Database Users

How to make your own Motorola "Factory Cable"

Over in this post Cellzealot opined that I might be willing to share the pinout of the "factory cable" clone that I worked up. I absolutely am, but needed to find several hours of free time to do the writeup, images, etc.
The other night I set aside the time and did the writeup. If you would like to make your own cable, you can read the writeup here.
To oversimplify it, here is the map:
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The map is simple enough. The main problem (as detailed in the writeup I linked to above) is that since pin 4 is normally unused in a Mini/Micro B connector, there is no wire connected to it (to tie to), and in the case of the Mini B that I surgically dissected, the actual pin for pin 4 was nipped off at the back of the connector as well.
This doesn't preclude you from making a cable as you can always order brand new connectors and solder them up any way you like.
I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have in this topic.

great guide
Thanks for linking this to us! This would be tremendously useful to many on this forum. My question is, since the docks Motorola sells basically do the same thing, could the process be applied like callen81 did to make USB host functionality? It seems like the same process is used, albeit simpler.

Or just buy a USB 3.0 cable!

ya i picked up like three for like 1.50 each. monoprice.com has alot of cables for super cheap, good quality too
edit, i also got the 10 footers so i dont have to be bounded to the 4 footer that comes with it

Moved to proper forum.

Guys, a factory cable is not like the micro USB cables you buy, nor the standard "OTG" micro usb cables/adapters to become USB host.
Notice that PIN4 is tied to POWER, the +5V on PIN1, not to ground on PIN5 as in OTG cables (or left floating like on most mini/micro cables.)
This cable is essentially for being able to nvflash the phone, although perhaps it has other uses I am unaware of.

eval- said:
Guys, a factory cable is not like the micro USB cables you buy, nor the standard "OTG" micro usb cables/adapters to become USB host.
Notice that PIN4 is tied to POWER, the +5V on PIN1, not to ground on PIN5 as in OTG cables (or left floating like on most mini/micro cables.)
This cable is essentially for being able to nvflash the phone, although perhaps it has other uses I am unaware of.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It can also be used to charge the phone while flashing SBF.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App

eval- said:
Guys, a factory cable is not like the micro USB cables you buy, nor the standard "OTG" micro usb cables/adapters to become USB host.
Notice that PIN4 is tied to POWER, the +5V on PIN1, not to ground on PIN5 as in OTG cables (or left floating like on most mini/micro cables.)
This cable is essentially for being able to nvflash the phone, although perhaps it has other uses I am unaware of.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
isn't it also possible to use a usb keyboard with this method given that you have a usb powering hub in the middle?

The most useful thing to do at this point would be linking places that sell easily modified cables / adapters. As he said 99% of cables you find will not have the 5th wire connected or soldered on to the connector. Even if I had a cable or source of cables that had an easily solderable 5th pin this cable would be decently cheap to make. Most of the space cables I've hacked apart just have 4 solder points and a 'dummy' pin #4 (what, to look cool?) sigh.

bearsfan172 said:
It can also be used to charge the phone while flashing SBF.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't say for the Atrix, but for every other phone I've used the cable on, while it will power the phone while flashing, it will not charge the phone while flashing.

eval- said:
Guys, a factory cable is not like the micro USB cables you buy, nor the standard "OTG" micro usb cables/adapters to become USB host.
Notice that PIN4 is tied to POWER, the +5V on PIN1, not to ground on PIN5 as in OTG cables (or left floating like on most mini/micro cables.)
They do indeed have many uses
This cable is essentially for being able to nvflash the phone, although perhaps it has other uses I am unaware of.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They do indeed have many other uses besides the nvflash interface which is strictly for Tegra based devices. They not only power the device without battery, but autoload the Motorola networking driver and other interfaces for diagnostic mode NV access with both Motorola and Qualcomm service ware as well as flash tools like RSD Lite.
The device is always initialized properly and identified by the applications for various operations.
Similar powered cables have been used for all P2K generation Motorola devices for many years in various configurations. The real factory cables are made with a Mini USB B end and come with an adapter so they are compatible across a much wider range of older devices.
We hope very much that getting this info out will generate a lot of outflow for the many ways to apply the unique properties of these cables for newer devices.

