Re: [beagleboard] USB host not working on Black?

14,888 views
Skip to first unread message

Gerald Coley

unread,
May 25, 2013, 11:41:23 PM5/25/13
to beagl...@googlegroups.com
I have no idea. USB works fine as far as I know. We test every board before shipment for USB operation using the Angstrom distribution that ships with the board.  I noticed it was not in your list.

You might try and make sure whatever you are using is plugged in on power up. That may help.

Gerald



On Sat, May 25, 2013 at 10:22 PM, <curtiss...@gmail.com> wrote:
I'm trying to get _any_ kind of USB device to be recognized by my BBB (running Ubuntu, also tried with Debian) using the host port.

I've tried mice, keyboards, flash drives, etc.  No matter what I plug in, no messages in dmesg, nothing of interest in lsusb.

I have a 5V/4A adapter plugged in so I don't think it's a power issue.

Interestingly, if I plug in my iPhone it begins charging, so there's power being supplied to the port.  Does anyone have any idea what might be happening?  Any hints on debugging this somehow?

Thanks.

--
For more options, visit http://beagleboard.org/discuss
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "BeagleBoard" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to beagleboard...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
 
 



--
Gerald
 

Robert Nelson

unread,
May 25, 2013, 11:52:29 PM5/25/13
to beagl...@googlegroups.com
On Sat, May 25, 2013 at 10:22 PM, <curtiss...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm trying to get _any_ kind of USB device to be recognized by my BBB
> (running Ubuntu, also tried with Debian) using the host port.
>
> I've tried mice, keyboards, flash drives, etc. No matter what I plug in, no
> messages in dmesg, nothing of interest in lsusb.
>
> I have a 5V/4A adapter plugged in so I don't think it's a power issue.
>
> Interestingly, if I plug in my iPhone it begins charging, so there's power
> being supplied to the port. Does anyone have any idea what might be
> happening? Any hints on debugging this somehow?

With the limited details (exactly what image?) make sure the usb
device is plugged in before power on.. USB hotplug is not working

Regards,

--
Robert Nelson
http://www.rcn-ee.com/

Curtiss Howard

unread,
May 26, 2013, 1:02:40 AM5/26/13
to beagl...@googlegroups.com
Hi Robert,

I'm actually using the latest raring image from your site.  I also tried your Debian 7 image for kicks.  I have tried plugging things in before powering on, no luck at least as far as seeing something in dmesg or lsusb.  I did notice that one of my USB sticks with an LED will light up when plugged in before booting (and not if doing hotplug).  But other than that, I'm completely stumped.  Going to try Angstrom.

Is there any kind of debugging I could do?

Curtiss Howard

unread,
May 26, 2013, 1:44:27 AM5/26/13
to beagl...@googlegroups.com
Tried in the default Angstrom image, same thing.

Do I need to adjust my expectations or something?  If I plug in a mouse or a flash drive (prior to booting), I should see _something_ in dmesg or lsusb, right?

Otherwise this has to be a defective BBB right?

Brent

unread,
May 26, 2013, 8:58:46 AM5/26/13
to beagl...@googlegroups.com
USB is not "defective", the problem is software, not hardware.  It seems the 3.8 kernel has issues with hot plugging. Mine does the same, but if I plug in the USB device and then power up, it works just fine.  Until this is fixed, there is a workaround here:

Gerald Coley

unread,
May 26, 2013, 9:54:38 AM5/26/13
to beagl...@googlegroups.com
That is correct. It works once and then will not after that. It is a SW issue.

Gerald


On Sat, May 25, 2013 at 11:49 PM, <ma...@erroraccessdenied.com> wrote:
USB Host indeed works when plugged in before booting.

For me, USB hotplug is not working on a BBB hardware A5A with this Angstrom:

name = BeagleBone Black
version = 0A5A
serialNumber = 1913BBBK3182
bonescript = 0.2

Linux beaglebone 3.8.11

Angstrom v2012.12 (Core edition)
Built from branch: danny
Revision: abdca5ed77a803e9eb8fdacd4977956755276c3b
Target system: arm-angstrom-linux-gnueabi


On Saturday, May 25, 2013 11:52:29 PM UTC-4, RobertCNelson wrote:
--
For more options, visit http://beagleboard.org/discuss
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "BeagleBoard" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to beagleboard...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
 
 

Curtiss Howard

unread,
May 26, 2013, 10:18:43 AM5/26/13
to beagl...@googlegroups.com
I'm not even trying to do hotplugging at this point.  Even having something connected prior to boot doesn't work.

