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USB hub not working with USB C cables (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago by tahoe to c/techsupport

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Hi! I have a USB hub I've been using for a few months. I have an M1 MacBook and it was plugged to it through a USB A to A cable and a USB A to C adapter, which worked perfectly.

I've been wanting to get rid of the adapter so I got a nice USB A to C cable instead (which can transfer data). The cable works perfectly with all the devices I've tried it with (hard drives, phones...) but won't work with the hub, and I have no idea why. I tried a bunch of other USB A to C cables and they won't work either. It only works when there's a USB A to A cable involved.

Here's a before and after of the setup if it helps: https://imgur.com/a/xUYt1Td

Tried to contact the hub's support but they won't reply. Any idea what could be going on?

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[–] kuneho 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

my first guess is that when you use the C to A cable, your PC expects the hub to be the host device - but it's a slave one. I think with C to A cable, this is always the case, but correct me if I'm wrong, I'm just speculating.

If you plug the adapter into the C port on your computer, it knows it has to be the host, so the hub will be the slave.

It's pretty weird your hub has A as input on its own IMO. To make it work with C, I think you will need to have a device in-between that takes the host role - which in the previous setup was your adapter that made your PC the host. Or another USB-C hub.

Maybe some tricks with the wiring can help.

[–] tahoe 1 points 1 year ago

I'll admit I had never heard of that host/slave device principle! I don't think I have the right hardware to test your in-between device theory, but I'll try to think about something. I sent another message to the support because it's a pretty annoying issue. Thank you!