I've searched and searched, but so far I could not find a solution to my problem. All tips and suggestions will be greatly appreaciated.
1) Situation: I have just bought on eBay three Android 4.0.3 tablets with normal-size host USB-A sockets and cases with external USB keyboards. The seller claims the keyboards work with the tablets, but they do not actually work and the seller is not providing any technical help or assistence. When the keyboards and the tablets are tested individually they all work properly (the tablets behave and work as expected when switched on; the external USB keyboards, if connected to a Microsoft Windows laptop, also work correctly). But when a keyboard is connected to a tablet they do not work together (when the external USB keyboard is connected to the tablet and the tablet is in input mode expecting text input then typing on the external keyboard does not produce any input on the tablet). I can see that the keyboard appears to be powered from the USB connection because when connecting it its LEDs flash once just like they do when connecting it to a laptop, but the keyboard does not appear to be recognised by the tablet (e.g. when pressing the "Caps Lock" key the corresponding LED does not light up and when typing something on the keyboard it does not apear in the input box on the tablet). I am pretty sure that the problem is not in the current supplied by the USB-A port because I have a special USB cable with external 4 amps power supply (it is a cable, not a self-powerd hub, so it always works in all situations), but even with this cable the keyboards do not work when connected to a tablet. I am also sure that the problem is not in the USB-A socket not being "host" -- it is a host type because if I attach a USB memory stick or an external HDD to the USB-A socket of a tablet they are recognised by the tablet and work properly. If I attach a USB hub to that same USB-A socket then it is not recognised and any memory sticks or HDD attached to the hub are also not recognised and do not work.
2) Question: is the above situation familiar to you and what can I do to make the tablets recognise the external USB keyboards and receive correctly input from them? Just to re-iterate: (a) it is not the power supplied by the USB-A socket (it can power USB sticks and HDDs therefore it supplies enough current), it is not that the socket is not a host type (it works with memory sticks and HDDs so it is a host type USB socket). It looks like as if the keyboards are not recognised like when a driver is missing, but how come -- Android v4.0.3 surely must have a driver for an external keyboard. The type of the tablets and the keyboards can be seen here (it is also the same seller): 7" 20GB Android 4.0 Allwinner A10 Tablet 1.2GHz Capacitive +Keyboard Case Bundle | eBay
All suggestions are welcome.
Thanks for your time and help!
Plamen
2) Question: is the above situation familiar to you and what can I do to make the tablets recognise the external USB keyboards and receive correctly input from them? Just to re-iterate: (a) it is not the power supplied by the USB-A socket (it can power USB sticks and HDDs therefore it supplies enough current), it is not that the socket is not a host type (it works with memory sticks and HDDs so it is a host type USB socket). It looks like as if the keyboards are not recognised like when a driver is missing, but how come -- Android v4.0.3 surely must have a driver for an external keyboard. The type of the tablets and the keyboards can be seen here (it is also the same seller): 7" 20GB Android 4.0 Allwinner A10 Tablet 1.2GHz Capacitive +Keyboard Case Bundle | eBay
All suggestions are welcome.
Thanks for your time and help!
Plamen
Last edited: