[SOLVED] Cannot mount usb device PAP-KIII game console

[doctordruidphd]

I just got a PAP-KIII game console, which inside is running some version of linux, dingux, maybe, but probably irrelevant to the problem. It is supposed to be mountable as a usb drive on the computer, but it is not working (surprise). When the device is plugged in to the usb port, it automatically goes into usb drive mode, there is nothing else to do on the device itself. But the computer does not recognize it.

dmesg output:

[  198.008025] usb 1-5: new high-speed USB device number 7 using ehci-pci
[  199.128021] usb 1-5: device descriptor read/64, error -71
[  199.392916] usb 1-5: New USB device found, idVendor=0525, idProduct=a4a5
[  199.392919] usb 1-5: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[  199.392921] usb 1-5: Product: File-backed Storage Gadget
[  199.392923] usb 1-5: Manufacturer: Linux 2.6.31.3 with musb_hdrc
[  199.392925] usb 1-5: SerialNumber: 3230204E6F76
[  204.511218] usb 1-5: can't set config #1, error -110

lsusb sees it:

Bus 001 Device 007: ID 0525:a4a5 Netchip Technology, Inc. Pocketbook Pro 903

but sudo blkid does not see it at all.

I tired setting up a udev rule, but maybe I didn't do it right:

greenman@Crynfyd18.04 /etc/udev/rules.d$ cat 51-papk3.rules
SUBSYSTEM=="usb",ATTR{idVendor}=="0525", ATTR{idProduct}=="a4a5", MODE="666",SYMLINK+="PAP-KIII"

The link does show up in /dev. Maybe (probably) there is more to it, but for now I'm stuck.

Also tried sudo modprobe usb-storage but this made no difference.

[GreyGeek]

https://www.thegeekstuff.com/2012/08...mmand-examples

Run in a terminal:
sudo fsck /dev/sdX
where X is the letter of the PP KII drive
man fsck gives the exit codes

[doctordruidphd]

That's the whole problem -- it isn't showing up as a /dev/sd? in sudo blkid or in mount. When I plug the USB cable in, the device itself goes into USB mode, and it is supposed to show up as a disk. dmesg sees it, lsusb sees it, but the system does not see it as a disk drive.

Tried this anyway:

greenman@Crynfyd18.04 ~$ sudo fsck /dev/PAP-KIII
[sudo] password for greenman: 
fsck from util-linux 2.31.1
e2fsck 1.44.1 (24-Mar-2018)
fsck.ext2: Attempt to read block from filesystem resulted in short read while trying to open /dev/bus/usb/001/007
Could this be a zero-length partition?

Not sure what that's all about. Other people claim it mounts with Windows, so it can't by any too exotic a file system. Might be FAT32 though,

I did try a couple of other experiments:

greenman@Crynfyd18.04 ~$ sudo fsck.vfat /dev/PAP-KIII 
[sudo] password for greenman: 
fsck.fat 4.1 (2017-01-24)
Got 53 bytes instead of 512 at 0
[B]greenman@Crynfyd18.04 ~$ sudo fsck.nfs /dev/PAP-KIII 
/dev/PAP-KIII: NFS file system.[/B]
greenman@Crynfyd18.04 ~$ sudo fsck.msdos /dev/PAP-KIII 
fsck.fat 4.1 (2017-01-24)
Got 53 bytes instead of 512 at 0

It isn't showing up in gparted, but I wouldn't expect it to if blkid can't find it.

If the NFS part is for real, is there a way to make it accessible? The device itself has only a very limited gui menu, no keyboard, etc., only way to get to its configuration is through USB.

Edit: I don't think it's really an NFS. The only thing I have found by searching requires reformatting the internal disk, which is the whole problem -- I am trying to back it up so I don't lose everything on it, before I start messing with it.

Edit further: sudo fdisk -l does not see the device.

[GreyGeek]

http://www.noah.org/wiki/USB_error_-110_in_dmesg_log

USB error -110: USB power exceeded

If you see USB error -110 in a dmesg log (or in /var/log/syslog, /var/log/kern.og, etc.) probably means that the USB port or USB hub was unable to supply enough power to the device so it was shut down. This may also shut down the entire hub that the device is connected to. This can happen even if the hub has its own external power. This can be confusing because even though the USB host may shut down the hub, the hub's power light may remain lit.

