[Solved] External CD-ROM drive disconnects on Raspberry Pi 4

[nameiwillforget]

I bought an USB CD-ROM drive that I'd like to use with my Raspberry Pi4. The same drive works on a Gentoo system on my amd64 desktop, so I thought I should put the issue here. The drive in question is an Initio Corporation INIC-1618L SATA. "dmesg" gives an endless sequence of

Code: Select all

[ 3353.695872] usb 1-1.1: new high-speed USB device number 41 using xhci_hcd
[ 3353.800968] usb 1-1.1: New USB device found, idVendor=13fd, idProduct=0840, bcdDevice= 1.14[ 3353.804986] usb 1-1.1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[ 3353.808938] usb 1-1.1: Product: External
[ 3353.812917] usb 1-1.1: Manufacturer: Generic
[ 3353.816894] usb 1-1.1: SerialNumber: 5238314436474B5A42333232
[ 3353.824098] usb-storage 1-1.1:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[ 3353.828717] scsi host0: usb-storage 1-1.1:1.0
[ 3354.753537] usb 1-1.1: USB disconnect, device number 41

I have one more day where I can give back the drive. Can anyone see a way to make the drive work? Otherwise I'll give it back. If I have to do that does anyone know an USB drive that is known to work with the Pi 4?

[Banana]

Could be a power issue. Does the cd-rom drive has ab extra power connection?

[lars_the_bear]

Could be a power issue. Does the cd-rom drive has extra power connection?

Yeah. The Pi 4's are more generous in their power delivery than the Pi 3's, in my experience, but neither is overly generous. But could it just be a loose connection? I find the USB ports on the Pi to be rather sloppy (lacking a better word) than those on other systems. I have an external hard drive whose cable I've had to glue into place, to keep the USB contacts sound.

BR, Lars.

[nameiwillforget]

Hm. The power source of my Pi should be more than sufficient to power the drive as well, as it's designed to power an entire amplifier. I've now tried using the Pi with the original power supply and the one for the amplifier and with and without "max_usb_current=1" and it never works. I also tried holding holding the usb connection firmly in with my hands and using a different slot. Guess I'll have to give it back.

[lars_the_bear]

Hm. The power source of my Pi should be more than sufficient to power the drive as well, as it's designed to power an entire amplifier.

I always use a powered USB hub for this kind of thing. There are a couple of nice designs that will attach as a HAT, which makes a compact installation. Having said that, the Pi4 is supposed[/i[ to be able to supply 1200 mA on a single USB port, provided no other port is in use. A CD-ROM drive that's designed to be bus-powered shouldn't really draw that much.

A problem I often have with Pi systems is that the commonly-available power supplies have crappy cabling whose resistance is too high. So, although the PSU might notionally provide 3A (or whatever), the voltage at the 5V rail of the Pi might not be 5V after some voltage has been dropped along the PSU cabling. The Pi itself might behave if the 5V supply is down to 4.8V (say), but peripherals might not. If you've an amplifier on the same PSU, then this effect will probably be even worse. I generally try to measure the exact supply voltage with a voltmeter on the GPIO 5V pins; but transient drops in voltage are hard to see that way.

In short, whatever current rating a 5V PSU has, it's not safe to assume that it will maintain 5V at the Pi end when working hard.

So these days I use a 12V PSU for my Pi designs, with a 12V-to-5V step-down converter right next to the Pi. Such a converter only costs pennies these days. I've found this removes most power-related problems.

Of course, you might just have a CD drive that isn't compatible.

BR, Lars.

[Banana]

Hm. The power source of my Pi should be more than sufficient to power the drive as well, as it's designed to power an entire amplifier. I've now tried using the Pi with the original power supply and the one for the amplifier and with and without "max_usb_current=1" and it never works. I also tried holding holding the usb connection firmly in with my hands and using a different slot. Guess I'll have to give it back.

You can still try another thing to make sure it is not gentoo: Boot a official raspberry image and see how the cd-rom drive behaves.

I strongly suggest into using a powered USB hub as lars_the_bear already said if there is no extra power connection to the drive.

[nameiwillforget]

I bought an USB hub with an external power supply and the drive seems to work there. I'll mark as solved.

[Banana]

thank you for letting is know.