In another topic Kholk had an idea that does away with the "missing pin 4 on the micro" problem. You can sacrifice a Motorola Mini-to-Micro USB adapter (SKN6252) which is wired for all 5 pins. This makes it a heck of a lot easier for the average Joe to make one and avoid the expense of buying a custom-made cable.
For most folks that would try this, that tip is all they need to proceed. If you want more detail, I did a step by step here.
If you make one up, post up and let me know how it went.
Enjoy!

MotoCache1 said:
In another topic Kholk had an idea that does away with the "missing pin 4 on the micro" problem. You can sacrifice a Motorola Mini-to-Micro USB adapter (SKN6252) which is wired for all 5 pins. This makes it a heck of a lot easier for the average Joe to make one and avoid the expense of buying a custom-made cable.
For most folks that would try this, that tip is all they need to proceed. If you want more detail, I did a step by step here.
If you make one up, post up and let me know how it went.
Enjoy!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm working on making my own, just to see if it'll work. I think it's going to turn out more frankenstein-y than yours, however.

PixoNova said:
I'm working on making my own, just to see if it'll work. I think it's going to turn out more frankenstein-y than yours, however.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool. I'd love to see it when you're done (if you wouldn't mind posting a pic). As long as you get the pinout right, it will work. Your attempt can't possibly be worse than my initial prototype was. If you have an SKN6252 lying around, you could actually make a pretty respectable looking cable.

Where can you buy one of these if your not good at soldering??

Make a friend who is good at soldering.

Does anyone know why Moto is allowed to call their connector USB when they don't comply to USB.ORG's standards and do things their own way?

cellzealot said:
They do indeed have many other uses besides the nvflash interface which is strictly for Tegra based devices. They not only power the device without battery, but autoload the Motorola networking driver and other interfaces for diagnostic mode NV access with both Motorola and Qualcomm service ware as well as flash tools like RSD Lite.
The device is always initialized properly and identified by the applications for various operations.
Similar powered cables have been used for all P2K generation Motorola devices for many years in various configurations. The real factory cables are made with a Mini USB B end and come with an adapter so they are compatible across a much wider range of older devices.
We hope very much that getting this info out will generate a lot of outflow for the many ways to apply the unique properties of these cables for newer devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Moto has been using nonstandard USB cables since they came out, many of which were dumb devices. The reasoning that they needed to be different so that they can do X Y or Z is bull. They want to lock you into Moto cables. No one has ever shown a logical reason for being different. You can flash phones with regular USB cables so the logic for a different format holds no validity.

Does this mean we could make one of these cables and have the phone "think" its either docked in the car or in the HD dock? I assume for the HD dock you might need added power but why cant I make a USB cable, plug it into my phone and hook up a USB hub to it like the dock?
not to hi-jack but it would be interesting to see if anyone has made their own docks, somehow the 3.5mm audio is integrated into the dock and is played through the usb cable...

Using the factory cable, Not insert the battery, display SVF: 105:1:2
Failed to boot 0x1000, infinite reboot

[Q] hacking docks to provide audio, hdmi or sync (MHL and stuff)

I've spent some time searching looking for something on the subject, but haven't found anything that seems to cover it (does that make me special (I did laugh at the video), but enough off topic).
so I specifically have the Samsung Galaxy Note. though I realise in a lot of ways its really just a big S2 in most regards. and I suspect several other devises that would be comparible.
I'm currentlty using a dual charging dock station which I bought cheaply of amazon, and that gives me sync and power. having looked inside the case there loads of spare room in there. and so I'm wondering about playing around with the MHL adapter and ideally something like the audio out with the official samsung dock.
from what research I've done the note senses what type of dock its in by the resistance on pins 4 and 5. now even with my basic electrical skills it seems rather easy to put in a 3 way switch to select between these
obviously the guts for the HDMI out would be from a MHL adapter, and that should be possible to power through the standard connectors on the current dock. but what I cant seem to find would be the associated parts for the audio (dont want to buy the official samsung dock just to rip it apart) (one thread on here about stripping the cable back to power and then the 3 inner wires were left, right and ground, but didn't see any evidence of that method working)
the audio aspect has another relevence for me, as I'm also wondering about a note dock/speaker set up (cheap 2.1 speakers, rehouse the sub to a case that incorperates the mUSB connector, audio components, and power, so that other than speaker cables and one power cable that'd be it (currently use a Sony NWA-3000 plugged into old pc speakers for such night time listening)
so thoughts and advise (specifically on the audio aspect)

