[Solved] TP-UE300: a second TP-UE300 is not recognized

Hardware Questions and Recommendations
1

I'm running OpenWrt 21.02.0 r16279-5cc0535800 on a FriendlyElec ZeroPi.

The ZeroPi has only one ethernet port (I use it for LAN), so I added a TP-UE300 to get a second ethernet port (I use it for WAN). So far no problem with this combo.

Today I installed mwan3. In order to get a third ethernet port (for wanb) I connected a second TP-UE300 (both TP-UE300 are V3.0), but the second TP-UE300 is not recognized. lsusb shows only one device.

I unplugged the 2nd TP-UE300 and plugged an itec USB3-ethernet adapter (RTL8152) and a Trendnet USB3-ethernet adapter (AX88179) into the same port. Both operated without any problems.

  • Has anybody made the same experience with the TP-UE300?
  • Is this problem specific to the ZeroPi?
  • Does the problem exist with a RPI4B?

Thanks for reading and have a nice day.

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2

Did you test the new UE300 by itself as a single adapter?

3

Yes, I did and it worked flawlessly. I made a further test connecting both TP-UE300 V3.0 with a x64 PC (running Debian10/Buster with kernel 4.19): both devices were recognized and installed as eth1 and eth2, eth0 is the built-in ethernet adapter.

Based on this last test I think it's a problem with the ZeroPi and/or with OpenWrt. Or did I miss anything?

4

Watch the log (logread -f) while you plug in the second adapter.

5

Also check the MAC addresses for both adapters individually (on OpenWrt, not just the label). Some cheap USB network cards may re-use a single MAC address on multiple devices, which causes havoc (I wouldn't expect that here, but better to rule it out first).

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6

No entries when the 2nd adapter is plugged in.

7

They are different.

8

You should at least see "new super speed USB device" when a USB3 device is plugged in. Perhaps there is some sort of power budget in place and the hardware is refusing to power the second device.

Does lsusb -v show the UE300 is a 100mA or 500mA class device? And how does that compare to the other adapters?

9

I solved the problem by try-and-error: after a poweroff-poweron-cycle both TP-UE300 were recognized and properly configured as eth1 and eth2.

I hope this was only a temporary one-time failure. Otherwise I'll be back.

Thanks to everybody who replied and have a nice sunday.

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10

The ZeroPi has only one USB port. So I used a powered USB hub to connect the two TP-UE300

lsusb shows the following info:

lsusb
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux 5.4.143 ohci_hcd Generic Platform OHCI controller
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux 5.4.143 ohci_hcd Generic Platform OHCI controller
Bus 003 Device 003: ID 2357:0601 TP-LINK USB 10/100/1000 LAN
Bus 003 Device 004: ID 2357:0601 TP-LINK USB 10/100/1000 LAN
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 1a40:0101  USB 2.0 Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux 5.4.143 ehci_hcd EHCI Host Controller
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux 5.4.143 ehci_hcd EHCI Host Controller

lsusb -s 3:3 -v | grep -i power
      (Bus Powered)
    MaxPower              180mA
11

Just out of curiosity, was the hub connected to the host and powered on before powering up the host? Enumerating an external USB hub at hotplug time can be a weak spot for every operating system, though the fault almost certainly lies in the hub, those things are really cheaply made. For consistent and reliable behavior it's usually a good idea to have everything connected first and power up the host last.

12

Before connecting the 2nd TP-UE300 the router and the hub (with own power supply) were powered on at the same time. At that time the 1st TP-UE300 was the only device plugged in the hub. It was properly recognized.

Then I connected the 2nd TP-UE300, which was not recognized.

When I connect both TP-UE300 with the hub and then power up router and hub at the same time, both TP-UE300 are recognized and initialized.

PS: the hub was always connected with the router's USB port.

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13

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