Is my TP-1043 trash?

Installing and Using OpenWrt
1

Hi,

I have a TP-1043 with external root on USB working fine for years.
Every 2 years or so, the USB would wear so I had to replace it and install OpenWRT from scratch. No big deal.

However, the last 2 USB sticks failed after a couple of weeks, even with logging disabled. The errors I get from dmesg are:

[496522.650000] EXT4-fs warning (device sdb1): __ext4_read_dirblock:884: error -5 reading directory block (ino 130834, block 0)
[500122.690000] EXT4-fs warning (device sdb1): __ext4_read_dirblock:884: error -5 reading directory block (ino 130834, block 0)
[500520.210000] EXT4-fs warning (device sdb1): __ext4_read_dirblock:884: error -5 reading directory block (ino 1570015, block 0)
[500523.150000] EXT4-fs warning (device sdb1): __ext4_read_dirblock:884: error -5 reading directory block (ino 1570015, block 0)
[500524.570000] EXT4-fs warning (device sdb1): __ext4_read_dirblock:884: error -5 reading directory block (ino 1569793, block 0)
[500526.900000] EXT4-fs warning (device sdb1): __ext4_read_dirblock:884: error -5 reading directory block (ino 1569998, block 0)
[500526.910000] EXT4-fs warning (device sdb1): __ext4_read_dirblock:884: error -5 reading directory block (ino 1569888, block 0)
[500526.930000] EXT4-fs warning (device sdb1): __ext4_read_dirblock:884: error -5 reading directory block (ino 1570013, block 0)
[500526.940000] EXT4-fs warning (device sdb1): __ext4_read_dirblock:884: error -5 reading directory block (ino 130819, block 0)
[500527.030000] EXT4-fs error: 8 callbacks suppressed
[500527.040000] EXT4-fs error (device sdb1): ext4_find_entry:1289: inode #1569998: comm ash: reading directory lblock 0
[500527.050000] EXT4-fs error (device sdb1): ext4_find_entry:1289: inode #1569888: comm ash: reading directory lblock 0
[500527.060000] EXT4-fs error (device sdb1): ext4_find_entry:1289: inode #1570013: comm ash: reading directory lblock 0
[500527.070000] EXT4-fs error (device sdb1): ext4_find_entry:1289: inode #130819: comm ash: reading directory lblock 0

I doubt both USB sticks are weared or have issues. We are talking about brand new 32GB Toshiba sticks (different models), purchased from different stores at different times.

Could it be that something on the TP-1043 itself is weared (like ram, rom) and affects the consistency of the USB ?

Any sugestion?
Thanks,
Joaoabs

2

I am not sure about that mate. Your USB sticks should not brake that quick. Have you updated to see if there is a soft ware bug that mite of bin fixed? The TL-WR1043ND is a bit long in the tooth now tho mite be time for a new router.

3

Any power outage during this time?
Maybe you also pulled the power plug during this time, intentionally or not?

It's hard to break USB thumb drives with pure writing ***.
Unexpected power outage during write process however leads very quickly to corrupted filesystems.

*** I'm writing each day approx. 7000 jpgs and 150MB of timelapse videos on a 64GB Sandisk Cruzer.

4

Check your power supply. It may be that the voltage sags under the load that a USB device adds.

You can also check your sticks on a "desktop" system, especially if it is running a Linux-based OS, a BSD flavor, or macOS.