Troubleshooting

If you experience any issues with your Product Name ; please try the following troubleshooting steps, if the issue is not addressed in this section, please get in touch with your local vendor or Cambrionix. To contact Cambrionix Support please see Help and Support.

Common troubleshooting tips

Some tips and information to check first.

  • If you directly connect the same device to the port the hub is in, does it appear to the OS.

  • If you plug a device (phone, USB stick) into the hub, does it appear to the OS (device manager/ system info etc.).

  • Are you using a Thunderbolt™ host cable? (USB Type-C does not equal Thunderbolt™)

  • Is the Thunderbolt™ cable connected to a Thunderbolt™ port?

  • Try switching the cables with ones that are working/ use cable from a hub that is working.

  • Have you checked the fuse in the hub?

Logging through Cambrionix Connect

If you are experiencing a bug or an issue, we may ask you to obtain some logs of the behaviour, to see in more detail what is happening. To get logs of the behaviour use the following steps to get a zip file of the logs.

  1. Open Cambrionix Connect (if this is not already downloaded, then go onto our website and download both the API and Cambrionix Connect) https://www.cambrionix.com/software

  2. Once inside, select the Computers tab.

  3. Select localhost or the name of the local computer you are obtaining logs from

  4. Then, click on the “Hub API”

  5. From here, you should see a section titled 'API Logging Sections'. Expand the 'Advanced logging settings' downwards.

  6. Click the “select all” tick box and then the save button.

  7. After this is enabled, use the hub in a way that causes the issue you are seeing.

  8. Wait for the issue to occur

  9. Note the time and date that the issue occurs. Then, go back to the API page in Cambrionix Connect and press the zip logs.

  10. Once you have the logs un-tick the “select all” box and save your settings.

  11. Send the logs to us for us to take a look at

The API keeps a maximum of 20 logs at 256 Mb each, so the latest one is usually smaller. If a crash occurs, you would see a smaller log file and the next instance of API shuffles the existing ones

Default locations

Log messages generated by the CambrionixApiService go to syslog.

Using Windows the logs will default to the below location

C:\ProgramData\Cambrionix

Using macOS the logs will default to the below location

Library>Logs>Cambrionix

Using Linux the logs will default to the below location

/var/log/cambrionix

Hardware Failure

If the Hardware fails, the LEDs can flash in a pattern to determine the type of failure. If no LEDs are on the downstream ports, this will be the red power LED flashing in a pattern.

The unit will blink(B) four times, followed by eight long(L) or short(S) flashes, which then repeat. The flashes are a number in binary which match a number in our error code list.

i.e if the LED flashes the following - BBBB SLSSSLSS, the binary number is 01000100.

No Power

On the ThunderSync3-16 there is an external fuse where the power connection lies. If the hub is not powering on please check the Hub Specifications section for more information on the fuse type and how to replace.

Device connection

If you are seeing any device connection issues please read through the following trouble shooting steps to see if this resolves the observed behaviour.

Device Detection

Lightning cables have the capacity to draw a small amount of current, even when no device is connected to them. This behaviour can cause a USB hub to interpret the cable as a device with a low power draw, resulting in the hub's LEDs turning on. Additionally, in the case of a Cambrionix Connect system, this may lead to the appearance of an "unknown device" in the interface.

This current draw is a characteristic of lightning cables, as they negotiate power automatically upon connection, regardless of whether a device is attached or not. Consequently, the hub may mistakenly identify the cable itself as an active device, despite the absence of any connected peripherals.

Device issues when updating

We have found that during updates on some devices the connection can be dropped or lost on the device, this is due to devices going in and out of the bootloader and requiring different power levels. In most instances disabling CDP has resolved this issue for our customers.

You can disable CDP through Internal hub settings either by going through the advanced settings and turning "Sync charge" off or through the API and disabling it via code. For example, the instructions would be below using the command line.

Copy 
settings_unlock 
settings_set sync_chrg 0000000000000000
Unstable device connection

Some devices can have unstable connections with your host system through USB hubs. We have only observed this behaviour in a very few amount of devices, disabling CDP and setting the ports to always be on has resolved all issues and the connections are stable.

You can disable CDP through Internal hub settings either by going through the advanced settings and turning "Sync charge" off or through the API and disabling it via code. For example, using the command line, the instructions would be as below.

Copy 
settings_unlock
settings_set sync_chrg 0000000000000000

You can set the ports to always be on through Internal hub settings through the advanced settings and turning "Ports On" settings to always on for each port. When you set the port to always be on you will need to set a default profile on each port for when the port(s). There is a description for each profile within Cambrionix connect.

Battery information for Android

If you are observing an issue displaying battery information on Android devices ensure firstly you have ADB tool installed and open then try these things in order.

