Add 2 extra USB port on WL-500gP possible or not ?

[miguipda]

Hi,

following this thread (http://wl500g.info/showthread.php?t=1779) can somebody tell me if it is also possible to do the same on the WL-500G Premium. Or only available on the WL-500g Deluxe ?

Sincerely thanks,

Have a nice day,

Miguipda ;-)

[wirespot]

Why not just use an USB hub? You can even find hubs with external power transformer in case the Asus doesn't feed the hub enough power.

[readhead]

Hi,

it isn't possible, look at the Post from me (ca 2-3 month old)

Greets

[dyonisos]

Hi,

it isn't possible, look at the Post from me (ca 2-3 month old)

Greets

I am using a Asus WL-500gP.
is there a workaround to use an usb hub? I assume it is a kernel driver issue, that could be overcome by a new usb driver compilation, right?
does openwrt support usb hub?

[al37919]

First of all, why is it impossible to add 2 extra usb ports to the wl500gP? You just need to use a little bit finer soldering iron. Just be sure that you don't oversource the total power on them. See here one extra port attached (it is not my picture):

http://oleg.wl500g.info/wl500gp/1139.jpg

You have to solder the wires for the data lines directly to usb controller (via vt6212L is a 4-port controller), in addition each data line should be pulled down to the ground by 15KOhm resistor. +5V and GND should be taken somewhere on the scheme.

To do this the datasheet of vt6212l is needed to identify correct pins of the chip.

Second. What for the problem is with hubs? I have 2 usb2 hubs, both are working fine with wl500gP. The only one incompatible device found up to now is pl2303 based usb-com converter, which doesn't work with usb2 hubs (at least some of them), but works fine while attached directly to the device.

[dyonisos]

Hi,
Thanks for the extra 2 USB ports info via soldering. That one needs experienced hands. I will do that after warranty ran out.

As for the hubs I have tried 3 Hubs (2 passive ones, 1 active one) so far. The Hub itself is recognized and memory sticks work properly, but not the usb audio converter or the webcam. Just the memory sticks are working off the usb hubs. Do you experience the same?
Also the Asus people say that USB Hub is not supported? Strange!

[C4Vette]

First of all, why is it impossible to add 2 extra usb ports to the wl500gP? You just need to use a little bit finer soldering iron. Just be sure that you don't oversource the total power on them. See here one extra port attached (it is not my picture):

http://oleg.wl500g.info/wl500gp/1139.jpg

You have to solder the wires for the data lines directly to usb controller (via vt6212L is a 4-port controller), in addition each data line should be pulled down to the ground by 15KOhm resistor. +5V and GND should be taken somewhere on the scheme.

To do this the datasheet of vt6212l is needed to identify correct pins of the chip.

Second. What for the problem is with hubs? I have 2 usb2 hubs, both are working fine with wl500gP. The only one incompatible device found up to now is pl2303 based usb-com converter, which doesn't work with usb2 hubs (at least some of them), but works fine while attached directly to the device.

Well, I'm willing to give it a try.
Does anyone have a datasheet of the VIA vt6212l or at least a pin-layout??

[clausbruun]

Hi,
Thanks for the extra 2 USB ports info via soldering. That one needs experienced hands. I will do that after warranty ran out.

As for the hubs I have tried 3 Hubs (2 passive ones, 1 active one) so far. The Hub itself is recognized and memory sticks work properly, but not the usb audio converter or the webcam. Just the memory sticks are working off the usb hubs. Do you experience the same?
Also the Asus people say that USB Hub is not supported? Strange!

I experience that the memorystick works and the webcam doesnt. Would very much like to hear about anybody with a working webcam/usb hub solution?

