http://support.google.com/ics/nexus/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=2386439&topic=2375623&ctx=topic
According to the official Google Help Page, it should support USB Host. However searching online have returned a lot of out-dated threads about how the USB chip works when it was still running Gingerbread.
I have purchased a USB adapter, tried to connect any USB device to my Nexus S, and nothing happens. The USB port will not be powered. However quoting Google's official help text :
You may need an adapter to connect the keyboard or other device to your phone's USB port. To connect more than one USB device at a time, use a powered USB hub to reduce the drain on your phone’s battery.
This implies that connecting devices to your Nexus S will drain your battery?
I am very confused. I have no powered USB hubs so I cannot try to see if the USB host function is purely limited by the lack of power or the USB chip.
I am sure I am not the only person who would love this to work. Is there anyone who knows what does it take to get USB Host to work on Nexus S upgraded to ICS? (Despite Google's help site indicating that it should just works out of the box)
Thanks a lot.
So, I spent some money and bought a powered USB hub.
No it didn't work.
I think the reason is that the power is not being transferred UPSTREAM. For example, I have connected the USB hub to my Nexus S, and a Logitech wireless mouse receiver to the powered USB hub.
Although I am sure that the Logitech wireless mouse receiver has power (from the USB hub), the Nexus S does not recognize the existence of the USB hub, since the power is not transmitted from the USB hub back INTO the Nexus S.
Feeling disappointed, I repacked everything nicely and exchanged my purchase for a slightly more useful 16GB SD Card.
Does anyone has any information to how is this supposed to work?
Or should we assume Google has made a stupid typo in their help articles, and that the Nexus S will not actually work in USB Host Mode ??
anyone please?
I too am looking for answers. Anyone?
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
I've heard that the External USB Adapter from ASUS is a notoriously difficult beast to locate. It's marketed to plug into a bare tablet and provide a Host USB connector. But, would it also work in the charging port of the keyboard dock giving a second Host USB port? (Yes, I know a hub would do this. But If one wants this device to connect USB storage to a bare tablet, would it also do double duty and work with the dock?)
It certainly sounds possible. Mostly because I think the internals of the keyboard dock are a hub already basically.
One usb going to the card reader, one going to the usb port, one to the keyboard function, and another as a passthrough to the proprietary data port.
So by using the usb adapter you are just converting the otherwise unused data port into another usb port.
since there both 40 pin connecters i imagine that would work
m3n991 said:
since there both 40 pin connecters i imagine that would work
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is also my assumption, but we all know what assuming does. All depends if all the signals are passed through, and if there are any lag or transmission line issues.
Has anyone tried this to verify if it does or does not work?
Yesterday I made a custom usb Y cable and connected it to a USB OTG adapter to our phone and supplied a external +5v power then connected USB keyboard and mouse both worked.
But when i tried connecting my pen drive it did not shown any sign of life.
I searched and narrowed these methods:
http://www.chinadigitalcomm.com/how-to-mount-usb-flash-drives-t1865.html
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1334444
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=997187
According to these two methods I should get sda1 and sda 2 in dev/block after connecting a USB pen drive but that is not happening.
Then I searched and found out that our kernel should have UMS enabled to mount any usb storage device as stated here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=22597744&postcount=3
I am really confused now, I know I have enabled USB Host mode as usb mouse and keyboard are working but dont know how to modify our kernel to get usb pen drive work.
prasannapmv said:
Yesterday I made a custom usb Y cable and connected it to a USB OTG adapter to our phone and supplied a external +5v power then connected USB keyboard and mouse both worked.
But when i tried connecting my pen drive it did not shown any sign of life.
I searched and narrowed these methods:
http://www.chinadigitalcomm.com/how-to-mount-usb-flash-drives-t1865.html
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1334444
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=997187
According to these two methods I should get sda1 and sda 2 in dev/block after connecting a USB pen drive but that is not happening.
Then I searched and found out that our kernel should have UMS enabled to mount any usb storage device as stated here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=22597744&postcount=3
I am really confused now, I know I have enabled USB Host mode as usb mouse and keyboard are working but dont know how to modify our kernel to get usb pen drive work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you won't be able to modify our kernel with our locked bootloader, but your problem could be elsewhere. the drive requires more power than a mouse or keyboard, so it just may not be getting enough. will your power supply give a full 500mA that is what a normal usb port gives, and is probably overkill for a flash drive, but it would prove whether that is the problem or not.
Does the drive have a light on it that usually turns on when you plug it in? if so, does it come on when you plug it in with your splitter into the phone.
It may be that it is just not supported on our phone, but I think a power problem is much more likely.
EDIT: once you think it is getting power, check for it in /dev/block by running this in terminal emulator. you can check before and after to see what changes, if anything in case it is not named /sdxx
Code:
ls /dev/block
lkrasner said:
you won't be able to modify our kernel with our locked bootloader, but your problem could be elsewhere. the drive requires more power than a mouse or keyboard, so it just may not be getting enough. will your power supply give a full 500mA that is what a normal usb port gives, and is probably overkill for a flash drive, but it would prove whether that is the problem or not.
Does the drive have a light on it that usually turns on when you plug it in? if so, does it come on when you plug it in with your splitter into the phone.
It may be that it is just not supported on our phone, but I think a power problem is much more likely.
