Possible Cause For Dodgy Usb Connection?


If you look at it the blobs are making contact with 2 surface mount components. Also that usb metal thing is grounded. If those other components are not meant to be pulled to ground it could cause a problem. Or maybe it just drains more power as there is a short there. It is something to look at anyway, it doesn't look right.

Agreed, but I still don't think it is the cause of the USB problems. All real tests have so far pointed to software. That could become a power issue though. Something to look into.
 
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It would be good to discover the spectrum of USB functionality that the GP2X is showing. Perhaps people could post the status of their USB connection:
  • Whether and how well USB communication works
  • What OS you've tried USB with
 
USB communication with my GP2X works if I disable the Enhanced Host Controller (or similar). The OS that I tried it with is Windows XP SP2.
 
I think the best test of this is connecting it to a OSX box. Windows has some serious USB issues, and Linux might not be properly configured, but OSX should work with zero problems.
 
I've just been following some of the other hints posted here and I've made some progress.

I unplugged all my USB devices. I've updated to all my latest USB drivers (in my case I've an Intel chipset. Rebooted a few times for good measure (Win2K).

Now when I visit the USB screen in settings I do at least get a response from Windows. I can see a "Linux File-Stor Gadget USB Device". When I leave the USB settings screen on the 2X I get the "Unsafe Removal of Device" gripe from Windows.

What is interesting, and perhaps my fault for not paying attention, is that this USB activity only works when you are on the USB settings screen of the 2X. It appears to be off at all other times.

Does this happen to everyone else, and I'm just the last one to realise?

All good stuff, but it hasn't mapped any drives. So I need to investigate that next.

I'll post if I find a solution.
 
Ok, Right, This is what i have found out so far, Since owning the GP2x.

First day: I connected the GP2x running off batteries to my main computer (win2k sp4, using a USB 2 port), The hardware wizard did it`s stuff, And the GP2x was mounted as a mass storage device, And i could view the contents of the SD card in the GP2x via my computer. I never copied anything across, As i never had anything prepared, But there was some mp3`s already on the card from my phone, So i disconnected. I mucked around with it untill the batteries died, About 30 miuntes

The next day: I connected the GP2x to the same comp and got the green arrow near the clock, But nothing else. I then tried it on my main laptop (also win2k sp4) and still no luck.

After reading this thread today, I thought of trying one of my other laptops, This has WinXP Pro SP1 and USB 1.1, And low and behold, It connected without any problems, I connected and re-connected a few times just to make sure, and it still works.

So, Can anyone here with "windows XP Pro and Only sevicepack 1" (Not 2) confirm if they can connect just as i can ?.

Btw: Here`s a picture of my GP2x`s pcb showing the usb connector, Just for the record.

My GP2x`s pcb

Trooper
 
I just wanted to say "Don't Panic" if you can't yet get the USB working.

My unit arrived yesterday, and no matter what I tried I just could not get a peep out of the USB. My heart sunk. I'd used USBMonitor, the lot.

But, over night I've been trying a few things and I'm starting to make progress. I can now at least get some communication between 2X and PC. It's by no means right yet, but I am making progress.

I think that a lot of people who find themselves at the "the unit is defective" conclusion in the Wiki will find out that actually their unit is actually working.

Here are some clues that I'm putting together:

1. Make sure the SD card is readable by the 2X (you can see the contents in the 2X's explorer app). If I format in Windows (FAT, FAT32, anything) the 2X won't have it at all, but if I format in my Palm T3 first, all is well.

2. Connect the USB lead up, and go to the USB settings screen - stay there.

3. Update PC's USB drivers / follow the advice given in the wiki for kick-starting Windows. I suspect that Bug#1 may be related to the 2X going into radio-silence and is not making itself known to Windows (at least that's my pet theory so far). I found that on my Intel chipset machine, using the "Intel Application Accelerator" and the INF updater helped (both are available from the Intel support site - only for Intel chipset PCs).

