.0)

USB communication driver (libusb 1.0) 0.43

kill: No such process

Driver exited abnormally

Network UPS Tools - Generic HID driver 0.47 (2.8.0)

USB communication driver (libusb 1.0) 0.43

kill: No such process

Driver exited abnormally

[root@nas1]# upsd -u root

Network UPS Tools upsd 2.8.0

kill: No such process

listening on 127.0.0.1 port 3493

not listening on ::1 port 3493

/opt/var/run is world readable

Can't connect to UPS [apcups] (usbhid-ups-apcups): Connection refused

[root@nas1]# upsc apcups
Error: Connection failure: Connection refused

Unplug the USB cable of the UPS and plug it back in and repeat most of the above commands:

[root@nas1]# lsusb -tv

/:  Bus 03.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=xhci_hcd/2p, 5000M

/:  Bus 02.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=xhci_hcd/2p, 480M

    |__ Port 1: Dev 5, If 0, Class=HID, Driver=usbhid, 1.5M

/:  Bus 01.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=orion-ehci/1p, 480M

[root@nas1]# upsdrvctl start

Network UPS Tools - UPS driver controller 2.8.0

Network UPS Tools - Generic HID driver 0.47 (2.8.0)

USB communication driver (libusb 1.0) 0.43

kill: No such process

Using subdriver: APC HID 0.98

[root@nas1]# upsd -u root

Network UPS Tools upsd 2.8.0

fopen /opt/var/run/upsd.pid: No such file or directory

Could not find PID file '/opt/var/run/upsd.pid' to see if previous upsd instance is already running!

listening on 127.0.0.1 port 3493

not listening on ::1 port 3493

/opt/var/run is world readable

Connected to UPS [apcups]: usbhid-ups-apcups

[root@nas1]# upsc apcups

battery.charge: 100

battery.charge.low: 10

battery.charge.warning: 50

battery.date: not set

battery.mfr.date: 2024/11/06

battery.runtime: 1380

battery.runtime.low: 120

battery.type: PbAc

battery.voltage: 13.6

battery.voltage.nominal: 12.0

device.mfr: APC

device.model: Back-UPS ES 550

device.serial: XXXXXXXXXXX

device.type: ups

driver.name: usbhid-ups

driver.parameter.pollfreq: 30

driver.parameter.pollinterval: 2

driver.parameter.port: auto

driver.parameter.synchronous: auto

driver.version: 2.8.0

driver.version.data: APC HID 0.98

driver.version.internal: 0.47

driver.version.usb: libusb-1.0.22 (API: 0x1000106)

input.sensitivity: high

input.transfer.high: 139

input.transfer.low: 92

input.voltage: 122.0

input.voltage.nominal: 120

ups.beeper.status: enabled

ups.delay.shutdown: 20

ups.firmware: 843.K2 .D

ups.firmware.aux: K2

ups.load: 18

ups.mfr: APC

ups.mfr.date: 2010/08/29

ups.model: Back-UPS ES 550

ups.productid: 0002

ups.serial: XXXXXXXXXXX

ups.status: OL

ups.timer.reboot: 0

ups.timer.shutdown: -1

ups.vendorid: 051d

Has there ever been a fix for this other than to unplug and replug the USB port after the Alt-F NAS reboots?

Thanks in advance!

Tom Schmidt

Alt-F contributor, running Alt-F 1.0 on DNS-323 and DNS-327L NAS devices

[Joao Cardoso]

On Tuesday, March 11, 2025 at 10:19:54 PM UTC Tom Schmidt wrote:

I know that this is a 10 year old thread at https://groups.google.com/g/alt-f/c/Wtc6geFyypk that never got resolved.  I recently added an APC UPS behind my DNS-327L Alt-F 1.0 NAS (and some other hardware) that I likewise am trying to use NUT on.  After a reboot, the USB connection to the UPS is not seen by NUT unless I unplug the USB cable and plug it back into the DNS-327L.  I am using the NUT package from Entware-ng.

After a reboot, lsusb does see it, but NUT does not

 ...

[root@nas1]# dmesg | grep -i usb

...

According to  this post

> Dmesg output: hid-generic 0003:051D:0002.0001: device has no listeners, quitting

 

Does that appears also in your dmesg output? Your dmesg filtering might have removed it

Has there ever been a fix for this other than to unplug and replug the USB port after the Alt-F NAS reboots?

According to this post,

> The reason your UPS isn't recognized is because USB_HIDDEV is not defined in the kernel config of the Alt-F builds

I remember to have confirmed that at the time, and also checked on other places that it is indeed the culprit, so only a kernel rebuild will solve the issue.

My own kernels (5.4) have that defined now, but a new Alt-F release is pending by more than two years now... so there is not much hope.

João

[Tom Schmidt]

João,

    Thanks for the reply.  Yes, I do have the same error in dmesg.  Also, each time that I replug the USB port it increments the device number.  So currently dmesg has entries like this:

[root@nas1]# dmesg | egrep '(usb|051D)'

orion-ehci d0050000.usb: EHCI Host Controller

orion-ehci d0050000.usb: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1

orion-ehci d0050000.usb: irq 27, io mem 0xd0050000

orion-ehci d0050000.usb: USB 2.0 started, EHCI 1.00

usb usb3: We don't know the algorithms for LPM for this host, disabling LPM.

usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage

usbcore: registered new interface driver usbhid

usbhid: USB HID core driver

usb 2-1: new low-speed USB device number 2 using xhci_hcd

usb 2-1: ep 0x81 - rounding interval to 64 microframes, ep desc says 80 microframes

hid-generic 0003:051D:0002.0001: device has no listeners, quitting

usbcore: registered new interface driver usblp

usb 2-1: USB disconnect, device number 2

usb 2-1: new low-speed USB device number 3 using xhci_hcd

usb 2-1: ep 0x81 - rounding interval to 64 microframes, ep desc says 80 microframes

hid-generic 0003:051D:0002.0002: device has no listeners, quitting

usb 2-1: USB disconnect, device number 3

usb 2-1: new low-speed USB device number 4 using xhci_hcd

usb 2-1: ep 0x81 - rounding interval to 64 microframes, ep desc says 80 microframes

hid-generic 0003:051D:0002.0003: device has no listeners, quitting

    I guess there is no fix until a new update for Alt-F is released.  I am quite proficient with Linux, so let me know if I can help in any way.  I have submitted a few fixes and enhancements for Alt-F 1.0.

Tom

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[Bill R]

Tom,

I was in the same situation a few years back and ended up doing by own Alt-F build with USB_HIDDEV in the kernel config. It was a learning experience for me, and I ended up pulling in all the recent package commits as well as figuring out some other fixes on my own. I created a thread here over a year ago where I went through each step and João made a few additional suggestions that I followed. The firmware has been very stable for me. I only built for the 320/320L/325, so I can't guarantee you won't have a problem or other step unique to the 327L though. Unless any package source URLs have changed since I went through this, it should be a straightforward process overall. Happy to assist if you run into a problem.

Bill

[Tom Schmidt]

Thanks Bill for the response.  I will look for your previous thread about building the updates into the kernel.  We could take this offline from the forum if you want and report back the results.

Tom

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/alt-f/01fb48d3-4a1b-450d-acb2-2c392cf55514n%40googlegroups.com.

[Bill R]

Sure, you can PM me and I'll try to help.