Thatz pretty impressive. I too have that sony dock. I think about modification of it so that i can plug in my hd2 in it. Ie just to put an micro usb plug out from it, so that i can charge my phone while i plug in 3.5mm jack from the sony dock.
Thatz all about mine.. now letz look into ur case.
Cant u try out 3.5 mm jack for audio o/p?
Or else u can check out pinouts.ru for pin config of hdmi, coz, u r going to take out hdmi from sg note any way. So u can rip the cable apart and take out audio and video wires, connect the video cables to tv and audio to dock/ amp.
But i suggest that 3.5 jack will be the easier way.
Sent from my HD2 using XDA App

So I don't know about it, I would say that it really isn't that feasible. Besides putting a different resistance you would also need to route the data lines to a different location to the MHL to HMDI converter.
If you were to do the video or USB you couldn't do audio. From what I understand there is a IC that looks at the resistance on the ID pin and puts the audio signals on the data lines. Once again you run into the same problem that you have with the video adapter, routing the data lines.

got a brief schematic for layout. I'm buying some cheap bits now (MHL adapter, USB soundcard, USB OTG cable)
first a few explanations on the schematic, software I used didn't have many switches on it, so plan to use a 4 pole double throw like this rather than the 2 sets of 2p2t shown in the diagram
secondly, not sure if I need to short pins 4&5 for OTG, still reading stuff
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Yap, u got it.. but also provide external power supply of exactly 5v in usb host mode, so as to power slave devices.
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA App

guyz, i wanna ask something, in order to use MHL adapter, does the phone need to support MHL protocol? and the protocol resides in the hardware part or software part of the phone?

The MHL lives in the phones hardware is the simplest. If you find the Galaxy S2 hack pack it will show you a block diagram of how the MHL exists there.

syin16 said:
guyz, i wanna ask something, in order to use MHL adapter, does the phone need to support MHL protocol? and the protocol resides in the hardware part or software part of the phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
as giritrobbins said it is hardware based.
it shares the microUSB connector, but uses an entirely different signalling. hence why it has to be separated out. otherwise a hub would do every thing I'm trying to do here

Hi, folks just thought I would ask how this project is going ? It's really quite fascinating.

Pin 5 (ground) can be carried through to everything.
OTG requires ID (pin4) to be connected to Gnd (pin 5).
In the diagram above S2 is not really needed.
If you want to switch electronically, there are lots of ICs for doing that.
Here is one picked entirely at random: http://www.fairchildsemi.com/ds/FS/FSA3000.pdf
MHL will be the trouble spot, USB is much more forgiving.

I've seen docks like the one you're tying to build on eBay with built in MHL; is that what you're after?

Well, if you look at the service manuals, they have lots of details about where stuff is coming from.
The MHL is all digital coming from the HDMI chip. There is however audio, which you'd need to enable in the snd driver as
a RX enabled, and also it looks like the I2S would have to set up the microUSB chip to export the analog
audio through the USB port.
At least in the case of the 8960 systems (Galaxy S3, OneX?) this is the USB driver setup.
The audio is coming directly from the qualcomm codec chip and you'd have to enable it with
the tabla stuff, then the USB, but it might be programmed to sense USB headset.
---------- Post added at 10:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:10 PM ----------
Basically, if you want analog output only, you need to use the MUS_I2C to tell the Fairchild USB analog mux to enable the
audio lines. Then you would need an audio amp because the codec output can only make it to the analog mux
and I'm not sure what kind of buffering is on the uUSB chip. But if you are going this route, you might as well use
the headphone jack. It's not digital unless you use the MHL.

Two things to bear in mind when demultiplexing the USB connector:
The analog audio out ("CarKit") has a signal that goes below ground.
Some electronic demultiplexors might not handle that.
The MHL signal goes into the Gigahertz.
Don't try switching that with a Radio Shack relay or connecting using loose wires.
MHL uses the two data lines for TMDS data and the ID pin for CBUS.

Hi, folks just thought I would ask how this project is going ? It's really quite fascinating.