You can use
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdb bs=2048

to clear the drive then use the partition manager to reformat it, if it is not totally dead.

[claydoh]

Is it a Klll or Klll Plus?
investigating the device itself, it may be that the Plus device has a bug or limitation that prevents it from being mounted or recognized unless it is plugged in before booting the device.

There are many devices like this one, and a whole community on updating/enhancing the firmware on them

https://boards.dingoonity.org/ingeni...0x272-screen)/
and a thread on the non-plus version
https://boards.dingoonity.org/ingeni...ngoo-software/

[doctordruidphd]

This is a KIII-Plus, and it's also from Amazon; I have read some things that say the Amazon-sold units may be different from the 'standard" KIII-Plus, though I have not been able to find anything specific, just comments.
I have been looking though the dingoonity boards, and a couple of other places, too, but most there seem to be using Win-something, and it seems to mount it. I only have win in a virtualbox, which isn't going to see it unless the device actually mounts in linux (I have tried). I have tried both plugging the unit in before and after it is turned on, no difference.

I do want to try the dmenu software, and get dosbox working, but . . .

Warning: Use at your own risk! The installer will change the rootfs. Make a backup of your internal SD!

That's what I am trying to do before I mess with it too much. The last thing I want to do is wipe the disk, and all the stuff pre-loaded on it.

As far as the USB error, the unit has its own power and is fully charged, so the message doesn't make much sense.

[jglen490]

Have you tried using a "Y-cable"? The second plug is power only and feeds that power in parallel, so the voltage is not affected.

[doctordruidphd]

Have you tried using a "Y-cable"? The second plug is power only and feeds that power in parallel, so the voltage is not affected.

The device is self-powered, with its own internal battery, and is fully charged. It does use the USB cable for charging, but not for running power. Anyway, no, I don't have a Y cable, but I will look for one.

I think the problem is that there is something goofy about the way the internal HD is formatted -- it is supposedly FAT32, but it is not being recognized as such. Apparently the internal HD is actually an SD card, which can be removed, albeit voiding the warranty. Once that is done, the 4gb card can be dd'd to a 32 gb card, fsck'd, then grown to 32gb and reinstalled, thus giving a 32gb internal disk that is now accessible, or a new OS can be installed, etc. etc. That may ultimately be the way to go.

[jglen490]

The device is self-powered, with its own internal battery, and is fully charged. It does use the USB cable for charging, but not for running power. Anyway, no, I don't have a Y cable, but I will look for one.

I think the problem is that there is something goofy about the way the internal HD is formatted -- it is supposedly FAT32, but it is not being recognized as such. Apparently the internal HD is actually an SD card, which can be removed, albeit voiding the warranty. Once that is done, the 4gb card can be dd'd to a 32 gb card, fsck'd, then grown to 32gb and reinstalled, thus giving a 32gb internal disk that is now accessible, or a new OS can be installed, etc. etc. That may ultimately be the way to go.

Yep, you probably already pointed out that the device is self-powered!

The error message you were getting is then probably not so much power related as it is caused by a condition that USB interprets as power related. So, the Y-cable may not be necessary for this application but could be useful some day. Since the USB standard calls out a specific amperage limit for each port, if you have a device that requires more than that limit, you can attach both plugs to separate USB ports tie the power lines from those USB ports together to cover the device's power requirements - which is all that the Y-cable does. The hopefully, the power for those USB ports is properly regulated so the voltage doesn't get wonky. Increased available amperage, O.K., too much voltage, not so much

[doctordruidphd]

Just to tie this up, I was never able to mount the device using the USB cable. The system recognizes it as a usb device, but is unable to mount it as a file system. That may be because it isn't a file system, or the kernel just doesn't have the right driver. I disassembled the unit, took out the internal 4 gb SD card (which acts as the device's internal hard drive), and once the SD card was plugged in, the system recognized 3 linux partitions (ext2, I think) and a large FAT32 partition which has most of the data on it.

I found an archived image of the firmware, burned it to a 16gb sd card I had lying around, grew the FAT32 partition to fill it, put all my downloaded game roms on it, put it in the device and it booted, and runs just fine. But it still can't be mounted as a usb drive. Oh well, got what I wanted to do done anyway. There is a great deal more hacking to be done with this device as time permits.