USB-C CC pins are pulled to the GND by AW3512 (VCONN switches) when VCONN is off

[fsflover]

The wiki says [1] there are "USB-C CC pin issues" in Pinephone CE. Can anyone explain in plain text what this means and which problems I should expect due to that? I have no idea what the words in the subject mean. Should I cancel my order?

[1] https://wiki.pine64.org/index.php?title=PinePhone_v1.2

[Subsentient]

It means that you'll have to use software to manually switch from normal charging/device mode and USB OTG mode (e.g. plugging a USB mouse into your phone).
The phone won't be able to detect whether it's plugged into a PC/charger or whether you have some USB device plugged into it that you expect to work.

The fix is to desolder a couple tiny switches that aren't particularly important. I've completed that on my phone, I can confirm it fixes the issue.
As to whether to cancel your order, I suppose that depends on how critical automatically-switching USB OTG support is, and/or your comfortability with desoldering a couple little specks from the motherboard.

[rocket2nfinity]

It means that you'll have to use software to manually switch from normal charging/device mode and USB OTG mode (e.g. plugging a USB mouse into your phone).
The phone won't be able to detect whether it's plugged into a PC/charger or whether you have some USB device plugged into it that you expect to work.

The fix is to desolder a couple tiny switches that aren't particularly important. I've completed that on my phone, I can confirm it fixes the issue.
As to whether to cancel your order, I suppose that depends on how critical automatically-switching USB OTG support is, and/or your comfortability with desoldering a couple little specks from the motherboard.

Did removing the switches cause any problems? Or does all work as it should?

[Subsentient]

It means that you'll have to use software to manually switch from normal charging/device mode and USB OTG mode (e.g. plugging a USB mouse into your phone).
The phone won't be able to detect whether it's plugged into a PC/charger or whether you have some USB device plugged into it that you expect to work.

The fix is to desolder a couple tiny switches that aren't particularly important. I've completed that on my phone, I can confirm it fixes the issue.
As to whether to cancel your order, I suppose that depends on how critical automatically-switching USB OTG support is, and/or your comfortability with desoldering a couple little specks from the motherboard.

Did removing the switches cause any problems? Or does all work as it should?

I think one guy had issues with simultaneous HDMI and USB or something, but it's a very uncommon use case. You can, of course, manually switch modes if you prefer not to remove the switches. Myself, I haven't had any issues.

[fsflover]

Thank you very much for your helpful answers. It seems like a noticeable, albeit minor bug for those expecting desktop and phone convergence. I wonder if Pine64 are going to fix this issue in the postmarketOS edition. Not clear from the last announcement:
"As for the hardware, we will be making an announcement closer to date; presently we are working on the assumption that the PCB to ship with this edition will still be version 1.2. We may, however, decide to make some further tweaks to this PCB design."

[Subsentient]

Thank you very much for your helpful answers. It seems like a noticeable, albeit minor bug for those expecting desktop and phone convergence. I wonder if Pine64 are going to fix this issue in the postmarketOS edition. Not clear from the last announcement:
"As for the hardware, we will be making an announcement closer to date; presently we are working on the assumption that the PCB to ship with this edition will still be version 1.2. We may, however, decide to make some further tweaks to this PCB design."

Honestly don't remember if it was DisplayPort or HDMI that bugged out, but either way, you still will have one of those video interfaces you can use with USB OTG. Convergence should still be possible, even with the hardware mod. And without the mod, you can still do it, but will need an icon on your screen or something to toggle USB modes. I also hope PINE64 will release a 1.3 revision of the board that fixes this.

[heng]

How do you toggle the USB modes? Maybe there is a command or something to do it.

[fsflover]

More information about the hardware bug: https://xnux.eu/devices/feature/anx7688.html.
The author says: "This issue will be fixed in revision 1.2a". Also the author says: "It's therefore not possible to perform any kind of negotiation and communication over the USB-C CC pins. It's not fixable in SW. It's not possible to configure any USB-C peripherals correctly."

---

Video of the hardware fix: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf8OJtjNWUM

[Subsentient]

Well f*ck. So the mod is mandatory if you intend to use USB OTG. That's depressing. I'll stay happy enough with my BraveHeart since I finished the mod, but it's sad that it's necessary. I suppose something like this was bound to happen with the first ever open source phone made of mostly regular phone parts. I'm not going to bother with the smaller power drain bug. My phone is never off anyway, and if I need to store it for extended periods I can just stick some plastic wrap around the battery contacts or something, not worth damaging the board for such a small bug.

[fsflover]

Well f*ck. So the mod is mandatory if you intend to use USB OTG. That's depressing. I'll stay happy enough with my BraveHeart since I finished the mod, but it's sad that it's necessary. I suppose something like this was bound to happen with the first ever open source phone made of mostly regular phone parts. I'm not going to bother with the smaller power drain bug. My phone is never off anyway, and if I need to store it for extended periods I can just stick some plastic wrap around the battery contacts or something, not worth damaging the board for such a small bug.

It seems you still can use OTG: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBeza4UNOm8. Or is this something else?