EDIT: once you think it is getting power, check for it in /dev/block by running this in terminal emulator. you can check before and after to see what changes, if anything in case it is not named /sdxx
Code:
ls /dev/block
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is right, our phone does not provide power on the usb connection, it is a one way charge only, no matter which cable you use, it is an issue with moto's implementation of the USB protocol.
---EDIT---
I do think that I read that someone was able to get it working by using a powered usb hub attached in between the A2 and the usb device. WARNING some assembly/dis-assembly was required!
jimbridgman said:
That is right, our phone does not provide power on the usb connection, it is a one way charge only, no matter which cable you use, it is an issue with moto's implementation of the USB protocol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
devices do work as long as you provide external power, which is what he has done. basically you cut the power wires out of the cable and hook them up to a power supply, thus givng the power and giving the data to the phone. Since it supports host mode, it SHOULD work with a flash drive as well as mice, I have heard of people doing it.
lkrasner said:
devices do work as long as you provide external power, which is what he has done. basically you cut the power wires out of the cable and hook them up to a power supply, thus givng the power and giving the data to the phone. Since it supports host mode, it SHOULD work with a flash drive as well as mice, I have heard of people doing it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know this does not explain it, but it is mentioned that a powered hub is needed.... This person was thinking of making basically a DIY HD doc, and there was someone else on here that has done it too, but I can't find that post and I can't remember the users name.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1462541
A cheap hub will do the job much better, and I have heard of other users having trouble with the otg cable and usb storage.
Just more information to think about and look into.
Try this
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.chainfire.stickmount&hl=en
Motorola lied and I'm still locked mb865
I've tried every single thing that I can to make Usb flash drive work but its something in our software that is restricting it detect any of my storage devices.
I saw one more thread yesterday it was for XOOM which says kernel has to be modified in order to get usb Drives work:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1068999
I now understand that with locked bootloader it will not be possible to modify the kernel so i am abandoning this project and hope we find a way to unlock bootloader soon in the future.
You can try by using a self powered hub which provide power to devices, If it works do post the results as I am also looking forward to use USB HOST feature
john1989 said:
You can try by using a self powered hub which provide power to devices, If it works do post the results as I am also looking forward to use USB HOST feature
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ive done this. I have a powerd usb hub, otg cable hooked up and it does not recognize drives or mice. None of it is working. Beginning to think there is not a way to make this work.
It does work when you connect pen drive to lapdock so its not software/firmware/kernel issue.
Easy solution: buy a lapdock or a media dock with usb ports and connect your drive there.
Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk 2
I did finally get this to work.
One caveat, you have to connect the power directly from the cable to the otg cable. Basically power the hub and the otg cable from one line even though they are connected. This is what did the trick for me.
Ill post pictures when i can if its still foggy.
Sent from my MB865 using xda premium
Rebelj12a said:
I did finally get this to work.
One caveat, you have to connect the power directly from the cable to the otg cable. Basically power the hub and the otg cable from one line even though they are connected. This is what did the trick for me.
Ill post pictures when i can if its still foggy.
Sent from my MB865 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Update and edit. No automounting at all. Have to use an external program to mount. Been trying to debug this for a while but the OS is not seeing the usb device.
Using USB host diagnostics Android api does not detect the device. Although the claims and classes were found. Kernel is in the green here too. Unfortunitely this makes it so that the USB device cannot be used by 3rd party programs. Still working on figuring this out. I saw a post about shorting out the 4 and 5 line of the microusb cable. Going to try that see where it goes.
I would like to know if this exists, as if it doesn't I was thinking about making it. As the title may be confusing to understand, maybe describing what I'm trying to do will be easier to explain.
I going to create a dock in a family mini van for a tablet. This tablet will have limited storage space, but has usb otg capabilities. Thus hooking up a flash drive with movies on it would be the goal.
Now running a female to male cable would be fairly easy, however I want to be able to have the tablet charge and still use the usb port to access the usb cable. Thus I need a cable that may be spliced cable with three ends. Where two ends are for usb transfer and another to supply power to the devices. Or if there is another solution, I am up for it.
Sent from my SGH-I777 using xda app-developers app
I have seen Y cables for such a purpose.
If you want to do charge/power and USB host at the same time
you will need the plug into the Android to be an OTG plug with a grounded ID pin.
The other end will go to the flash drive.
If you apply 5V to the Vbus/Gnd your device has the possibility to use this power.
Of course this is an odd situation and it may ignore the 5V and only use its own battery.
Experimenting will show you if this will work without a driver hack.
I just recently purchased a USB to Go dongle for the SGS3 (the adapter allowing you to use the SGS3 in usb host mode, to connect things like flash drives, mice, hubs, etc). Everything seems to be working quite well, but I do have a question maybe someone can answer.
I was hoping that, if using something like a powered USB hub, that I'd be able to plug that into the USB to Go connector, and that my SGS3 would charge through the hub. Maybe this was a foolish hope, but I'd hoped nonetheless because it seems that there's going to be quite a bit of battery power drained by trying to power devices like this. I had hoped to basically set up a sort of docking station where I could connect the phone to the USB to Go adapter, plug that into a powered hub to have it charge, connect a flash drive, mouse, and keyboard to the hub, and then use HDMI out to a TV.
It seems even with a powered USB hub I'm stuck not charging so this setup obviously doesn't last long, which leads me to wonder why it's set up like this.
I'm sure I'm missing something or not thinking it through or maybe it's just not possible. But any insight into this, or is it just not possible to charge while using the phone as a host?