Gerald Coley

unread,
May 26, 2013, 10:25:54 AM5/26/13
to beagl...@googlegroups.com
Can I assume that this is the case with the latest image as well?

Gerald



--
For more options, visit http://beagleboard.org/discuss
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "BeagleBoard" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to beagleboard...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
 
 

Curtiss Howard

unread,
May 26, 2013, 10:45:00 AM5/26/13
to beagl...@googlegroups.com
Yes.  Latest Angstrom (read: BBB factory image), Debian, and Ubuntu.

Is there any kind of advanced diagnostics I could do?

Gerald Coley

unread,
May 26, 2013, 5:54:29 PM5/26/13
to beagl...@googlegroups.com
Not that I know of.

Gerald

Venkat Bommakanti

unread,
May 27, 2013, 3:03:43 PM5/27/13
to beagl...@googlegroups.com
On Sunday, May 26, 2013 7:45:00 AM UTC-7, Curtiss Howard wrote:
Yes.  Latest Angstrom (read: BBB factory image), Debian, and Ubuntu.

Is there any kind of advanced diagnostics I could do?

Hi  Curtiss,

Your question got me thinking - to find a way to get a little more (albeit overview level) understanding of BBB <---> USB-device activity. I tried attaching a few USB devices myself. Some worked and some did not (partially). This is what I did to make some progress:
  • I obtained the source for usbdump from:
  • and untar'd to a local dir like so:
    • ~/myutils/usbdump-1.0
  • Compiled (ignore warnings) using:
    • gcc -O2 -Wall usbdump.c -o usbdump
  • shutdown the BBB, attached a Poloroid (PNY) 16GB USB stick to the BBB and powered in back up
  • Via PC/BBB-usb, ran the following commands (via a bash script):
    • echo -e "\nTime Now ..........:" && date &&
      echo -e "\nMount .............:" && mount &&
      echo -e "\nPartitions ........:" && cat /proc/partitions &&
      echo -e "\nBlocks ............:" && lsblk &&
      echo -e "\nUSB Device List ...:" && lsusb -t &&
      echo -e "\nUSB Device Details :" && usb-devices && echo -e "\n"
  • Some the useful (snippets of) results were like so:
  • Mount .............:
    ...
    /dev/sda1 on /media/USB20FD type vfat (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0077,codepage=437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,showexec,utf8,flush,errors=remount-ro)
    ...
    Partitions ........:
    major minor  #blocks  name
    ...
       8    0   15663104  sda     <<< USB stick
       8    1   15661992  sda1
    ...
    Blocks ............:
    NAME         MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
    sda            8:0    1    15G  0 disk
    `-sda1         8:1    1    15G  0 part /media/USB20FD     <<< USB stick
    ...
    USB Device List ...:
    /:  Bus 02.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=musb-hdrc/1p, 480M
    /:  Bus 01.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=musb-hdrc/1p, 480M
        |__ Port 1: Dev 2, If 0, Class=Mass Storage, Driver=usb-storage, 480M     <<< USB stick
    ...
    USB Device Details :
    ...
    T:  Bus=01 Lev=01 Prnt=01 Port=00 Cnt=01 Dev#=  2 Spd=480 MxCh= 0
    D:  Ver= 2.00 Cls=00(>ifc ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS=64 #Cfgs=  1
    P:  Vendor=154b ProdID=0048 Rev=81.92
    S:  Manufacturer=PNY Technologies     <<< USB stick, with needed mA info below
    S:  Product=USB 2.0 FD
    S:  SerialNumber=AAAC090D000000DD
    C:  #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=80 MxPwr=300mA
    I:  If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 2 Cls=08(stor.) Sub=06 Prot=50 Driver=usb-storage
    ...
    (details of this last output can be found at places like:
       http://www.kneuro.net/cgi-bin/lxr/http/source/Documentation/usb/proc_usb_info.txt?a=ppcYou
    )

