Topic: My Trezor is broken! (Read 423 times)

Why would this surprise you? It's like acting surprised that you don't see any video if you deny access to your webcam If you don't grant permission for the browser to be able to talk to the USB device, how is the USB device meant to communicate to the website?


On another note, something I found somewhat interesting was that during my experimenting with the dropbox 2FA security keys, originally a Windows/Microsoft authentication dialog popped up when I was trying to add a security key... so, it was trying to use some sort of Windows/Microsoft account based authentication... I could use my Windows 10 "PIN" as my 2FA key??!? Once I removed that, and then cancelled that dialog on the next attempt to setup a 2fa security key, it then moved to using the hardware key.

Probably the U2F protocol implies that the technical characteristics of the U2F key (its brand and manufacturer) must be the same in order to satisfy the protocol. And this is entirely logical, because it is thanks to this that increased security is achieved when using these keys.

It would probably be surprising if you could recover your key using a seed phrase using any device of this kind produced by different manufacturers. The fact that the dropbox sees these keys as if they are different is our additional guarantee in case someone becomes the owner of our seed phrase and wants to restore the key on another device without knowing about this feature.

I wonder if there are any exceptions to this rule? Maybe among the whole variety of keys from different manufacturers, there are still some that would be interchangeable with respect to each other.

It would be interesting if someone did such a large-scale study.

By the way, I recently had a situation where I was trying to register my Trezor One as a two-factor authentication key for my new email on gmail.com.

I don't remember exactly what kind of browser it was - either safari or chrome, but during the registration process, a window popped up that Google wanted to scan my key type. And I refused to give Google this right by clicking the corresponding button.

And to my surprise, after this, i could not complete the registration of my Trezor as a two-factor authentication key. Perhaps precisely because I refused to provide information about the parameters of my device.

I don't know - maybe it was some kind of exception to the rule, or maybe it's some kind of new Google policy regarding authentication keys, because earlier, as far as I remember - about two months ago, when I registered my Trezor in this way - everything was ok.

I suspect it is using some other identifier in addition to the key generated from the seed, perhaps a hardware or device ID of some description that is unique to the Ledger or Trezor firmware?

Thanks for doing that. It does raise the question of "Why are they different?" Obviously the same seed on a Trezor or on a Ledger will restore the same bitcoin or altcoin wallets, and U2F is an open source industry standard, so there is no reason that they shouldn't be cross-compatible. Are they using different versions of U2F maybe?

It does highlight the risky situation you leave yourself in if you use a hardware wallet as 2FA, though. If the manufacturer of the hardware wallet disappears or goes bankrupt, then you have no way of obtaining a replacement device and could potentially lose access to the protected accounts indefinitely. Based on this, I would not recommend using a hardware wallet as 2FA unless you have a second identical make and model in your possession as a back up.

I ran a quick test this morning using my Ledger Nano S and Trezor... they are both using the same seed.

I initially setup U2F authentication on a dummy dropbox account with the Ledger Nano S, then signed out. When I attempted to log back in with the Trezor attached I got an "unknown device" error
and was unable to proceed.


For completeness I added the Trezor key (dropbox lets you have multiple security keys attached to your account), then removed the Ledger Key... logged out and tried to log back in with the Ledger Key... and got the same message. So, DropBox sees them as 2 unique keys.

Based on this quick and hardly thorough test, it would seem to suggest that the U2F is not cross-compatible between different brands of device, even with the same seed.

Glad to see that your Trezor problem has been resolved. And as you have seen for yourself, even though the USB port type is the same, but not all USB cables have the same quality and function, mainly when used to transfer data.

The problem means the USB port is loose due to a mismatched cable. You must be more careful to use it so as not to cause further damage to the Trezor which could occur due to electric short circuit. Maybe you should already consider purchasing a new hardware wallet for backups :) .

Apart from the fact that he is wearing electrical tape, everything else is ok. But this, as I said, was a necessary measure. I just didn't have a similar cable to replace it. I had to use the means at hand.

