First time Pi user, I'm having issues with my network and hard drive using OSMC

Help and Support
1

Setup
Pi 2 Model B
WiPi Dongle
Keyboard until I get the network issues sorted, then I can use Yatse
OSMC on SD card
HDMI to TV
Samsung 2A power supply

Just bought a Pi 2 Model B a few hours ago. Physically, it was easy to get together, but I’m having a few issues with software. I bought this WiPi Wi-Fi dongle, because it had great reviews. It detects my network, but when I enter my password it refuses to connect. It sits on that spinning circle load animation forever. I don’t know what those two icons next two my SSID are referring to.

During the installation/flashing of OSMC on my SD card, I entered my details correctly, and selected WPA/WPA2 Psk. As seen on my router, that shouldn’t be the issue. I installed the latest version of OSMC, which IIRC was the 1/8/2015 version. What am I doing wrong?

Another problem I’m having is that the Pi won’t detect my external harddive. I plug it in and the activity light turns on. I can hear it spinning, but I can’t access the content on it. It just doesn’t show up. The exact model of the harddrive I’m using is this one.. It’s getting power, which is why it’s strange that I can’t access the data on it. My flash drives work great though.

If some one could provide some info I would really appreciate it. Going a bit crazy over here, because things that should work aren’t. Cheers!

2

Immediate response is that it may be a power problem. Is that Samsung PSU a phone charger ? - phone chargers aren’t designed for such work.
Have you enabled the extra current which the Pi2 and Pi1B+ are capable of? (look in the config.text under MyOSMC)?
I haven’t heard of any problem with USB3 HDDs.
An chance you can connect via ethernet?
Can you tell whether your router is noticing the attempts to connect?
Derek

4

Accidentally deleted my previous post, let’s try again. Whoops!

Yup, it’s a phone charger, I was told that it would be fine. If it was the power though, then I shouldn’t be able to play movies, should I? I’ve only tested 480p, but it ran off a flash drive just fine. Here is it’s information

I’ll have a look at that, thanks. :smile:

I could try, as a test, lay down a cable.

5

An update, I managed to fix my network issues by reinstalling OSMC. I don’t know what the issue was, but it’s gone now.

If you think it’s a power issue because I’m using a phone charger, would getting something like this fix it? (I’m from South Africa, hence the site. :wink: Honestly it looks very similar to the power supply that I’m already using.

Or should I get an externally powered USB hub, connect the HDD to that instead and link it to the Pi?

6

It should be at least 5V, 2A. Anything less might cause problems. If your phone charger gives this kind of juice…you should be fine with it…no need to get a new one…Unless its old or something and you want to be sure that the voltage is correct.

7

Glad to hear you’ve resolved the networking problem.
I think the powered hub would be a good idea - helps remove the chance of underpowering.
It’s very much less demanding to use a flash drive as a source.
Derek

8

As far as I can see it says 5.3volts, 2amps.. I don’t have any issues using a flash drive and my wifi dongle.

9

Thanks for the reply. You wouldn’t, by any chance, have a powered USB hub that you can recommend?

Would something like this do the job? Amazon link for detailed info

EDIT: Actually this is cheaper and has USB3. Is there a list somewhere where I can check if a hub will work or not? Would link to Amazon but I have a 3 link limit. Has good reviews on Amazon too. One of the top reviews even states that it works great with the Pi 2.

10

First one OK, not sure about the 2nd as insufficient data included.
Derek

11

Pi doesn’t support USB3.0 anyway. It will simply fall back to 2.0.

12

To expand on this USB 3 drives are recommended as they will fully utilize the available USB2 bandwidth while many USB2 drives will be considerably slower. A USB2 hub vs. a USB3 hub should make no difference.

1 Like
13

Amazon link here. Second review states that it works fine with a Pi 2

Thanks for the info. The USB3 hub is cheaper though, and future Pi’s could support USB3, so I’m leaning more towards that one. Then again, by the time that happens I doubt the Pi will still be having power issues. Even just in general, a USB3 hub is more useful if I were to use it on a different PC.

14

I got a usb3 hub because people were saying that even that the pi doesnt support usb3, it is still faster than usb2 hubs. Read that in raspberri.org site.

15

Hi, how did you find your hard drive on osmc/pi. Have the same problem with my pi, my hd is turning and the light is on. First I had problem with power but resolved, but I can’t find it anywhere, would appreciate any advice you can give. Thanks in advance

16

If it’s being powered properly, then what should happen is that when you plug it in, a little pop up will appear, something like “Mountable Removable Harddrive”. You can then access your files directly, by going to Videos -> Files. Plug in a flash drive too as a test and you should see what I’m talking about.

From then on you can get OSMC to catalogue all your media, it’s pretty straight forward once you got the actual HDD working.

17

Just unplugged the hd and plugged in again, no pop up appeared and not in videos>files either. Is it videos on the home screen, is your hard drive Fat32 or fnts (think this is what mine is

18

Go to My OSMC and upload your logs. We should be able to figure out what’s going on once you give us the link to your logs.

19

Thanks for the help, I am very new to all this. Could you explain how to do this please

20

Find the My OSMC addon. Go to Log Uploader. Click the option to upload your logs and it will give you a URL that you can post here.

21

I’ve plugged in a USB flash drive a pop up comes up unsafe mountable flash drive, but I can see it in my files, but still no luck with the hd