KF OTG Discussion

So I have been playing around with various USB game controllers as well as various storage devices and everything has worked so far (except BT, its detected but thats it). Hashcode has put a low priority on OTG in the kernal dev queue so I would like to get a discussion going about possible hardware solutions to over come the current 3.3v limitation of the USB port when running as a host (which is why devices dont work directly, only through a hub). Someone already suggested a current pump DC-DC in the kernal thread so my current focus something like this: http://www.circuitsathome.com/dc-dc/33v-to-5v-dc-dc-converter
for some motivation to this end, here is my USB NES controller hooked via OTG:

Controller use brought to you by HaiKaiDo Inc. lol

usb otg will work nice if we can up the voltage
usb otg will work nice if we can up the voltage from 3.7 to 5 volt

southbird already did a proof of concept with a voltage regulator from pololu
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=25943787#post25943787

barrmulio said:
southbird already did a proof of concept with a voltage regulator from pololu
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=25943787#post25943787
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep saw that. My aim here is to go beyond that and come up with a real design
Sent from my Xperia X10 using xda premium

Can the voltage regulator be wired into the OTG cable? If so I am willing to try this but I need help with the wiring. I am searching now for some type of soapbox enclosure to house the voltage regulator. Any suggestions?

It would serve as the otg cable. The vreg will sit on the power rail between the kf and the normal usb connector. Ultimately, i want to lay out a smd board with the micro usb and regulator that goes in some little enclosure.

Basically what I am thinking of doing is putting the regulator inbetween the micro usb and female usb. It will look like other otg cables but the enclosure with the female usb will be larger.
I am assuming that the red(power) from micro usb is connected to the vout and the red(power) from female usb is connected to vin on the regulator. Do both sides of the ground need to be connected to the regulator or just to each other?

Can this work with GPS receiver?
sent from the greezals fire.

meturne2 said:
Basically what I am thinking of doing is putting the regulator inbetween the micro usb and female usb. It will look like other otg cables but the enclosure with the female usb will be larger.
I am assuming that the red(power) from micro usb is connected to the vout and the red(power) from female usb is connected to vin on the regulator. Do both sides of the ground need to be connected to the regulator or just to each other?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could but IMHO, it would be simpler and cheaper to integrate everything as one device. The OTG cable is nothing special, just a micro USB B to regular USB A. The power needs to run from the micro in the KF to the vReg Vin, vReg Vout to the USB A connector, the ground is connected to all three.
greezal said:
Can this work with GPS receiver?
sent from the greezals fire.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No clue. I'm sure a google search would yield some answers

OK I'll look it up now and see if I can get the answer.
sent from the greezals fire.

greezal said:
OK I'll look it up now and see if I can get the answer.
sent from the greezals fire.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just looked it up and not much on the subject have not got a straight answer. Would be great though.
sent from the greezals fire.

Ok, the ones I ordered are in. Size is NICE, it should be really easy to integrate this into existing USB connector enclosures. This is the 120 mA version, the 600 mA version is about twice the size
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altitude909 said:
Ok, the ones I ordered are in. Size is NICE, it should be really easy to integrate this into existing USB connector enclosures. This is the 120 mA version, the 600 mA version is about twice the size
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
very nice - i ordered the pololu one and still waiting for it to arrive
my thoughts were similar; integrate the regulator into the usb female header area of the otg, or somewhere mid-cable...but I'm having a hard time finding an elegant solution to either re-enclosing the plastic end of the female header or enclosing it mid cable
i just back another otg cable today, i'll be cutting it apart to see if there's enough space by the usb a

success! kinda.. For super low current devices (i.e. NES game controller) it is working fine, anything larger (flash memory) its drawing too much current causing the voltage to sag below 2.5V which is not enough to power the regulator. Will try the LTC3426 one tomorrow since that should be able to operate at a lower input voltage

altitude909 said:
success! kinda.. For super low current devices (i.e. NES game controller) it is working fine, anything larger (flash memory) its drawing too much current causing the voltage to sag below 2.5V which is not enough to power the regulator. Will try the LTC3426 one tomorrow since that should be able to operate at a lower input voltage
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just to make sure I got your wiring right
from micro usb b
- red to vReg Vin
- pin 4 to ground
- pin 5 to ground
from usb a
- red to vReg Vout
- black/pin 4 to ground
?
my stupid otg cable doesn't have standard colors (it's green, blue, yellow, red, yellow&red), so other than vcc i'm not sure what's what (edit: now i think blue is gnd and yellow/red is sense, yellow is d-, green is d+).
I was also expecting the otg short to be on the micro side and not on the usb a side, but it wasn't
my idea is to have the regulator sit inside the hollowed out area of the female header seen on the bottom left