  • If you are able to gather info like above, then there is some level of interaction between BBB and the attached USB device. If not, you may need to attach another "known working" device and repeat. If this also fails, may be the USB port on BBB is non-functional, worthy of an RMA. Before that, if you wish, you may be able to get more usb analysis tools to get to work.
  • If basic usb connectivity is validated, then you can use the usbdump tool to check further. From above we get the device's vendorid and pid and use it with the usbdump tool (from ~/myTools/usbdump) like so:
    • ./usbdump -d 154b:0048
  • You should see bi-directional (steady-state) data flow. If so, this is again a good indicator that the basics are working as expected
  • I was able to test further by:
    • by bringing up a vncviewer session on the host PC
    • running term and cd'ing to the USB stick (sda1 -> /media/USB20FD)
    • running a simple command like "ls -lsa" in the term.
    • this cause a lot of hexdump. Have not analyzed it further, but sure looks like there is bi-directional functioning activity.
It would've been more helpful if the powerful usbmon util was part of the Angstrom image. As of the 05/20/13 image, I think one would have to build the Angstrom kernel oneself, after including the required usbmon components - to use usbmon on the BBB. You may be able to do that meanwhile... my next mini project is to do the same and learn a lil more of linux in the process :-)

Wireshark is another util, but I think it requires usbmon.

There is also this USBSniffer util that BB folks have deployed in the 3.2 kernel for BB:
  http://beagleboard.org/project/usbsniffer/
This might be another candidate for migration to BBB (for the BBB s/w team ;?)

hth,
/venkat
PS: Thanks to the original authors at the links.

Venkat Bommakanti

unread,
May 27, 2013, 3:08:36 PM5/27/13
to beagl...@googlegroups.com
Just realized, you may also have better luck with ubuntu + (apt-get'ing usbmon)...
/v

Curtiss Howard

unread,
May 27, 2013, 7:34:49 PM5/27/13
to beagl...@googlegroups.com
Hi Venkat,

Thanks for the info.  Just an update, I actually have gotten one USB device to (sometimes) be recognized.  In general I'm finding my BBB's USB support to be very, very flaky.  I'll look at the tool you posted, thanks.

Brent

unread,
May 27, 2013, 10:26:19 PM5/27/13
to beagl...@googlegroups.com
By the way, I just noticed that Koen submitted a patch a few hours ago for the USB hot plugging.  I haven't tried it yet, but I probably will tomorrow.  You can find the patch here:

Koen Kooi

unread,
May 28, 2013, 1:57:49 AM5/28/13
to beagl...@googlegroups.com

Op 28 mei 2013, om 04:26 heeft Brent <bren...@hotmail.com> het volgende geschreven:

> By the way, I just noticed that Koen submitted a patch a few hours ago for the USB hot plugging. I haven't tried it yet, but I probably will tomorrow. You can find the patch here:
> https://github.com/beagleboard/kernel/commit/35a3abaaa7a44cdec3e4c63407b48d7cdc2a8533

That's present in the latest angstrom build (05.27) already: http://downloads.angstrom-distribution.org/demo/beaglebone/


>
>
> On Monday, May 27, 2013 7:34:49 PM UTC-4, Curtiss Howard wrote:
> Hi Venkat,
>
> Thanks for the info. Just an update, I actually have gotten one USB device to (sometimes) be recognized. In general I'm finding my BBB's USB support to be very, very flaky. I'll look at the tool you posted, thanks.
>
>
> On Monday, May 27, 2013 3:08:36 PM UTC-4, Venkat Bommakanti wrote:
> Just realized, you may also have better luck with ubuntu + (apt-get'ing usbmon)...
> /v
>

Richard Voigt

unread,
May 28, 2013, 2:54:55 PM5/28/13
to beagl...@googlegroups.com


On Tuesday, May 28, 2013 12:57:49 AM UTC-5, Koen Kooi wrote:

Op 28 mei 2013, om 04:26 heeft Brent <bren...@hotmail.com> het volgende geschreven:

> By the way, I just noticed that Koen submitted a patch a few hours ago for the USB hot plugging.  I haven't tried it yet, but I probably will tomorrow.  You can find the patch here:
> https://github.com/beagleboard/kernel/commit/35a3abaaa7a44cdec3e4c63407b48d7cdc2a8533

That's present in the latest angstrom build (05.27) already: http://downloads.angstrom-distribution.org/demo/beaglebone/

Thanks for pointing that out, I wouldn't have found it since neither of the usual locations showed the new version.

 

Gerald Coley

unread,
May 28, 2013, 2:57:16 PM5/28/13
to beagl...@googlegroups.com
I will be posting the 5_28 image soon I hope. Waiting for Jason to put it on the S3 sever since early this morning.

