Genesys gl811e - based usb mass storage

[Christopher Friedt]

My USB storage device came with it's own power brick, but I also tried 
using a powered 4 port usb hub, which predictably did not make a 
difference. I used 2 different USB cables, and also a powered and a 
non-powered port. All of the USB ports on my laptop have been reliable I 
can say.

The problem is the actual chip. The manufacturers of the gl811e, Genesys 
Logic, eventually replied to the linux-usb-devel list saying that to 
have their usb-ide bridge work, one would need to alter the linux kernel 
so that MAX_SECTORS was reduced to 64. _Fine_ so they wanted to be a bit 
cheap with their chip and only include a 32kB as opposed to a 64kB 
cache. I can understand that from an economics point of view.

However, they also told the linux-usb-devel group that an extra 100us 
delay was added between the scsi command and the data stage, in spite of 
Genesys claiming that their chips are 100% standards compliant...

That really nerfs me sometimes :P

I tried hacking out a few things in the kernel, but it seems that this 
enclosure is truly a piece of garbage. I've read that even with the 
official windows drivers, windows users still encounter write / read 
errors when transferring large chunks of data with this chip.

the contingency plan: going to ask for my $$ back !


~/Chris

Duncan MacGregor wrote:
> On Wednesday 28 March 2007 23:40, Christopher Friedt wrote:
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>> This is a bit of a shot in the dark, but I picked up a usb 2.0 hard disk
>> enclosure created by a company called 'inLine' in Germany, and it was
>> unfortunately not autodetected as a mass storage device with the linux
>> kernel (2.6.19).
> 
> 1. Make sure you cables are ok. Some of mine were defective.
> 
> Your problem can be caused by a weak power supply, especially if you take 
> drive power from the USB connection. 
> 
> I eventually bought a $30 4-port hub  that came with a 2.5A 5V power supply:
> 
> http://www.thesourcecc.com/estore/Product.aspx?language=en-CA&catalog=Online&category=USB_Hubs&product=2616527
> 
> THAT worked.  When I tried that power supply on the other cheaper hubs that 
> had failed, they also worked.
> 
> Duncan MacGregor   - Toronto -
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