Just take a meter and see what is connected to what. It does not matter where pin 4 and 5 are shorted.
Unfortunately, it looks like without some sort of magic, the port on the kf cannot supply enough current to drive these regulators. Im observing the same thing as southbird did, the devices show up but do not work. Measuring the voltages at the power pins with a flash drive connected i get 2.4v at the vreg input and 4.5 at the output which means that there is too much load. Time to start looking for battery powered usb hubs

this battery charger or this usb charger both work well for me with a y usb cable...i've seen some other posts with folks that just wired right into the charger, e.g. here

ok, the regulator arrived today and i played around with it
the otg cable was too frail for my poor soldering skills to do properly, so i ended up cutting up a usb extension cable to about 1' in length and soldering it halfway...i'll enclosure in heat shrink later
my results were pretty much the same as southbird and altitude909
My 8Gb centon usb however mounts perfectly *every* time, however my 4Gb, 2Gb or 512Mb sticks will not mount. When I try the elago w/ a 32Gb micro it conks out mounting as a whole, requiring a reboot of the KF to remount the 8Gb stick (probably some kernel protection)

so you need a regulator to get flash drives to work? that explains why it never worked for me lol

[Hardware] Teardown JXD S18 Mini Pad (RK2926/RK2928)

The specification on their website:
http://dx.com/p/jxd-s18-4-3-resisti...ad-tablet-pc-w-tf-wi-fi-g-sensor-black-161536
Teardown time!
RockChip RK2926 AE4T278 1245 (soc)
T659102 A1 TI 2GI A70T G4 (chip power controller)
Realtek RTL8188EUS 802.11b/g/n (wlan over usb 2.0 host, yes rk29xx supports up to 3 usb devices! 2x host 1x otg but they are not connected)
2x Geil 256X8DDR3 WT 1248 <CG1L256M88BA15DH> (ram)
Hynix H27UBG8T2BTR BC 250A (nand flash 2gb i believe)
F88_V1 <2012.12.06HM FS 1552> (pcb itself)
ZBH043GT-12 V1 (blacklight type: led 50k before eol, res; 480*272 4.3'' lcd)
Mali 400 MP2 (gpu)
Battery 3.7v 1100mah lithium ion
Pictures!
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Take care guys.

Hi and thank you !
do you know if the usb port is the OTG one ?
i try to figure out how to add bluetook or gps on this device, maybe if anyone know where are the free usb pins ..

Bizen-Ya said:
Hi and thank you !
do you know if the usb port is the OTG one ?
i try to figure out how to add bluetook or gps on this device, maybe if anyone know where are the free usb pins ..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the same problem i know that the realtek wifi device is usb connected to the soc but other then that i cannot find any other options of ways of connection more devices to it. I cannot find a datasheet of this chip on the www. And i have no idea what the right pins are. Maybe we can connect a hub to that usb port what is used by the wireless device and do it this way but i have no idea if this will work.
And no out of the box this little tablet does not have OGT.
The soc in fact does support's it (2x host 1x OGT) but it is not connected to anything on this pcb design. If i knew the pins i would surely try to mod it.

Thank you for providing information to everyone

ok, i have OTG working now..
this is just a power issue, i haved used a OTG+Power cable, that's working fine
next step, make the bluetooth dongle working ...

Bizen-Ya said:
ok, i have OTG working now..
this is just a power issue, i haved used a OTG+Power cable, that's working fine
next step, make the bluetooth dongle working ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The OTG really works with this type of cable?
If so, then we should be using bluetooth dongles easily (as long as the firmware supports it or has drivers that can detect it)

Going to try the OTG+power cable, this would really make a difference in terms of usability.
Also guys the stock battery is weak. I replaced it with "2500mAh Rechargeable Li-ion Battery for Samsung Galaxy S 3 III I9300", only had to ditch the speaker, since the battery is quite bigger.

