Hi All.
I’m new on this forum although I have 2 x Vero4k and 1 x VeroV units around my home and have been a happy user for many years, having upgraded from Raspberry Pi.
I signed up to add my thoughts here, as I think they may be of help to anyone in my position.
I ended up on this thread after some months of problems with my USB sticks. I’d come to the conclusion that the VeroV USB3 port was simply faulty so I wasn’t using it at all as I had a powered 5-port hub plugged into the USB2 socket. Over the past few months I bought a small selection of normal ‘chunky’ USB3 sticks, none of which showed up in the USB3 port when I ran the ‘lsusb’ command although they showed up OK in the USB2 port and on various PCs etc. Then by chance I bought several slimline USB3 sticks (where the body is essentially an extension of the silver plug part - similar in shape to the HP v250w design) and miraculously they showed up in the USB3 port with ‘lsusb’ and are working perfectly. After a bit of measuring and marking it’s now clear to me that the long slim sticks insert at least 1mm further than the older chunky style and the chunky plug on my USB hub lead. Also, as pointed out earlier in the thread, the sloping case gets in the way as the plastic case collides with the more chunky plastic of the older sticks.
In summary, I’m totally convinced that this is a physical compatibility problem rather than electical/soldering or software. I’m reluctant to take a Dremel or cutter to the VeroV case around the USB3 socket, but I’m convinced that it would allow the conflicting plugs to be fully inserted. I think I’ll stay with slimline sticks…
Hi kprompt
Thanks for the update.
I forget all the details now but from memory this issue only occurred after some time. If there was an initial defect I’d expect the issue to be present from the start.
I’ve got quite a few different SanDisk USB sticks but I’m not sure how to identify them all as I’ve accumulated them from around 2017 to 2025 and they all look the same. Some have a blue indicator light on them and some don’t despite being the same model.
Sam
Thanks for replying. I guess that there are a vast number of variations out there so I googled for USB3 specifications and found a 631 page HP et al document at [Universal Serial Bus 3.1 Specification](https://manuais.iessanclemente.net/images/b/bc/USB_3_1_r1.0.pdf) and section 5.8.1 on page 151 gives Mated Connector Dimensions, and shows 2.67mm minimum clearance. Also, there’s a note “The distance between the receptacle front surface and the cable overmold should be observed by system designers to avoid interference between the system enclosure and the cable plug overmold.”
What I’ve referred to as “chunky” they refer to as “overmold”.
This morning, I wanted to test my theory and observed that overmold on one of my chunkier sticks, Kingston 256GB, was hitting the very top edge of the plastic sloped case, preventing full insertion. I then took a digital caliper to my VeroV and observed 2.4mm distance between the edge of the USB3 metal shroud to the case at the bottom but 4mm at the top edge, so preventing, say, 1.3mm further insertion. I then grabbed my razor saw and side cutters (sob) and cut away the VeroV plastic case above the socket and now the stick fully inserts and shows up with lsusb as Bus 002 Device 004: ID 0951:1666 Kingston Technology DataTraveler 100 G3/G4/SE9 G2/50.
This is OK for me and, apart from a few battle scars, my VeroV is working OK.
I’ll see what we can do for a future batch.
Interesting this hasn’t come up before.
Thanks @kprompt for finding the spec details on this one as yes, I’m sure that’s partly what I was seeing too and I noted how far back the port is mounted compared to the outside of the case. For me though I think there might be another problem so I posted my V back to Sam a month ago - looking forward to hearing Sam’s feedback on it when time permits
Whilst reading up on the differences between USB types, I found this simple explanation on the Hall Technologies website. They supply extenders and converters etc. “let’s review the differences in USB 3.0 and 2.0 at the physical layer.USB 2.0 devices use the 4 pins that you can easily see when you look inside a male A-type connector. USB 3.0 devices however do not use these pins, instead they use their own dedicated USB 3.0 pins that are deep in the back of USB 3 connectors. The designers of USB 3.0 added these new pins in the back to allow backward compatibility so both USB 2.0 and 3.0 devices could be plugged into the same connector.”
I wonder if the backward compatibility of some/many USB3 sticks is letting them run in USB2 mode and masking the problem - together with some of them reaching the pins anyway. USB2 sppeds certainly provide sufficient bandwidth for normal TV viewing.
Also, as per section 5 of the specification document figure 5.16, the aperture to accommodate the ‘overmold’ should allow for 8mm x 16mm max. However, I’ve just measured my chunkiest USB3 stick - a Sandisk Ultra 256GB - and it measures a huge 22mm x 9mm. Also, I’ve just looked at my various laptops, PCs, Televisions, and computer monitors and their USB3 sockets are all mounted virtually flush against a flat vertical surface.
No. That would be very easily verifiable anyway…
Do keep in mind that a fair amount of USB3 sticks won’t hit USB3 speeds. More modern ones and certainly SSDs will do so however.
I’ve just got this problem. Vero complained about poor battery and then never worked again. I’ve tried a bunch of new batteries.
How do you open the case?
I figured it out. Screws under feet and splitter to get case top off (being careful of the wires).
@sam_nazarko i can confirm that the internal dongle works when plugged into the external BLACK usb port only (blue doesn’t work).
I suspect an onboard usb hub has died?
I would suggest emailing support@osmc.tv. Do not open the device as it will void your warranty.
Sam
I appreciate that Sam, it needed it working and it works now. Info might help you going forward though