Is the X1000 internal USB header inverted?

[Hypex]

Hi guys.

Since I setup my X1000 in my Thermaltake Spacecraft VF-1 tower many years ago my USB has never worked fully. The case came with one internal lead and another internal lead intended for USB3. It must be a USB3 convention but the USB lead has a standard external plug. So I routed that through the back and plugged it into an external port. Never liked a lead going from inside to out but it has worked.

But the other lead has not. I plugged it into one side of the internal header. But the port has always been dead. This leads me to believe it may be inverted. On my AmigaOne XE I bought an external USB plate but the plug was incompatible. I had to punch out a key and connect in an opposite way.

So I'm wondering if the X1000 has the same setup? Using the standard USB header but being electrically incompatible. Because I've connected it correctly AFAICT. I mean it only goes one way! It's keyed. But it's never worked!

I've had to watch it over the years as inserting a USB key in the "wrong" hole can freeze OS4 within moments. Linux just ignored it. I've pulled the plug for pending further investigation.

[sailorMH]

Hi,

I have may X1000 in original Define R4 case. All USBs are working fine.
This case have two external USB2.0 and two external USB 3.0 connectors. Case cabling is standart - one cable with 9pin USB 2.0 dual connector and second with blue dual USB 3.0 connector.

I have connected USB2.0 cable to Nemo motherboard internal header (nr. P7 in manual) and USB3.0 cable to USB3.0 card in PCIe x1 connector.

All works as expected - USB2.0 with AmigaOS and linux and USB3.0 with linux only, AmigaOS have no driver yet.

[sailorMH]

I don't know exactly which USB connectors have your Thermaltake Spacecraft VF-1.
According the datasheet it looks like USB3.0 have standard USB-A extenal plug !?! and USB2.0 have motherboard plug - but in datasheet here is not shown, if USB2.0 is 9/10 pin or 4/5 pin.

Nemo motherboard have 10pins USB header - for 2xUSB 2.0. Pin 9 is key and pin 10 is Shield, so it consist of two standard 4pin motherboard headers.

If your USB2.0 plug is 4/5 pin, I recommend connect it directly on motherboard and then connect your USB3.0 also to motherboard using reduction like https://www.suntech.cz/produkt/420338-d ... ice-40-cm/.
It is better and nicer then connect it to external USB.

But if you have problems with USB2.0 4/5 pin only, you have to check the the case plug wiring. Sometimes is incorrectly wired on positions 1-3+5 and position 4 is empty. Such connector doesn't work. You need to have wires in positions 1-4.

If you are not sure, post here please photos of your connectors.

[Hypex]

I have may X1000 in original Define R4 case. All USBs are working fine.

Hi. Thanks for your reply! I just found your posts tonight.

I've found this guide online and manual also on support page. The case has good reviews but I think the manual is poor! The one mention of USB2 says to look it up in the motherboard manual. How does that help to describe a plug connected to the case? They don't even show a picture of the plug in the manual!

http://nordic.thermaltake.com/products- ... C_00001790

Your research is correct. The specs above look somewhat confusing to me, even though I have the USB3.0 case. My cables are as specified on the right of the slash as USB 3.0 x 1, USB 2.0 x 1, HD Audio x 1. To my surprise the USB3.0 cable is intended to be outside the case. To me this looks crass and a bad design with a cable hack sticking out the back. Until I found this page I thought USB3.0 boards used external connectors on board and it plugged in that way. But no it seems. I've always had the USB3 cabled plugged in through the back, not knowing it was made that way, and never liked it.

The USB2.0 connector is a 5 pin plug to go into a 4 pin USB 2.0 pin header on board. From top to bottom, it has +5V, D-, D+, G and key. It corresponds to table 23 in the X1000 TRM. It would help if they also mentioned this was the pinout for P7. So the lines do look to match and it should work when plugged in. But it doesn't.

Thanks for your advice. The internal adapter you recommend looks like a good solution. At this I wonder if all pins of P7 needs to be connected for the USB ports to function correctly? Because of my case setup I can only connect one side of the pins on P7. Had I known I would have opted for a standard USB2 case and just plugged in on board. But, I was unaware of these shenanigans, and think I may have bought the last one in stock at the time.

[LyleHaze]

My reply is dangerously close to being off-topic.
Please read carefully:

The MICRO-AOne had a "half-inverted" USB connector header.
I don't know if the XE did or not, but they are from the same generation, and possibly the same design house??