Lemzy said:
The OTG really works with this type of cable? View attachment 2314266
If so, then we should be using bluetooth dongles easily (as long as the firmware supports it or has drivers that can detect it)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No this wont work on the S18 tab. But yes if you replace the wireless realtek module and for example connect a hub to those pins and if android has the firmware you could connect more devices to the hub. Not sure if this will work through.
swcdude said:
Going to try the OTG+power cable, this would really make a difference in terms of usability.
Also guys the stock battery is weak. I replaced it with "2500mAh Rechargeable Li-ion Battery for Samsung Galaxy S 3 III I9300", only had to ditch the speaker, since the battery is quite bigger.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But really nice let me know some progress it indeed makes a huge different in use usability, i also replaced the battery with a 1800mah ion battery from a dead tom tom system(broken display), that had the same voltage(3.7) but the battery was dead so i had to put back the default one since i didn't had anything else that did fit in this tiny little tab haha.
Sorry for the quite slow response.

thank you very much

NiTrOwow said:
No this wont work on the S18 tab. But yes if you replace the wireless realtek module and for example connect a hub to those pins and if android has the firmware you could connect more devices to the hub. Not sure if this will work through.
But really nice let me know some progress it indeed makes a huge different in use usability, i also replaced the battery with a 1800mah ion battery from a dead tom tom system(broken display), that had the same voltage(3.7) but the battery was dead so i had to put back the default one since i didn't had anything else that did fit in this tiny little tab haha.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So is it possible to connect a game controller through the OTG + Power cable?

Lemzy said:
So is it possible to connect a game controller through the OTG + Power cable?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please see the image of the soc. It does not have OTG on default. You have to got the datasheet and solder a OTG port on the soc itself.
That's actually the only thing that sucks about this device. No OTG, out of the box and no soc datasheet. Limilted support to all of the internal stuff itself. Is what makes it less fun for most of us. We are no pro's or people who are really good in reserving without a little bit of documentation or help. I would be glad if JXD would release more stuff about this device so more people can take a look at it and have fun with it in a diffrent way because the device itself it pretty useless out of the box in my opinion.

As i already said Otg is working fine on mine ....
I have sucessfully used my s18 with a USB GPS + powered USB otg cable and usbgps4 droid

Bizen-Ya said:
As i already said Otg is working fine on mine ....
I have sucessfully used my s18 with a USB GPS + powered USB otg cable and usbgps4 droid
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you're saying that otg worked on your S18-03-XXXX device?
Strange i still did not had time to check it yet. And is also is strange because manufacturer does not say it had any. The soc is capable of 3 otg devices on the host but those aren't connected following all the technical details i read on their website and other re-seller's website. If you pull the device brand new out of the box and connect a otg device it should not work according to the manuals and details on their website, or they changed the pcb design and newer version has this feature enabled.. Can you post your model number?

Otg works with external power
I hope this is no considered spamming, as I posted same info on other thread.
I have s18-03-201305-4GB-01748.
I guess they are not listing device as otg capable because device is not delivering any power to otg devices, so you need always power injecting cable. Otherwise device is not anyway restricted. Actually firmware has quite extensive hardware support as you can see by browsing driver folders on device.
I registered just to tell you that otg works perfectly with power injecting cable. Tested 2 TB NTFS drive and apple usb - Ethernet dongle. Both work well. Also you can use this device as WiFi ap with Ethernet dongle. I am planning to use this as portable server. I just hope somebody gets interested making updated firmware.
I may be repeating but I say once more. There is no need to do any hardware hacking to get otg working. Just get power injecting USB cable. You might have to put WiFi off and back on to get your USB device connected. I think this triggers device initialization.

Frank Blah said:
I hope this is no considered spamming, as I posted same info on other thread.
I have s18-03-201305-4GB-01748.
I guess they are not listing device as otg capable because device is not delivering any power to otg devices, so you need always power injecting cable. Otherwise device is not anyway restricted. Actually firmware has quite extensive hardware support as you can see by browsing driver folders on device.
I registered just to tell you that otg works perfectly with power injecting cable. Tested 2 TB NTFS drive and apple usb - Ethernet dongle. Both work well. Also you can use this device as WiFi ap with Ethernet dongle. I am planning to use this as portable server. I just hope somebody gets interested making updated firmware.
I may be repeating but I say once more. There is no need to do any hardware hacking to get otg working. Just get power injecting USB cable. You might have to put WiFi off and back on to get your USB device connected. I think this triggers device initialization.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Frank and Nitrow.