Gerald


 

--
For more options, visit http://beagleboard.org/discuss
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "BeagleBoard" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to beagleboard...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
 
 

Koen Kooi

unread,
May 28, 2013, 2:58:32 PM5/28/13
to beagl...@googlegroups.com

Op 28 mei 2013, om 20:57 heeft Gerald Coley <ger...@beagleboard.org> het volgende geschreven:

> I will be posting the 5_28 image soon I hope. Waiting for Jason to put it on the S3 sever since early this morning.

Use the 5.27 image

Gerald Coley

unread,
May 28, 2013, 5:19:14 PM5/28/13
to beagl...@googlegroups.com
Power should be OK as you are not taking over 500mA from the host port. There is a limit on the USB client port power, but it is right at 1500ma. If that were the issue, all the pretty blue lights would go out. So I don't see a power issue here. I would expect the USB drive to need a driver.

There is a 5_28 image posted if you want to try it. 

Gerald



On Tue, May 28, 2013 at 4:08 PM, AndysBeagle <andre...@gmail.com> wrote:
  Hello, everyone.

  I'm struggling with the USB host on my Beagle Black.  I'm connecting a USB hard disk to the board, with a powered hub between the disk and the hub.  Then I reboot the beagle board so that there's no hotplugging issues to deal with. 

  After reboot: voila!  lsusb shows the hard disk, but fdisk -l does not. 

  Here's how everything else is configured:
OS:  Ubuntu 13.04.
Boot disk: 8 GB xD card.
Power Source:  Cell phone USB - AC adapter (I think it's 1A or 2A over USB), plugged into mini-usb port on the board.

powered USB hub plugged into Beagle board's USB (host) port
Networking: ethernet cable plugged into RJ-45 port.

  I've been perusing forums for 3 days.  I'm sure this is some kind of RTFM issue, but do not know what I'm missing.


--
For more options, visit http://beagleboard.org/discuss
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "BeagleBoard" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to beagleboard...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
 
 

Andrew Greenlaw

unread,
May 28, 2013, 6:18:48 PM5/28/13
to beagl...@googlegroups.com

Thanks for writing.

I'll go looking for a driver as soon as my home internet's back up.

Thanks!

=========================
"dream it, plan it, do it"

You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "BeagleBoard" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/beagleboard/uWMNdBv_aPg/unsubscribe?hl=en.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to beagleboard...@googlegroups.com.

Juanjo

unread,
May 29, 2013, 1:08:36 AM5/29/13
to beagl...@googlegroups.com
In my case, not only hotplug isn't working, also when I reboot the BBB or white BB on 3.8.X it does not detect the USB device correctly; in my case the USB device is self powered so it doesn't reboot/restart on BBB reboots. This mode do work on white BB with 3.2.X Kernels.

On Saturday, May 25, 2013 11:52:29 PM UTC-4, RobertCNelson wrote:

Tom King

unread,
May 29, 2013, 1:30:48 AM5/29/13
to beagl...@googlegroups.com
Juanjo, 

Try the 5-27 flasher

it has the hotplug fix in it


--

Kleven Bingham

unread,
May 29, 2013, 8:57:16 AM5/29/13
to beagl...@googlegroups.com
I downloaded both the 2013.05.27 and 2013.05.28 images. I tried the 28 image first and USB hot plug was not working correctly - would not recognize a hub or HID mouse that were plugged in after boot.

I haven't had time to try the 27 image yet - did this regress in the 28 image or should it work in both?

Curtiss Howard

unread,
May 29, 2013, 8:14:12 PM5/29/13
to beagl...@googlegroups.com
Just an update to my original post folks.  I took a close look at the USB header and one of the data pins had a fat glob of solder on it.  So fat that both bins are soldered together (or just about), in fact.  That certainly explains why things attached to the USB port could draw power but not be recognized.

Andrew Greenlaw

unread,
May 29, 2013, 9:58:15 PM5/29/13
to beagl...@googlegroups.com

I bought a 3 A power supply and am now using that instead of 1 or 2aA over USB.  USB hub now works great.

=========================
"dream it, plan it, do it"

--
For more options, visit http://beagleboard.org/discuss
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "BeagleBoard" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/beagleboard/uWMNdBv_aPg/unsubscribe?hl=en.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to beagleboard...@googlegroups.com.

Gerald Coley

unread,
May 29, 2013, 10:01:57 PM5/29/13
to beagl...@googlegroups.com
Is it the current or maybe the that is has a good ground? Is it a two or three prong power supply? Linear or switcher?

Gerald



You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "BeagleBoard" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to beagleboard...@googlegroups.com.

