Nitrokey Pro gives card error on use

Nitrokeys
1

After a couple of months of using my Nitrokey Pro successfully, it seems to have stopped working, and now gives a ‘card error’ when used from GPG (for example, with gpg2 --card-status). It looks to me like a hardware problem, as the symptoms are the same when I use the NItrokey on two different machines.

What can I do to debug the problem?

$ sudo gpg2 --card-status [sudo] password for philip: gpg: detected reader `Nitrokey Nitrokey Pro (0000392B0000000000000000) 00 00' gpg: pcsc_connect failed: proto mismatch (0x8010000f) gpg: apdu_send_simple(0) failed: general error Please insert the card and hit return or enter 'c' to cancel: c gpg: selecting openpgp failed: general error gpg: OpenPGP card not available: general error

I can sometimes get it working by rebooting and plugging the key into a different USB port, but not deterministically.

2

It really sounds like a hardware fault. I think there is not much to debug. You can return us the device and we will send you a replacement. Note that Nitrokey Pro are sold out and will be shipped in December again.

3

That’s a shame. Have there been many other reports of hardware faults, or recent fixes to hardware faults? I would like a replacement, but I would like to destroy the old Nitrokey instead of sending it back, as it contains my private key material (even if it is broken). What information do you need off me to send a replacement? Thanks.

4

Please send us an email with your order number (SOxxxx) and mention that it has a hardware defect.