Shadow Dash. Android doesnt "see" USB connection

[walterclark1]

I picked up a promising tablet to use as a digital dashboard today with Shadow Dash. It has a standard USB port - eliminating the OTB adapter need, as well as an OTB capable micro USB. It charges from a separate DC power input, and is a reasonably bright 16:9 1024x600 10" screen. No bluetooth, no GPS but it has 3 axis accelerometers and Wi-fi. Seems to be well enough built. Best part is the price was only $63.

It is an Eken GC10X running Android 4.2.2. It has both a USB micro port and a USB standard port. Both (with an OTG adapter on the micro port) will connect to things like flash drives and USB mice. So it has no problem being a "host".

I have loaded and registered Shadow Dash - the released version and the Beta.

I hook up either the MS3 FTDI chip USB, or my FTDI USB-RS232 cable to either the OTB adapter or the standard USB port and the tablet powers up the FTDI chip. But, neither the tablet nor Shadow Dash recognize the connection has occurred. These same configuration work with my Galaxy S4.

Where do I go from here? Am I missing USB drivers? How do I find out?

Thanks.

[LT401Vette]

The FTDI drivers are bundled with Shadow Dash.

My guess is that it doesn't support true USB host mode. Some devices do support talking to USB sticks, but don't support true host mode for the FTDI drivers.
I fell for that one myself with my HTC One. Back when they first came out, before buying it I used a flash drive to test that it had Host mode. No problem with it. But it turns out that doesn't guarantee it supports Host mode and can communicate via serial. It doesn't either.

[walterclark1]

Hmmm. Thanks for the reply. I sent email to the "support" desk for this tablet, asking essentially that question. I dont really have much hope that I will hear anything back, but its is worth a try.

Let me ask. Does Shadow Dash contain the Android FTDI drivers (D2XX, right?) in the app download, or are they already expected to be present with the OS?

[LT401Vette]

Does Shadow Dash contain the Android FTDI drivers (D2XX, right?) in the app download

They are bundled with Shadow Dash.

[walterclark1]

So it cant be a lack of FTDI drivers.

I just tried Rooting this thing to maybe let me look for a problem or something missing and the app Kingo ROOT cant seem to load anything (USB debug is on) onto it.

Well I have 30 days to return it...

[scudderfish]

The status page of MSDroid will tell you one of three things :-
1. USB is not supported by hardware/software
2. Device/OS claims to support USB, but no device appears to be plugged in
3. Device can be seen.

If you get answer 1, no amount of fiddling will get MSDroid or ShadowDash to work. If 2, and the adapter is plugged in then the adapter could be dead, or it's a dodgy knock off that the FTDI driver doesn't recognise (unlikely, that tends to happen with PL2303 adapters). If 3, then it should all work

[walterclark1]

Thanks for the tips. That tablet went back today. Actually I tried to get MSDroid to work as well and it did not. Not surprising since the tablet did not acknowledge the USB was connected to anything at all when the MS3 USB or my FTDI USB-RS232 were connected. With the same hardware and apps my Galaxy S4 sees the USB device being connected immediately and both Shadow Dash and MS Droid connect to the MS just fine. Too bad the S4 is too small to be a "Dash"...It does make a nice aux gauge for my readout du jour.

On to the next never-heard-of-it <$100 tablet...

[scudderfish]

USB OTG are the magic words to look for. If they don't mention it, they probably don't have it.

[walterclark1]

The one I bought came with the OTG adapter cable and in the manual talks about connecting in the chapter titled: Connect to keyboards, mice, and other devices. It also mention joysticks and "other input device". "OTG" or "On The Go" are not in the manual however. Kind of implied, but apparently not reality. The next one I have coming DOES state USB OTG on its "Specs" page. I will see how that one does.

There is a thread that talks about Android devices that work with MSDroid or Shadow Dash, but the focus there is working with built-in Bluetooth. Maybe a topic about tablets and smartphones that do and do not work in OTG mode with these would be helpful...

[ilovestuffforreal]

Ok, I experienced the same exact problem. The way to fix it is to root your device (framaroot or one of the others), and use an app called USB Host Diagnostics. Once you do this, it will grant all apps access to the USB port, including msdroid and shadow dash. For some reason some of the manufacturer installed bits block all apps from accessing the USB port other than the android software, which allows the jumpdrive, keyboard, etc to work. I don't believe Samsung and some others have this bit installed, and apps use the USB fine in the OEM configuration. I had to do this to get my lenovo s6000 to connect, but I'm supposing it will work on many other devices.