Let me try to describe this:
If your case harness had two inline-four pin connectors, you could connect correctly.
If they were all in one "dual row" block, you had to reverse the four pins on one side.
The fifth pin on one side only was just a ground/shield.

I have not seen separated 4 pin connectors for USB since way back then.

So
IF the XE had the same screwy USB pinout as the micro,
OR you are using a micro-AOne case,
AND IF you had modified the wires to accomodate that,
AND IF you are now re-using that case for an X-1000,
THEN it would be wise to carefully inspect and verify every damn wire in that connector.

and if that is the case, I would blame the old one for being backwards, not the new one for being correct.



Finally, the micro serial header (RS-232) was also unusual, and THE DOCUMENTATION WAS WRONG.
But that was a rant from long ago...

[Hypex]

My reply is dangerously close to being off-topic.
Please read carefully:

Thanks for your input Lyle. I did actually have some trouble on my XE. IIRC the key aligned with the earth pin and I had to punch it.

But for my X1000 I bought a new case. So I shouldn't have any old problems. I do wonder if it's because I am using a USB 3.0 connector with a USB 2.0 motherboard and it is somehow incompatible.

The again, I have the USB 3.0 cable plugged into the back of a USB 2.0 port and it works fine. From what I can tell I have plugged in a USB 2.0 plug onto the internal header so it should work fine but alas it never has.

[Hypex]

If your USB2.0 plug is 4/5 pin, I recommend connect it directly on motherboard and then connect your USB3.0 also to motherboard using reduction like https://www.suntech.cz/produkt/420338-d ... ice-40-cm/.
It is better and nicer then connect it to external USB.

I finally got around to getting a cable. The one I have is this:
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/183940002521

It's hard to tell but it actually has 5 wires. Doesn't specify but I wonder if it has shield connected. I'm only aware of 4 wires needed to be connected and I have USB keys without shielding. In any case the adapter works fine with internal USB3 cable. Was a pain taking the cable back in as some eternal grommet on the case was designed for plugs to go out only. Had to remove it to get the cable back in.

Now, the other cable I had plugged on the key side of the header, connected to a front USB port still remains faulty. CFE actually detects USB keys in it. But at one point keyboard input froze. When I pulled and reinserted keys it printed some number. But keyboard input was dead. OS4 behaved better and didn't crash like it used too. It detected keys in the port but not when I pulled out. So it is still faulty.

Checking the wires I can only see 4 connected which should be right. But there is a oddity on ground. It looks like there is a gap and ground wire on bottom or something. I need to open case again. I'm sure the ground was in different position to the cable I bought. The ground may be on the shield which means it's connected to key pin. That doesn't make sense. That would explain the crashes and faulty port. It would also mean I've bought another case incompatible with AmigaOne USB2

[Hypex]

So I've found I can get the front USB ports to work if I plug a hub into it and then a USB key into the hub. So there is definitely something wrong with the wiring going to the board pin header. It may be another case of a case I've bought that doesn't follow the standard or is simply incompatible with the USB2 pin headers on the X1000. Doesn't seem to matter as every model I've had, be that only an XE or X1000, is always incompatible with the USB case wiring in the case I bought for it. Even in the front port plugged in with new adaptor USB is unstable. It can mount or not mount. That is the situation. So I'll need to pull the plugs off and examine why the wiring is faulty. At this point I'll be back to plugging the front port into the back of the case again. It only gives me one port but at least works. Knowing my case perhaps only by accident.

[sailorMH]

AmigaOne X1000 has standard USB 2.0 header on motherboard:
https://www.frontx.com/cpx108_2.html - look to part HEADER CONNECTION GUIDES.
AmigaOne XE has "nearly standart" connector - power and data pins are OK, only the last pair ( pin 9 + 10 ) has swapped Key and Shiels pins. So you must modify case cable a little, but there is no risk of damage.
Micro A1-C has non standart pinout - 8 pins, no Key, no Shield. And pin order of second row is reversed ( best is look to user manual from intuitionbase.com ). Incorrect connection can damage something.

Check the colours on your case cable connector. Are they in the same order like on the picture from above link ?
If not, you must modify your case cable to accord with picture.
If your case cable is identical with picture and USB still not works, it is probably some cable error. To check it try some USB 2.0 bracket with cable ( something like 1st picture from link ).

On X1000 it should be plug and play.

P.S. if you can share here photo of your case USB connectors, I can check it exactly.