Yes, don't give up too quickly when testing Host mode on USB ports.
They might have no charge pump, an inadequate charge pump or inadequate capacitance for inrush current.
You usually will need an OTG adapter to ground the ID pin.
A power splitter cord will work, but you can't usually find one locally.
I use a "back-powering" hub.
That's a cheapy hub that has the protection diode bypassed.
Some really cheap hubs already have it shorted.
See: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=25639514&postcount=8
Try a keyboard first because they draw minimal current and they have a simple driver.
Some flash drives and GPS units are real current hogs.

Renate NST said:
Yes, don't give up too quickly when testing Host mode on USB ports.
They might have no charge pump, an inadequate charge pump or inadequate capacitance for inrush current.
You usually will need an OTG adapter to ground the ID pin.
A power splitter cord will work, but you can't usually find one locally.
I use a "back-powering" hub.
That's a cheapy hub that has the protection diode bypassed.
Some really cheap hubs already have it shorted.
See: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=25639514&postcount=8
Try a keyboard first because they draw minimal current and they have a simple driver.
Some flash drives and GPS units are real current hogs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes but i wanted to make a dedicated otg connected hard-wired to the print. but those connections (pins) on the board are too small and i can still not find a soc datasheet for the rockchip. I searched on the entire internet. It still isn't there...

Step one is to get USB host mode working any way you can.
Then you can discuss hacking it internally.
The other USB ports may be internally hubbed and not do host mode.
They may not have Id connections and you'd have to hack the driver/issue device commands.

Renate NST said:
Step one is to get USB host mode working any way you can.
Then you can discuss hacking it internally.
The other USB ports may be internally hubbed and not do host mode.
They may not have Id connections and you'd have to hack the driver/issue device commands.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's not the problem since it is already reported to work on never soc, i only need datasheet and chip pin-out.
http://pdf.elecfans.com/NXP/LPC2926.html
It just sucks. I will sell this thing and buy myself a beagleboard instead. That's what i probably will do.

Did any of you try to run this without an battery in the unit. So only on adapter?
I am thinking of using one as an dedicated clock.
I also want to point out that there are two versions of this device for those that don't know this.

UART test point MeiG Smart SLM750 M2M module

I want to read out MeiG Smart SLM750 Module, is it possible to hook up UART TTL and get somehow into the system? EDL mode would probably also do it. The PCB has multiple layers, no schematic available. But there are plenty test points on it.
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Just download the Hardware Design Manual from https://en.meigsmart.com/productdetail/slm750-module.html.
I'm too lazy to make an account for that.
You can find the pins on the module then do a continuity check to find more convenient places on the main PCB.
The logic level in undoubtedly 1.8V
Make sure that you're using a USB UART that handles that (and not the more common 3.3V).
I did the same thing with the Quectel EC25-AF module in a Netgear LM1200.

SLM750 Module—MeiG—A Global Leading Supplier of Cellular Modules and Solutions
Have you researched these instructions?

ze7zez said:
Have you researched these instructions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's where I linked but you need an account to download.

Hm.. I don't have one but I have ordered 1.8V TTL. I checked all pins with DSO-138. I didn't see anything so probably device isn't powered.
edit: could not sign up. the register page does not take my chosen password.

alecxs said:
Hm.. I don't have one but I have ordered 1.8V TTL. I checked all pins with DSO-138. I didn't see anything so probably device isn't powered.
edit: could not sign up. the register page does not take my chosen password.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The password is 6-10 digits.
The web page is all screwed up:
Code:
Please enter your username Please enter 6-10 digit password
Please confirm your password Please enter your real name
Please enter your job title Please fill in the company name
Company website Please enter your phone number
Please enter the address Please enter your email account
Please fill in the verification code
Edit: Apparently they verify with SMS?
Your account has not been approved and you cannot log in temporarily
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I think I figured test points based on the wiring colors. but device is completely dead so I don't see anything on oscilloscope.
any idea what the other two wires USB-DM and USB-DP are for?

alecxs said:
Any idea what the other two wires USB-DM and USB-DP are for?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
USB 2.0 D+ and D-
They're the data lines.