[dyonisos]

1. use 1.0 hub
2. rmmod ehci-hcd, you can use 2.0 hub

[clausbruun]

1. use 1.0 hub
2. rmmod ehci-hcd, you can use 2.0 hub

Thanks dyonisos now it works perfect! (I removed ehci-hcd)

[C4Vette]

Using the picture http://oleg.wl500g.info/wl500gp/1139.jpg mentioned earlier in this topic I operated on my asus. I connected an asus usb extension-card (from an asus mobo) to the VIA chip. Also used 15K resistors to pull-down D- an D+.
The result from dmesg:

hub.c: new USB device 01:03.2-3, assigned address 7
usb.c: USB device not accepting new address=7 (error=-71)
hub.c: new USB device 01:03.2-3, assigned address 8
usb.c: USB device not accepting new address=8 (error=-71)

where adress varies on the number of usb-inserts.

So, the hardware seems to recognize something but the software fails??

[dyonisos]

I think a USB extension card will not work. Just connect 1 or 2 USB connectors to the USB-4-port VIA chip and take care with the current you draw (sufficient power supply).
I guess you have done the correct connections according to the VIA VT6112L datasheet.
Could you please supply me with that VIA datasheet, if available?

[C4Vette]

Sorry, but I don't have a datasheet. Earlier in this topic I was the one asking for a datasheet myself
I used the picture mentioned earlier and counted the pins from the corner of the chip until the two soldered wires. These two pins must be the correct ones because of the dmesg. Besides, the two original USB-ports are connected to this chip on the same row: it skips 2 pins and then D- and D+, again skips 2 pins and again D- and D+.
I also connected a disassembled stick directly to the VIA-chip (using the extra pull-down resistors) which gave me the same result in dmesg. The supplied power is exactly 5 volt and the led on the stick is lit. Maybe it is the length of the two data wires and should they be shielded

[C4Vette]

usb.c: registered new driver usbdevfs
usb.c: registered new driver hub
SCSI subsystem driver Revision: 1.00
Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...
usb.c: registered new driver usb-storage
USB Mass Storage support registered.
PCI: Enabling device 01:03.2 (0000 -> 0002)
ehci_hcd 01:03.2: PCI device 1106:3104
ehci_hcd 01:03.2: irq 2, pci mem c01ba000
usb.c: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
EHCI: Enabling VIA 6212 workarounds
ehci_hcd 01:03.2: USB 2.0 enabled, EHCI 1.00, driver 2003-Dec-29/2.4
hub.c: USB hub found
hub.c: 4 ports detected
hub.c: new USB device 01:03.2-2, assigned address 2
scsi0 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
  Vendor: ChipsBnk  Model: Flash Disk        Rev: 4.00
  Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Attached scsi removable disk sda at scsi0, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
SCSI device sda: 517759 2048-byte hdwr sectors (1060 MB)
sda: Write Protect is off
Partition check:
 /dev/scsi/host0/bus0/target0/lun0: p1
hub.c: new USB device 01:03.2-3, assigned address 3
scsi1 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
  Vendor: ChipsBnk  Model: Flash Disk        Rev: 4.00
  Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 02
kjournald starting.  Commit interval 5 seconds
Attached scsi removable disk sdb at scsi1, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
SCSI device sdb: 517759 2048-byte hdwr sectors (1060 MB)
sdb: Write Protect is off
 /dev/scsi/host1/bus0/target0/lun0: p1
EXT3 FS 2.4-0.9.19, 19 August 2002 on sd(8,1), internal journal
EXT3-fs: recovery complete.
EXT3-fs: mounted filesystem with ordered data mode.

root@host:/dev/scsi$ ls
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 0 Jan 1 1970 host0
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 0 Jan 1 1970 host1

The trick ??

Not completely sure yet but I shortened the data-leads to a minimum and it works. Now I've to fabricate a mechanical solution

Oh, btw, these messages came from one of the serial ports
- tts1 is running 1wire hardware
- tts0 is console with a Siemens celphone cable connected

[raas]

Very nice trick !
Will have to try this myself,

but, the devices connected should have it's own power supply.

I have one external laptop drive connected via usb, no extra power needed..
but the asus barely delivers enough power to keep it alive.

If i insert an usb flash-disk and it gets mounted, the laptop disk looses the connection because off the power dip..

but, nevertheless.. nice trick, we're about tweaking the box, not discussing the power consumption, so I will stop now !