4. I've noticed that when Windows does recognise my 2X, that it's coming up as a "local drive", not as a "removable media" device as you might normally expect.

5. Try running the Control Panel | Admin | Computer Management applet. Go to the "Disk management" screen. On my PC, a new (local) drive appears, but it is "uninitialised" in Window's eyes. Bug#2 might be that the 2X is advertising itself as some kind of fixed drive rather than as a USB storage drive (or something along those lines). I'm nervous about letting Windows format my SD card from here, so I left well alone (for now).

So DON'T PANIC, I've managed to get back an otherwise dead machine. I'll continue to look into this problem. Until new firmware is released, it may be possible to write a Windows app that can act as a bridge.

So if I were you I'd hold off on returning your units just yet.

Stay Frosty...
 
Good news and bad news.

Firstly the good news, I seem to have my USB connection working. I can access my SD card. The bad news is that I don't really have an easy to follow guide.

So I've gone from an apparently dead 2X (USB wise) to one working just fine.

The last step seems to be that Windows didn't like my Palm T3 formatted SD. But yesterday my 2X didn't like the Windows formatted SD. But today it's fine with it. Very odd.

1. I've now formatted with FAT (not tried FAT32) - which both Windows and the 2X seem happy with. I'm using Win2K.

2. The connection only works while in the USB Settings screen on the 2X. Sorry if that seems obvious to everyone else.

The only problem seems to be that Windows is still insisting this is a local (non removable drive). This makes a clean unplug difficult. Anyone fancy tweaking usbstor.inf? Or perhaps this is just the 2X reporting a silly value - and therefore a firmware issue.

Hope this helps.
 
Is there a link between whether there is an SD card installed and whether USB works? In other words, is it possible that my USB is dead because I don't have an SD card installed?!
 
Needs checking...

If so this is very important, and indeed should be added right at the start of the "USB Problems" section of the Current GP2X Issues page.

It's a shame there's no way to export what the file system on the NAND looks like: I was looking forward to poking around through the USB port. I guess my first utility will have to be a baby `find`!

Time to go and get an SD card, I guess...
 
"GP2X sales" (gp2x.co.uk) have confirmed the SD card dependency, so I've updated the wiki accordingly. Maybe I'll be back in business at the weekend after all! B)
 
Alas, maybe not :(

This time USB Prober (OSX) sees a bit more, and reports:
Code:
High Speed device @ 2 (0x5B200000): ... Unknown device (did not respond to inquiry)
Sigh. Maybe the card needs formatting? If so, something more to add to the growing USB wiki entry...

Dammit, I don't want to spend yet more money. Card readers are locally overpriced (about £20) and perhaps that will just move the problem one small step to the next blockage, whatever that is. :blink: I'm ending up spending nearly as much on extras (SD card, batteries, power supply adaptor, card reader) as the original box cost, and it's still just a pretty brick. :angry:

I hope we get some useful utilities soon. Some suggestions:
  • An SD card formatter
  • A file system explorer. In fact, that's quite interesting: what part of the file system does the "NAND Memory" part of the Explorer utility look at? Everything is empty!
 
Curiouser and curiouser. I got myself a card reader, and according to Disk Utility it's already formatted (I can't actually figure out what format is being used: can somebody remind me of the appropriate Unix command to interrogate the file system type of a mounted file system? `mount` just says "local", which is unhelpful!)

However, when I placed a file on the card: lo and behold, it all works! USB connects properly and I can copy files.

Curiously, when I copied over the avi file that cragix sent me on the CD, the GP2X whinges that it's not a recognised format. So, time for new firmware.

But, at long last, I'm in business :D
 
Nobody should worry about this in the long run, FAT and other filesystem support will be added/improved down the road. I can see NTFS read coming into the picture relatively soon, but you might have to wait off on the write. I just want Ext2/3 or Reiser, both of which are likely to be added, as they are Linux filesystems.
 
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