  1. Check that developer options are enabled on the android device, and then that USB debugging is also enabled.

  2. If you have done this step and it still does not work, go to Developer Options and click ‘Revoke USB debugging authorisations’. Unplug the cable and reconnect.

  3. If this still doesn’t work, turn off the developer options at the top, re-enable it, and re-enable ‘USB Debugging’.

  4. You can get detailed info directly from ADB at each step to diagnose things:

Copy 
adb.exe shell dumpsys battery # Use -s SERIAL_NUMBER as first options
if you have more than 1 Android attached
Unknown devices

Sometimes, within Cambrionix Connect and device manager, the connected device may show up as an unknown device.

This can be due to the host system needing to be trusted on the device. This can be done on the device itself on the initial connection.

This could also be due to an insufficient number of endpoints available on the USB controller in the host system. This limitation within the USB controller can only be resolved if you connect fewer USB devices to the controller in question.

For Apple devices there is a setting called "USB accessories" which can be activated, Once activated it will reduce the amount of times a device will need to be unlocked/ trusted. More information can be found at the link https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT208857.

Cannot connect any more devices

Sometimes, you may reach the endpoint limit of your USB controller and this may stop you from being able to attach any more devices to your host system.

You can create more space is to change connections from USB3 to USB2. You can change the connection by disabling USB3 in the BIOS on startup.

A much simpler way is to use USB2 cables instead of USB3 cables, limiting the connection to USB2.

Port overcurrent behaviour

When a port encounters an overcurrent event, the port is shut down and an error flag (e) is applied to the port, the port stays disabled until the device is removed or the port state is reset (turned to off mode then back to charge) if the short isn’t removed the port will shut down again

The error flag for the port can be seen in the state command see the example below where port 4 had overcurrent applied.

Copy 
>>state 
1, 0000, D I, 0, 0, x, 0.00 
2, 0000, D I, 0, 0, x, 0.00 
3, 0000, D I, 0, 0, x, 0.00 
4, 0000, e D I, 0, 0, x, 0.00 
5, 0927, A C, 1, 15, x, 0.00 
6, 0000, D I, 0, 0, x, 0.00 
7, 0000, D I, 0, 0, x, 0.00 
8, 0048, A P, 2, 2, x, 0.01

Hub connection issues

If you there are issues with the hub and connecting to your host system, please see below troubleshooting solutions.

Hub not connecting to host

If you see that the Product Name is not connecting to the host system, one of the issues may be caused by the USB drivers on your host system not being up to date. It is good practice to ensure you have the latest drivers and updates installed on your host system, which is usually handled by the OS, but sometimes may require an update directly from the USB host controllers manufacturer, which will be found on their website.

USB drivers required are FTDI drivers, which can be found on the site https://ftdichip.com/drivers/.

Daisy chaining multiple PDSync-C4 using expansion port

USB C cables can have variations in speed, power, and protocol capabilities. Some “active” or

E-mark type-C cables may not work on the daisy chain when connecting the expansion port to another PDysnc-4. We recommend to use “passive” type-C cables and not to use cables fitted with e-markers, see your cable supplier to see if e-markers are fitted.

Serial number on SuperSync15

If you are using the API to write scripts using the SuperSync15 then the serial number produced using the method "cbrx_discover" will be an array of strings which will change when the hubs connection is moved. Using firmware 1.80 and above will change this to be a static serial number which will become permanent once the firmware has been updated.

Cannot access the COM port

You may get an error message stating "COM (and then a number) could not be opened (Access is denied)".

This is because an application has control over the COM port that the hub is connected to, and no subsequent application can access the hub. To resolve this, you will need to close any other applications that are using the COM port before trying to use the COM port.

Using with a headless system

If you are using a headless system with no GUI, then and you require to enable logging for support issues, you can use the following command to create the logging cfg file manually:

Copy 
echo*=DEBUG>/etc/opt/cambrionix/cambrionix.log.cfg

Then after re-producing the problem, you can zip the logs from the folder

Copy 
/var/log/cambrionix

You may delete the file below when you are finished with it.

Copy 
/etc/opt/cambrionix/cambrionix.log.cfg

Software troubleshooting

Some users have noted that the API can cause a high level of CPU usage. This can sometimes be linked to the API recorder service. If you are finding this and you are not using it then we would recommend to uninstall it from your system entirely. Information on how to uninstall programs can be found in the Removing Software section.

Firmware Update

If you have older hardware with Firmware version number lower than 1.83 then the hub may not be compatible with the Cambrionix Hub API and will need to be updated to the latest version of Firmware using the Command Line Updater which can be downloaded and installed from the following link.

https://www.cambrionix.com/cambrionix-clu