MiSTer FPGA: Tested USB cables - dwhinham/mt32-pi GitHub Wiki

Whether you are connecting the Raspberry Pi to the MiSTer using an off-the-shelf USB 3.0 A-A cable and the MiSTer HAT PCB, or with home-made cabling (e.g. cutting up a USB 3.0 cable or using jumper wires), you must use a short cable to ensure reliable operation.

This is because I²C is not really designed to be used over lengths of cable, and so signal degradation can occur due to capacitance in the cable and/or signal reflection. If you experience a corrupted OLED screen display or erratic synth switching behavior (e.g. as in issue #59), try a shorter cable.

The maximum USB cable length that has been tested successfully is ~50cm, and so this should be considered an "extreme" configuration. It is recommended that you try to find a cable <30cm long for a reliable connection. Anything longer is very likely to fail, so please consider this carefully when choosing a cable. Some users have used short jumper wires and still experienced failures because of poor quality of the wires and lack of shielding.

This page aims to list USB cables which have been tested by users of various MiSTer interface PCBs.

⚠ Note: The test results on this page have been contributed by users. What works for one person's setup may not necessarily work for someone else, therefore there is NO GUARANTEE that certain cables will or will not work. Caveat emptor.

USB 3.0 Standard-A to Standard-A cables, adaptors and extensions

These cables have been tested with mt32-pi hardware that features a female USB 3.0 Standard A port, such as the official MiSTer mt32-pi HAT.

Name	Length	Success?	Comments
ADT-LINK USB 3.0 flat cable	5-20cm	❌	I²C corruption. 5cm, 10cm, 15cm, and 20cm all fail. Tested by @anakin.
AFUNTA A-A USB 3.0 adaptor	N/A	✔	Sold by Amazon in several countries. Note: tested with adapter only, no cable! Tested by @bzeiss.
CY black right-angle A-A	20cm	✔	Tested by @darkymtp.
deleyCON black/blue A-A	50cm	❌	I²C corruption. Tested by @anakin.
Delock 65341/Delock 65342 right-angle adaptors	N/A	❌	I²C corruption/OLED screen black when used to extend a cable. Tested by @ottj.
DTECH 0.25m USB 3.0 black A-A	25cm	✔	Sold by Amazon in at least Australia and US. Tested by @wizdude and @Dinierto. @Kreeblah had bootloops when using it for power.
Good Connections black A-A	50cm	❌	I²C corruption. Tested by @bzeiss.
iCAN USB 3.0 to USB-A 3.0 Cable	1.5ft	✔	Tested by @sbugliarisi.
InLine USB 3.0 A-A (35203)	30cm	✔	Tested by @bzeiss.
Innov8 black right-angle A-A	15cm	✔	Tested by @dwhinham.
Innov8 blue A-A	50cm	✔	Tested by @dwhinham.
Innov8 white A-A	30cm	✔	Tested by @dwhinham.
Monoprice 15ft Extension Cable	15ft	❌	Long active extension cable. I²C corruption. Tested by @sbugliarisi.
MyCableMart USB 3.2 A-A	15cm	✔	Tested by @hernan43. @Kreeblah experienced boot loops when using it for power.
SUNGUY black USB 3.0 A-A	30cm	✔	Sold by Amazon ES. Tested by @Zzui.
Tomost Short USB 3.0 A-A	20cm	✔	Sold by Amazon UK. Tested by @allyourbasekris and @zoopster.
TUPower TP-U3-K55	50cm	❌	Sold by Amazon DE. I²C corruption/OLED screen black. Power & I²S ok. Tested by @bzeiss.
Ugreen 10369	50cm	❌	Sold on Amazon US as "1.5ft". I²C corruption. Tested by @dwhinham.
Ugreen 80789	50cm	❌	I²C corruption. Tested by @anakin.
USB 3.0 extension with AFUNTA A-A USB 3.0 adaptor	15cm	✔	Tested by @anakin.
www.cable.cc black right-angle USB 3.0 A-A	15cm	✔	Tested by @danbee.
zdyCGTime black USB 3.0 A-A	30cm	✔	Sold on Amazon US. Tested by @birdybro.

USB 3.0 Standard-A to Micro-B cables

These cables have been tested with mt32-pi hardware featuring a female USB 3.0 Micro-B port, such as mt32-pi | zero.

Name	Length	Success?	Comments
Generic A to Micro-B	15cm	✔	Tested by @dwhinham.