You have mentioned the issue(s) with USB3.0 v.s. USB3.1 several times. You do not mention anything about voltage. I also read stories on internet for decades but have never worked in detail with USB3.x spec. I have partly with USB2 (PHY-less for mobile platform architectures), so cannot really judge myself. A standard can be sloppy, but still it are the companies who design the products and consumers who buy. Because it is a communication thing, there is always a peer product/device they cannot influence. And that is not only the data signals but also power. In addition, Pi4 and Pi5 cannot influence the 5V, it is created/settled externally. That is the core issue. At least all other 64-bit capable computers/boards I own do have own on-board DC-DC stepdown convertor to 5V. I do not know any Intel/AMD motherboard that does not have it like that.Given the consistent failure in the Pi 5 and no failure my non Pi machines, I conclude the Pi 5 USB 3 ports have a sensitivity not in regular USB 3 ports. The USB 3 ports in my notebook are USB 3.1, not USB 3, and USB 3 is a really sloppy standard fixed by the USB 3.1 standard.
I have not tested a different Pi 5 or a Pi 4.
From pure frustration about proprietary Pi4 firmware, bootloader, kernel and USB crashes, I bought 2 HP X2 2-in-1 tablets (secondhand). CPU is mobile oriented Intel X5-z8350, about same performance as Pi4 (BCM2711) and way more HW/functions for about the same price. That was really a relief. Runs standard modern/new/rolling Linux distro out-of-the-box and because it has a LiPo battery, it does charging and creating own 5V on USB3 type-A connector. Also flips to 15V on its USB-C PD input when charging or high power is needed. When the Pi5 came out I saw still same powering methods, so even though the cheap 4x Cortex-A76 is great, I don't like the whole (power) architecture.
The good thing is that full schematics are available of various other ARM SBC's, so from there you can see that several have (USB-C PD) HW circuitry for up to 20V input. You do not need working USB-C PD, you can just input up to 20V. Of course that comes with some soldering and very clear management/administration practices of your USB-C male connectors. In the above picture, if I would plug the ROCK5B cable I soldered into a Pi4/5, there will be some smoke and a dead Pi. But that similar risk if you solder things on GPIO 2/4 6. The advantage of on-board DC-DC stepdown is that the HW vendor is simply responsible and it is mass produced so no own human faults and lower cost overall in the end.
When the Pi5 came out, it had OS/SW support for all HW, that was great. But what does it matter if the use-case would require other HW components and does not need the parts that are supported, like camera's, GPIO pins and displays. A file server is a very trivial thing that is there in Linux for decades, it is just that the Pi does not have native HW connectors and protocols that storage components require. Other computers do have, also ARM64 and OS/SW for file server is simply mainstream for those. Standard Linux distro, no RPL dedicated kernels or proprietary bootloaders needed.
Statistics: Posted by redvli — Fri Jul 18, 2025 9:18 am