My NK 3A is dead, Nitrokey support is useless, what to do next?

Nitrokey Generic
1

Hello guys. I am sending this here as Nitrokey support didn’t help much, if at all.

I’ve been using my NK 3A for more than a year. However, the key died a couple of days ago. The device has no trace of physical damage nor it has been submerged in liquids.

I’ve plugged NK 3A in many different machines to make sure my PC isn’t the culprit. The symptoms: Linux USB HCD can’t recognize the device and hence it can not be enumerated. Without enumeration the userspace utilities can’t do anything. This is what i get in kernel’s log:

[ 9918.140211] usb 1-14.4: device not accepting address 17, error -71
[ 9918.213474] usb 1-14.4: new full-speed USB device number 18 using xhci_hcd
[ 9918.213622] usb 1-14.4: Device not responding to setup address.

Appears that the key doesn’t respond to host’s USB control messages. Windows 10 says something along the lines of “windows can’t recognize this device type…”. So clearly, the device is dead.

Unfortunately, regardless of the fact i told Nitrokey support all of the above, i keep getting useless instruction as to run ‘nitropy’ or fix my udev rules. Udev rules are just fine - i’ve been usnig this device for a long time. During this period i’ve updated the software multiple times as well. Obviously my software setup is OK, the device isn’t.

So my question is basically this: what to do next? Shall i return the device to Nitrokey and ask for replacement. Or am i on my own here and should go find another solution to my problem?

cheers,
Petko

2

The steps to reproduce the issue with Linux and on another PC are sound. The USB error messages in kernel space are before udev can go ahead and assign a driver.

Looks to me indeed that the device is malfunctioning and you might need a warranty replacement.

Does it even get registered via NFC by a phone? Just to check whether it is dead thee aswell.

3

This is Nitrokey 3A Mini device. No NFC functionality.

4

Actually, the real question here is how often Nitrokeys break?
3A Mini in particular, because this is my preferred form factor.