For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
 
 

Andrew Greenlaw

unread,
May 29, 2013, 10:04:41 PM5/29/13
to beagl...@googlegroups.com

It's not a bench supply, if that's what you mean.

=========================
"dream it, plan it, do it"

Gerald Coley

unread,
May 29, 2013, 10:21:52 PM5/29/13
to beagl...@googlegroups.com
Not that is not what I mean. Some suppliers are linear and others are switchers. Switchers can be noisy. My biggest question if it is three prong supply or just two. I'm looking for a good ground. The USB is limited to 500mA, so adding a high amperage supply has no affect on that fact.

Gerald

Message has been deleted

dann...@gmail.com

unread,
Sep 16, 2013, 3:42:15 PM9/16/13
to beagl...@googlegroups.com
Hi,

Though this thread is old, I thought I'd take a shot at asking you a question, because this comment is the closest thing to an answer I've found for a problem I'm facing.

I'm attempting to interface my BBB with a custom device via USB. The device is set up as a CDC class device. I'm able to send a character to the device and get a response with write/read C functions, but only once - whether I attempt to write/read more than once within a program or attempt to run the same program more than once without rebooting the BBB.

Is this what you meant by it working "once and then will not after that"? I haven't been able to find a solution, but are you aware of anything popping up since May?

APRichelieu

unread,
Dec 11, 2013, 11:52:20 AM12/11/13
to beagl...@googlegroups.com
Started a Crowdfunding Project to fix the USB hotplugging on Beaglebone Black 

With my patched driver, I do not see any problems.
Have tried hotplugging a mouse, keyboard, USB serial (FTDI) and a hub.

BR
Ulf

Den söndagen den 26:e maj 2013 kl. 05:22:36 UTC+2 skrev Curtiss Howard:
I'm trying to get _any_ kind of USB device to be recognized by my BBB (running Ubuntu, also tried with Debian) using the host port.

I've tried mice, keyboards, flash drives, etc.  No matter what I plug in, no messages in dmesg, nothing of interest in lsusb.

I have a 5V/4A adapter plugged in so I don't think it's a power issue.

Interestingly, if I plug in my iPhone it begins charging, so there's power being supplied to the port.  Does anyone have any idea what might be happening?  Any hints on debugging this somehow?

Thanks.

ilhami....@gmail.com

unread,
Dec 22, 2013, 1:48:00 PM12/22/13
to beagl...@googlegroups.com
Yes. I have the same problem. After I boot my BB via sd card which has a version 3.8.13, I noticed that USB ethernet

26 Mayıs 2013 Pazar 15:58:46 UTC+3 tarihinde Brent yazdı:
USB is not "defective", the problem is software, not hardware.  It seems the 3.8 kernel has issues with hot plugging. Mine does the same, but if I plug in the USB device and then power up, it works just fine.  Until this is fixed, there is a workaround here:

On Sunday, May 26, 2013 1:44:27 AM UTC-4, Curtiss Howard wrote:
Tried in the default Angstrom image, same thing.

Do I need to adjust my expectations or something?  If I plug in a mouse or a flash drive (prior to booting), I should see _something_ in dmesg or lsusb, right?

Otherwise this has to be a defective BBB right?


On Sunday, May 26, 2013 1:02:40 AM UTC-4, Curtiss Howard wrote:
Hi Robert,

I'm actually using the latest raring image from your site.  I also tried your Debian 7 image for kicks.  I have tried plugging things in before powering on, no luck at least as far as seeing something in dmesg or lsusb.  I did notice that one of my USB sticks with an LED will light up when plugged in before booting (and not if doing hotplug).  But other than that, I'm completely stumped.  Going to try Angstrom.

Is there any kind of debugging I could do?


On Saturday, May 25, 2013 11:52:29 PM UTC-4, RobertCNelson wrote:
On Sat, May 25, 2013 at 10:22 PM,  <curtiss...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm trying to get _any_ kind of USB device to be recognized by my BBB
> (running Ubuntu, also tried with Debian) using the host port.
>
> I've tried mice, keyboards, flash drives, etc.  No matter what I plug in, no
> messages in dmesg, nothing of interest in lsusb.
>
> I have a 5V/4A adapter plugged in so I don't think it's a power issue.
>
> Interestingly, if I plug in my iPhone it begins charging, so there's power
> being supplied to the port.  Does anyone have any idea what might be
> happening?  Any hints on debugging this somehow?

Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages