Trouble with USB OTG in device mode

#1

Hello,

I would like to use the ROCK Pi 4A USB OTG port exclusively in device mode (presenting the ROCK Pi 4 as a peripheral to another host). I am running Armbian Buster on the ROCK Pi 4 and have configured a USB gadget via configfs, and have set the OTG hardware switch to the device setting. However, when I connect the ROCK Pi 4 to another host, the host does not immediately see the device.

If I toggle the OTG hardware switch from device → host → device again, the host will (often) see the device and I can start to use it without a problem. But this is inconvenient and not ideal for my application.

Is there some way to make the OTG port permanently visible as a device to the host without needing to toggle the switch?

#2

You can toggle the switch to device side, and force set the otg to peripheral mode in the kernel device tree.

change the default otg mode:

&usbdrd_dwc3_0 {
    dr_mode = "otg";
    status = "okay";
};

to

&usbdrd_dwc3_0 {
    dr_mode = "peripheral";
    status = "okay";
};

and try.

#3

Hi,
I use ROCK Pi 4B v1.3, with Debian9Desktop from Radxa download. Kernel 4.4.154-90.
I want to use it as external USB storage for my PC.
And I’d like to have default set of ROCK Pi 4 USB OTG port as a g_mass_storage device.

I observed that behavior of ROCK Pi 4 as g_mass_storage device depends on the connection to Host PC before I power the ROCK PI 4.
If I first power up the ROCK pi 4 and later connect to host PC, to start the OTG I need to toggle the switch in the way @antihacker do.
If I first connect USB port to host PC, set the DEVICE position of the switch and later power up the ROCK Pi 4. The OTG is working properly. I do not need to toggle the OTG switch.

Is there a way to start the ROCK Pi 4 always as the OTG device?

I checked your suggestion, but it doesn’t work in the way I need.
I changed rockpi-4b-linux.dts
dr_mode I found in line 473 (usb0 -> dwc3@fe800000 -> dr_mode)

I discovered that only one change between both settings (otg/peripheral) is the reaction for switching to the HOST position:

when dr_mode = “peripheral”;
the Host is not starting and the only log message is that rockchip-dwc3 usb0: USB unconnected.

[ 67.561442] rockchip-dwc3 usb0: Peripheral disconnect timeout
[ 67.561974] rockchip-dwc3 usb0: USB unconnected

when dr_mode = “otg” the Host is starting.

[10374.670799] xhci-hcd xhci-hcd.8.auto: xHCI Host Controller
[10374.671976] xhci-hcd xhci-hcd.8.auto: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 7
[10374.672887] xhci-hcd xhci-hcd.8.auto: hcc params 0x0220fe64 hci version 0x110 quirks 0x02030010
[10374.673953] xhci-hcd xhci-hcd.8.auto: irq 231, io mem 0xfe800000
[10374.676352] usb usb7: New USB device found, idVendor=1d6b, idProduct=0002
[10374.676967] usb usb7: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=1
[10374.677732] usb usb7: Product: xHCI Host Controller
[10374.678183] usb usb7: Manufacturer: Linux 4.4.154-90-rockchip-ga14f6502e045 xhci-hcd
[10374.678870] usb usb7: SerialNumber: xhci-hcd.8.auto
[10374.680579] hub 7-0:1.0: USB hub found
[10374.680982] hub 7-0:1.0: 1 port detected
[10374.682105] xhci-hcd xhci-hcd.8.auto: xHCI Host Controller
[10374.683056] xhci-hcd xhci-hcd.8.auto: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 8
[10374.683862] usb usb8: We don’t know the algorithms for LPM for this host, disabling LPM.
[10374.684771] usb usb8: New USB device found, idVendor=1d6b, idProduct=0003
[10374.685488] usb usb8: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=1
[10374.686143] usb usb8: Product: xHCI Host Controller
[10374.686598] usb usb8: Manufacturer: Linux 4.4.154-90-rockchip-ga14f6502e045 xhci-hcd
[10374.687286] usb usb8: SerialNumber: xhci-hcd.8.auto
[10374.693202] hub 8-0:1.0: USB hub found
[10374.693609] hub 8-0:1.0: 1 port detected
[10374.694566] rockchip-dwc3 usb0: USB HOST connected

Switching back to the DEVICE position, starts the g_mass_storage and RockPi is visible as a Mass storage Device from the Host PC.
dmesg of RockPi:

[ 154.074280] phy phy-ff770000.syscon:usb2-phy@e450.1: charger = USB_SDP_CHARGER
[ 154.074940] rockchip-dwc3 usb0: USB peripheral connected
[ 154.394231] g_mass_storage gadget: high-speed config #1: Linux File-Backed Storage

So, maybe there is other tip I can check ?

#4

Hi, Have you fixed this. I have the exact same issues listed above. I have managed to get everything else working except this annoying switching issue. Im using a 4B model and have the same experience in both stretch and armbian.

I was also having some super speed issues where my device first detects in high speed mode in its bootup process and then never makes it to super speed after boot. If i stop the g_mass_storage and restart it superspeed is detected.

Its a highly annoying issue that I might have to wire a button to GPIO that I can push and run a script to fix. unless someone can tell me how to modify the kernel and force super speed

Thanks

#5

Actually I don’t have find a way to solve this issue: I can boot in peripheral mode but if I don’t have device already attached on USB the device mode doesn’t start correctly. Also no manner to use cdc ethernet gadget, it start correctly if device attached at boot but then no communication happen on physical layer ( Ip and route correct), from analisys seems a disalignement in ethernet packet in g_ether driver usb_f_cdc: if I setup IP on device and host side I cannot ping each other…

USB OTG not working properly RockPi 4b
#6

Unfortunately this method doesn’t work. It does its job from that point of view that the mode switch state doesn’t matter, rockpi will appear according to the kernel device tree setting. But even if you set “peripheral” for dr_mode, sometimes it doesn’t appear as a usb mass storage device, and you have to power off/on. Do you know what causes this issue?

1 Like
#7

We have made some progress in this thread:

It has been a long time, but if you are still looking for a solution, we might have one that fits you in this thread: