Help with HID OminKey 5427 CK USB Card Reader

[Jose Alf.]

Hello,
I wonder if somebody out there can help me to find a solution for the
following problem. I am using of these devices to read HID Prox
cards.  The reader works fine with pcsc-lite, but it must be unplugged and
re-plugged to start working (at least in my case). In other words, the device
won’t work on a freshly booted computer until we disconnect and connect it back
to the USB port. This is an issue for my application, so I would like to know
if some of you guys know a cure for this.
 
I see the same behavior on different distributions
of Linux (tested Debian and CentOS) and with different kernel versions (I’ve
tested the stock redhat and debian kernels and custom compiled vanilla 3.4.75
and 3.10.12).  Of course I also tested with the latest pcsc-lite y ccid
versions. I also tested using the ccid generic driver and a proprietary driver
available form HID with the same results. I also asked for help to HID, but
they've been unable to help me.
 
I am attaching log PCSCD files if someone wants to
take a look. The logs show that the device is recognized, but apparently is not
initialized properly because when we present a card the LEDs don't show
activity. When we unplug and replug it, and we present a card it starts showing
activity that is recorded in the pcscd logs and any application like pcsc_scan
start showing card events.


Thanks in advance for your advice.

[Ludovic Rousseau]

Post by Jose Alf.
Hello,

Hi,

Post by Jose Alf.
I wonder if somebody out there can help me to find a solution for the
following problem. I am using of these devices to read HID Prox cards. The
reader works fine with pcsc-lite, but it must be unplugged and re-plugged to
start working (at least in my case). In other words, the device won’t work
on a freshly booted computer until we disconnect and connect it back to the
USB port. This is an issue for my application, so I would like to know if
some of you guys know a cure for this.
I see the same behavior on different distributions of Linux (tested Debian
and CentOS) and with different kernel versions (I’ve tested the stock redhat
and debian kernels and custom compiled vanilla 3.4.75 and 3.10.12). Of
course I also tested with the latest pcsc-lite y ccid versions. I also
tested using the ccid generic driver and a proprietary driver available form
HID with the same results. I also asked for help to HID, but they've been
unable to help me.
I am attaching log PCSCD files if someone wants to take a look. The logs
show that the device is recognized, but apparently is not initialized
properly because when we present a card the LEDs don't show activity. When
we unplug and replug it, and we present a card it starts showing activity
that is recorded in the pcscd logs and any application like pcsc_scan start
showing card events.

No error from the logs.

It looks like a reader firmware bug.
Maybe you should use another reader model or reader manufacturer.

Bye

[Martin Paljak]

I assume it causes problems for your system because the system is not
usable after a power cycle. I had similar problems with a stupid
huawei 3g dongle that would not work properly after a soft restart.

There's some file in /sys/<something>/usb/<something> that you can use
with Linux to control USB devices, that worked for me. Maybe it
similar solution is enough for you as well.

I don't have access to that box atm but it was something along the
lines of this:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1163824/linux-usb-turning-the-power-on-and-off
--
Martin
[phone]

Post by Jose Alf.
Hello,
I wonder if somebody out there can help me to find a solution for the
following problem. I am using of these devices to read HID Prox cards. The
reader works fine with pcsc-lite, but it must be unplugged and re-plugged to
start working (at least in my case). In other words, the device won’t work
on a freshly booted computer until we disconnect and connect it back to the
USB port. This is an issue for my application, so I would like to know if
some of you guys know a cure for this.
I see the same behavior on different distributions of Linux (tested Debian
and CentOS) and with different kernel versions (I’ve tested the stock redhat
and debian kernels and custom compiled vanilla 3.4.75 and 3.10.12). Of
course I also tested with the latest pcsc-lite y ccid versions. I also
tested using the ccid generic driver and a proprietary driver available form
HID with the same results. I also asked for help to HID, but they've been
unable to help me.
I am attaching log PCSCD files if someone wants to take a look. The logs
show that the device is recognized, but apparently is not initialized
properly because when we present a card the LEDs don't show activity. When
we unplug and replug it, and we present a card it starts showing activity
that is recorded in the pcscd logs and any application like pcsc_scan start
showing card events.
Thanks in advance for your advice.
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[Jose Alf.]

Martin,

Thanks a lot for your comments. I had already tried that way before but it didn't work in my case. However, I found another way to soft reset the device. Let me explain:

1. The HID Omnikey 5427 CK reader can add a usb network interface to the host system. The card reader gets IP address 192.168.63.99 and the host must be configured with IP 192.168.63.100.

2. The reader presents a web interface for configuration, and there is an option to perform a reboot of the device. I captured the traffic while using that option and I found that the device can be reset by POSTing a data packet. Now, I just reset the reader before starting my application with the following commands:

/sbin/ifconfig usb0 up 192.168.63.100

curl -d ff6800010108 http://192.168.63.99/cjax

I have a more elaborate script to verify that the device IP address is up, but basically that's the key to the solution. I think the same sequence can be sent via CCID, but I haven't tried yet.

Thanks a lot to all. I will be glad if this helps somebody else.


Regards,
Jose




On Friday, February 7, 2014 3:31 PM, Martin Paljak <***@martinpaljak.net> wrote:

I assume it causes problems for your system because the system is not
usable after a power cycle. I had similar problems with a stupid
huawei 3g dongle that would not work properly after a soft restart.

There's some file in /sys/<something>/usb/<something> that you can use
with Linux to control USB devices, that worked for me. Maybe it
similar solution is enough for you as well.

I don't have access to that box atm but it was something along the
lines of this:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1163824/linux-usb-turning-the-power-on-and-off
--
Martin
[phone]

Post by Jose Alf.
Hello,
I wonder if somebody out there can help me to find a solution for the
following problem. I am using of these devices to read HID Prox cards.  The
reader works fine with pcsc-lite, but it must be unplugged and re-plugged to
start working (at least in my case). In other words, the device won’t work
on a freshly booted computer until we disconnect and connect it back to the
USB port. This is an issue for my application, so I would like to know if
some of you guys know a cure for this.
I see the same behavior on different distributions of Linux (tested Debian
and CentOS) and with different kernel versions (I’ve tested the stock redhat
and debian kernels and custom compiled vanilla 3.4.75 and 3.10.12).  Of
course I also tested with the latest pcsc-lite y ccid versions. I also
tested using the ccid generic driver and a proprietary driver available form
HID with the same results. I also asked for help to HID, but they've been
unable to help me.
I am attaching log PCSCD files if someone wants to take a look. The logs
show that the device is recognized, but apparently is not initialized
properly because when we present a card the LEDs don't show activity. When
we unplug and replug it, and we present a card it starts showing activity
that is recorded in the pcscd logs and any application like pcsc_scan start
showing card events.
Thanks in advance for your advice.
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Muscle mailing list
http://lists.musclecard.com/mailman/listinfo/muscle_lists.musclecard.com