USB-C devices not recognized

skiwarz · Apprentice Joined: 23 Feb 2014 Posts: 267

I'm having trouble getting a USB-C port to work. When I plug a device into it, nothing happens. I get no output on dmesg, nothing shows up on lsusb, etc. The port in question doubles is also the charging port for my computer, and it does charge when plugged in. The devices I've tried to connect to the port do work on USB-C ports on my other machines, so they aren't the issue. I've enabled pretty much everything related to USB in my kernel config (see below). This computer is a Samsung Chromebook 4. When I opened it up, the first chip connected to the USB-C port is a "Parade" chip (the numbers are too small to read), which I believe has something to do with mode-switching. Regardless, here are my kernel config and dmesg:
.config: http://0x0.st/H_-i.txt
dmesg: https://bpa.st/2WIQ

Any help or advice would be much appreciated

audiodef · Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2023 11:24 pm Post subject:

Have you tried genkernel? If using genkerknel works, you could diff the two configs to find out what you're missing.

Along the same lines, if you can boot up on another USB port with System Rescue CD and the USB-C port works, you could lsmod to see what modules are in use.
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skiwarz · Apprentice Joined: 23 Feb 2014 Posts: 267

I hadn't looked into genkernel. The way this thing is booted, I have to format the kernel a "special" way. That involves building the initramfs into the kernel itself, then dd-ing the kernel directly to a "chromeOS kernel" partition. There's some coreboot/chromeOS firmware stuff that requires I do it that way. I'm not familiar enough with genkernel to know if that can be done...
And that also prevents me from booting from USB, unless I make my own custom image. Gentoo is the only distro I was able to boot on this laptop (not that that's a bad thing :lol:

).

audiodef · Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2023 11:33 pm Post subject:

Oh, wow. Well, that's a win for Gentoo.

What if you go into the USB options in the kernel config and enable them all?
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skiwarz · Apprentice Joined: 23 Feb 2014 Posts: 267

I just found one device that seems to work just fine.

skiwarz · Apprentice Joined: 23 Feb 2014 Posts: 267

Banana · Posted: Sun Aug 06, 2023 7:35 am Post subject:

Did you read https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/USB/Guide#USB_Type-C_and_Thunderbolt (also read the whole page and not only this section. Maybe something you need is also there)
and also endabled USB-C support in the kernel (https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/TYPEC.html)
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pietinger · Posted: Sun Aug 06, 2023 9:33 am Post subject:

Maybe you need also "Unified support for USB4 and Thunderbolt" in your kernel configuration ?

You have:

skiwarz · Apprentice Joined: 23 Feb 2014 Posts: 267

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Sun Aug 06, 2023 9:28 pm Post subject:

skiwarz,

Pastebin your entire kernel config please.
It should take the guesswark out of this.

Also check the date/time in

skiwarz · Apprentice Joined: 23 Feb 2014 Posts: 267

skiwarz · Apprentice Joined: 23 Feb 2014 Posts: 267

I've done some more troubleshooting, and if I do a "hard reset" or so (on these chrome OS devices it's the power+f3 combo), WITHOUT a power cable connected, the usb-c port works as it's supposed to - USB storage works without issue. As soon as I connect a charger to the USB-C port, that port again prevents any usb storage devices plugged into it from being recognized. Reboots via ctl-alt-del, "shutdown -r now", and my DE's power menu have no effect. But as soon as I do that "hard reset" as stated above, the port once again recognizes storage devices.
I've also managed to get debian

(with its generic, modular kernel) to boot off usb, and it exhibits similar symptoms.

Any thoughts?

Banana · Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2023 4:15 pm Post subject:

I do not know the hardware, but does it provide some kind of BIOS in which you may modify this setting?
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Goverp · Advocate Joined: 07 Mar 2007 Posts: 2203

I also don't know this hardware, but came across a thread on Reddit.
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C5ace · Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2023 9:56 am Post subject:

My Desktop has a USB-C socket on it's front pannel for charging only. Verified that there is a 2 wire connection from the USB-C socket to the +5V and ground on the main board.
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skiwarz · Apprentice Joined: 23 Feb 2014 Posts: 267

Turns out it was crappy firmware. I uodated the "EC" (embedded controller) device's firmware provided by google, and now it works perfectly.