I know but what are they intended for, connecting both the UART and USB signals to the same USB port, or different ports? Assuming the UART signals (DBG-RX and DBG-TX) operate at 1.8V logic level and the USB-DM and USB-DB signals operate at 3.3V-5V logic level, connecting the UART signals to the FT232RL and the USB data pins to the PC is maybe not the best approach. The FT232RL board provides not even pins for D-/D+ so should I solder it?

alecxs said:
I know but what are they intended for, connecting both the UART and USB signals to the same USB port, or different ports?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They are unrelated except for sharing the same connector.
If this is going to be peripheral then there really should be an input for 5V labelled "Vbus".
Of course they could be playing fast and loose with the USB 2.0 standard too.
If this is going to be host then you'll need to supply +5V for the peripheral.

would be great to have usb so I could try edl. but there is no Vbus, only the usb data lines. there is one 5 V voltage on another connector (first) but that is power for the display. If I translated right, the pin 19 (third connector) is for boot mode.

The first test is to put a DVM on DP vs Gnd. See ~3V, it's waiting for a USB 2.0 full/high speed connection.
DVM on DM vs Gnd. See ~3V, it's waiting for a USB 2.0 low speed connection.
No ~3V anywhere? Then it's waiting to see 5V on Vbus or else the USB is just disabled.
(I've even made up a little adapter to check this with a couple of LEDs.)
If you see ~3V on DP, make yourself a 3 wire USB cable.
White = DM, Green = DP, Black = Gnd, Red gets insulated and not connected.
"Boot mode" is normally a GPIO input for EDL mode that is asserted with 1.8V
But don't just plow that voltage in! Use a nice resistor of 1k ohm or so in series.
Don't use a voltage higher than 1.8V! If you have a fresh 1.5V AA or AAA battery that should give you 1.6V, which is plenty.
Of course, you need to do a reset at the same time.

on the UART there is 7 mV an 16 mV, on the USB there is nothing.

alecxs said:
on the UART there is 7 mV an 16 mV, on the USB there is nothing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You sure that it's powered up?
Many (some?) of these things have two different UARTs.
If there is a Vbus connection that's not getting its 5V that may be the problem.
You need a real pinout of the module.
I never got an SMS back (but I forgot to put a +1 on my phone number).

the board is powered by 3.7 V battery and 25-42 V DC input (I don't have atm) for DC converter I tested with 12 V battery. not sure it is on at all. if there is a Vbus it must be self-powered as there is no pin for on the connector.

alecxs said:
the board is powered by 3.7 V battery and 25-42 V DC input (I don't have atm) for DC converter I tested with 12 V battery. not sure it is on at all. if there is a Vbus it must be self-powered as there is no pin for on the connector.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, you mean it's Ethernet POE? Bring it over here. I have a 12V to 24V converter I use for my PtoMP microwave that uses POE.
Or I'd use my current sensing power supply to battery substitute to watch it boot up that way.
Are you sure the battery has any charge?
Also, between the module and the GPS antenna it looks like there was a power connector that ripped off?
Or are my eyes deceiving me?

Hehe I could send you one, but I am afraid the shipping from germany would take ages. The ripped off connector is for the piezo speaker, the battery connector is on the back site of the board, along with the main connector. Battery is charged and I can measure 3.9 V on the test point, but maybe needs additional wires to get powered.
I have also the pinout for the rest of the connector (see github of the picture in OP)
The next days I will connect it to its origin power source 36 V battery with full pinout and check again.
I am curious it is a android device I can maybe get a dump of the app data. it should not have any security as it is intended to boot up on mobile data without any user input. But it's not important to me, just for fun.

alecxs said:
I am curious it is a android device I can maybe get a dump of the app data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldn't think that it is Android, but Android-ish.
I've run into this before with things using Android abl and Android image format but certainly not Android subsystem!
Is the 3.7V battery full size or backup size?
Many (some?) of these devices use NAND instead of eMMC and they are designed to have power disconnected without warning.
Do you have a bunch of these?
Also, your device has a squirrely jumper around a regulator (directly above GPS antenna).
Are they all like this?

there exist different revisions of that board, 95% identical, but all have these unused antenna connectors on it. I can't see any jumpers, that are spring contacts for more antennas in the cover. I don't know if there is any eMMC it's all under the hood.
the battery is only backup for GPS and GSM.

So I shorted the reed sensor and now on the oscilloscope I can definitely see 1.8 V transmission (on the yellow pin) but nothing on usb. will try to connect to PC and see what happens.