USB Hub issue with LibreElec on Sweet Potato (AML-S905X-CC-V2)

roctheengy · February 6, 2025 at 4:59 PM

Hello,

I am having an issue with LibreElec on a newly purchased Sweet Potato from Libre computer. I have setup LibreElec on several Le Potato SBCs (all using v11 images) and wanted to try the new hardware.

HW list is: The Sweet Potato (AML-S905X-CC-V2), GenBasic WiFi 5 BT 4 USB Mini Wireless Network Dongle Adapter, eMMC module, PoE HAT, power adapter all from LoverPi. Also using a wired USB keyboard. I have tried LibreElec with and without the PoE HAT and eMMC. Booting from SD and eMMC produces same results.

Problem is: Everything works fine for 3-5 minutes after bootup. Kodi starts, and at some point everything stops responding. From the logs, it appears the USB hub disconnects, and thus I lose keyboard, mouse, and network - essentially dead in the water. Log excerpt below from dmesg.

I don't think it is a hardware issue, as Ubuntu and Raspbian on the same hardware run solid for an hour+ with no issues. I note that Libre Computer OS link page for the Sweet Potato directs me to the LibreElec images for Le Potato - so it is possible I'm using the wrong OS image for this hardware?

Images I have tried:

OK: 2023-10-10-raspbian-bookworm-arm64+arm64.img

OK: ubuntu-22.04.3-preinstalled-base-arm64+arm64.img

FAIL: LibreELEC-AMLGX.aarch64-12.0.2-lepotato.img

FAIL: LibreELEC-AMLGX.arm-11.0.0-lepotato.img

FAIL: LibreELEC-AMLGX.arm-11.0.6-lepotato.img

Thanks in advance!

(AML-S905X-CC-V2)

**chewitt** · February 7, 2025 at 3:53 AM

Update to the AMLGX image from https://chewitt.libreelec.tv/testing/ as this contains 6.13 kernel and minor fixes. Please also ensure that extlinux.conf is edited to use meson-gxl-s905x-libretech-cc-v2.dtb as the current lepotato image defaults to meson-gxl-s905x-libretech-cc.dtb which is similar enough that the board will boot, but does contain some differences. As you commited the sin of providing a log snippet (always provide a full log) I wasn't able to see what device-tree was being used.

Assuming it's not something simple like using the wrong device-tree? .. create /storage/.config/autostart.sh with the content below and it will dump the systemd journal to disk 2 mins after booting:

Code

(
sleep 240
journalctl -b 0 --no-pager > /storage/journal.log
cp /storage/.kodi/temp/kodi.log > /storage/kodi.log
)&

You can then reboot and SSH in while things still work to run cat /storage/*.log | paste and share the URLs generated.

roctheengy · February 7, 2025 at 4:44 AM

I still had the full log buffered, hopefully that mitigates me to a half-sin.... if you want to verify.

I should be able to perform the steps you outlined above within a day or two - Thank You!

**chewitt** · February 7, 2025 at 6:33 AM

Code

[    0.000000] Machine model: Libre Computer AML-S905X-CC

That ^ confirms you are booting the wrong device-tree file. Just edit extlinux.conf to use meson-gxl-s905x-libretech-cc-v2.dtb and reboot. Working now?

roctheengy · February 8, 2025 at 12:43 AM

Took me hours to find a way re-image the emmc back to LibreElec 12.0.2 (it was still at 11 from regression testing)

Image 12.0.2. and edit the device tree in /flash/extlinux/extlinux.conf adding the -v2 as you said.

SBC is now recognized as the Sweet Potato- nice. However, USB doesn't work at all; no USB device work once Kodi starts.

Going to reimage emmc with the image you suggested above and retry unless you have other ideas.

Thanks

**chewitt** · February 8, 2025 at 10:11 AM

Quote from roctheengy

SBC is now recognized as the Sweet Potato- nice. However, USB doesn't work at all; no USB device work once Kodi starts.

The only issue I see in the log is something to do with spi-nor flash, but I've no idea what that could be. The description above sounds a bit like an inadequate PSU problem. There's no software interaction between Kodi and USB, but starting Kodi will require the GPU and HDMI bits to do something, which increases power draw, which might result in bad behaviour if the PSU is weak. What's the spec of the PSU?

roctheengy · February 8, 2025 at 3:53 PM

At that point, it was running off the PoE Hat. You may be correct on the power draw, as I removed the GenBasic Wifi/BT adapter (leaving wireless mouse and wired keyboard) and things were OK. I left it running overnight in this config and it is still OK.

I would have posted this sooner but my msgs are delayed b/c ima noob here.

roctheengy · February 8, 2025 at 7:49 PM

Perfect timing - my new wireless keyboard + mouse combo arrived today. This reduced the port usage by 1. I added the GenBasic dongle back, configured wifi radio to private network, enabled BT and everything is working! Going to let it burn in for a bit while I try to configure the NAS connection now.

btw, Power is still provided over the PoE HAT. (2 network connections bc I sometimes the unit will be on the road..)

Thank you so much!