Something I didn't know I could do with a USB drive

Nathan Smith · Aug 28, 2014

Not sure about posting this...

but here goes (answer to thread title at end):

I mostly listen to music off my USB stick(s) and have done so since I got the car. I have noticed some flacky behaviour which was very sporatic in nature. About 3 weeks ago I had a much more significant incident -- it started with the music skipping with the song, then skipping between songs. Moving to Internet audio didn't fix the issue and moving back to USB audio led to the screen becoming much less responsive (presses taking a long time to react, if they did). Talking with service, I was instructed to reboot the center screen (which did clear this all up) and call back when it happened again. A couple of days ago it happened again - but it cleared itself up after about 30 minutes. I reported the incident to the Service center and went on with my day. This morning I got into my car to find a "Service Needed" red banner across the top and my car no where near charged. Called up Emergency service who had me reboot the center screen. This did clear up the message, however, we were concerned that the car had STOPPED chargering! Ok, called up normal service to see what they may have found... Service believes the usb stick was the cause of all the issues, including stopping the car from charging. USB is something I got from Best Buy and formated using Windows XP. Service asked me to pull USB stick from car and see if the problem comes back, and if not to try a new USB drive.

Thoughts?

Rodolfo Paiz · Aug 28, 2014

Odd. My P85 was delivered about 12 days after yours. I've had a 128GB USB stick in there the whole time, no problems, and never heard a story like this before. But anything's possible, I guess!

HHHH · Aug 28, 2014

Wow that's pretty crazy that a USB stick could be the cause of stopped charging. When you think about it though it makes sense as it's a foreign object and could penetrate the system in some unfavorable way, not saying it's right though. I use my two USB slots for iPhone charger and Micro USB charger (mophie, digital camera, samsung devices, etc)

stopcrazypp · Aug 28, 2014

If it's software, could be viruses/malware (although should be unlikely for Linux), but it could also be a bad connection that causes the system to hang until the drive is disconnected (I have had this happen occasionally in Windows, not sure if Linux is similarly affected). It can also be electrical in nature (a partial short circuit somewhere).

aaronw · Aug 28, 2014

I have come across a few flakey USB sticks in my driver development. For example, I had a lot of issues with a Sandisk Cruzer causing the driver to crash due to the Cruzer reporting that the maximum LUN was 1 when it should have been zero. In my investigation I came across a table in the Linux kernel of broken hardware. It wouldn't surprise me if there is more to add to it. I've come across a number of broken devices like that Sandisk Cruzer and also a Sandisk UHS micro SD card that doesn't follow the standard. It could very well be that there is a problem with that particular USB thumb drive. You might also plug it back into your Windows computer and make sure it's clean (chkdsk).

I have found that my Tesla also supports EXT4 formatted USB drives just fine and use that instead since it's a lot more robust than FAT.

AudubonB · Aug 28, 2014

USB = Unfriendly to Model S Bug?????????

flashflood · Aug 29, 2014

This is entirely plausible. USB thumb drives are notorious vectors for viruses and other malware -- most famously, that's how Stuxnet made its way into Iran's nuclear facilities.

But the problem is actually much deeper than most people realize. This is worth a read:

Why the Security of USB Is Fundamentally Broken | Threat Level | WIRED

mmcmonster · Aug 29, 2014

flashflood said:
This is entirely plausible. USB thumb drives are notorious vectors for viruses and other malware -- most famously, that's how Stuxnet made its way into Iran's nuclear facilities.

But the problem is actually much deeper than most people realize. This is worth a read:

Why the Security of USB Is Fundamentally Broken | Threat Level | WIRED

While the linked article is true for desktop computers and such, I'm not so sure it's accurate in this case. Teslas run Linux and the OS can be hardened quite a bit more than even desktop linux (ie: at the OS level make sure that the usb slot only mounts as a hard drive with no execution permissions).

My bet is some sort of hardware electrical fault or bad hardware that doesn't work with linux, as a couple of the earlier posters suggested. If it happens with a different model USB stick, get the USB port tested by a Tesla service center to make sure an electrical fault isn't on their end.

flashflood · Aug 29, 2014

mmcmonster said:
While the linked article is true for desktop computers and such, I'm not so sure it's accurate in this case. Teslas run Linux and the OS can be hardened quite a bit more than even desktop linux (ie: at the OS level make sure that the usb slot only mounts as a hard drive with no execution permissions).

It's not about the thumb drive's content -- that, indeed, is easy to deal with. It's the fact that you can flash the thumb drive's firmware, and then you have a malicious device with access to the USB bus. Linux is better designed than Windows for security, but it too is vulnerable:

Researchers demonstrate BadUSB hack on Linux and Windows | Myce.com

LMB · Aug 29, 2014

(LMB spouse)

@Nathan Smith - Not sure how computer-savvy you are, but you could try running a live Linux distribution, e.g. Ubuntu, on a desktop or laptop and then trying to replicate the USB drive problem in same. A live distro runs from an optical or USB drive without affecting the OS or software currently installed on the machine.

@flashflood - Re the Linux USB exploit described in the article, not sure the Model S OS has screensavers enabled or that anyone other than Tesla Service would be able to supply an administrator password.

Nathan Smith · Aug 30, 2014

LMB,

I run Linux all the time. I have my main machinne running Bodhi Linux (distro with Enlightemnet WM and Ubuntu base). The flash drive worked fine in my home system. Files were copied over onto the drive via WinXP running under a VM on said machine. I do plan on doing as you suggested, just to be sure...

DCinDC · Aug 31, 2014

I can't comment on the security of USB but I had the exact same problem as the OP did with what I thought was a clean USB. It would've saved me a lot of time had the service center just suggested I remove the USB before a half day with a rental car. No more problems since removing the "bad" USB.

yobigd20 · Aug 31, 2014

I seriously doubt it had anything to do with the USB stick.

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Something I didn't know I could do with a USB drive

Nathan Smith

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Rodolfo Paiz

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HHHH

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stopcrazypp

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aaronw

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AudubonB

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mmcmonster

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