Regarding its "awful condition", it is not. I didn’t even take off the transparent film that was on top of it. Probably because of her, and it seems that he does not look quite normal. 

@IIIIIIIII#VIP#IIIIIIIII
No offence, but where do you keep your Trezor wallet? It seems to be in an awful condition. It is all worn out. Like if you just took it out of a swamp. Is it the low quality picture or is it really messed up?

As for the fact that first versions of Trezors (Trezor One) have a very low quality cables, this is a rather old story and many already know about it firsthand.

I had a similar problem - after two years of operation, I noticed that my Trezor starts working intermittently - the contact was regularly disconnected, and in order to make it work normally without the need to constantly correct his position, I was forced to used the electrical tape. I wound it tightly in the place where device was connected to the cable and for about a year my trezor has been working properly.

It not seem so aesthetic, but perhaps for some this method will also be useful.

Man, I'm really glad you followed the advice   As you can see, everything is fine with your device. It's just about the cable. And I'm sure your Trezor will last for a long time. Now you know what the problem might be. Have a nice day ! I was glad to help you !

Glad you got it fixed so easily. As a nice side effect of this issue, you now have a spare Trezor to use as a backup in case your primary one ever does actually break, which will be particularly useful since you use it as a password manager and 2FA key as well.

Both Ledger and Trezor overprice their cables anyway. $7 for a single cable from Trezor, and $20 for a pack of three from Ledger. You can get these cables for $2-3 at Walmart, Amazon, etc. As you've discovered, there is nothing special about the cable - any data USB cable with the right connections will work.

Hi guys! Many thanks to all of you for the many useful tips !!! 

The last three days have been quite interesting. When I read that the problem could be with this cable, I remembered that somewhere I should have a similar cable. I decided to dig in my old things in the garage and found a suitable (as it seemed to me) cable. Its connectors fit both the Trezor and the MacBook. Perhaps it was a cable from an USB-flashlight for a bicycle - I can't say for sure. Then i came home with some hope, replaced it and tried to connect it to https://wallet.trezor.io.

The only difference this time was that the Trezor screen stopped blinking white and a standard inscription appeared on the screen. But unfortunately the functions still not worked. Then I decided that he was really broken. 



But when I read this article on Reddit today - https://www.reddit.com/r/TREZOR/comments/6q2s26/problem_with_usb_cable_trezor/ I realized that maybe it was the wrong cable that I needed.

Later I went and bought a cable that supports data transfer. And what was my amazement when it started working! Everything turned out to be so simple and the problem was solved in one minute. The new cable solved it! 



Many thanks to everyone who participated in the correspondence

@o_e_l_e_o
@ Captain-Cryptory
@ 2chase
@DroomieChikito
@BitMaxz
@Husna QA
@Rath_
@Csmiami
@DroomieChikito

Special thanks to @ 2chase and @Husna QA !

@Husna QA - your last tip turned out to be the cherry on the cake !

In a couple of days my new Trezor will be delivered, which I ordered as soon as I had problems with it.

Interesting - Satoshi Labs still complete its devices with cables of questionable quality or not. We'll see soon.This time I ordered the Trezor-T, at least it looks a little more solid than the old version of the Trezor One.

Once again, many thanks to everyone for your help ! 

The solution to the problem turned out to be very simple! But without your help and tips, I definitely would not have done it!

I just found out that the Trezor One and Trezor T use different types of USB ports.
As Rath_ mentioned earlier, of course, USB-C can't plug into a micro-USB port and vice versa.

I don't know if 1GUARDIAN has tried to replace the Trezor USB cable with another one or not. Maybe there is a problem with the USB cable.
https://www.reddit.com/r/TREZOR/comments/6q2s26/problem_with_usb_cable_trezor/

Yes, that is clear enough for me.


maybe frequently Trezor user must have PortPlugs to cover USB port form dust.


Image source: https://www.portplugs.com/

there are a lot of people sell any type of these rubber PortPlugs on Amazon and eBay

As someone who has seen a person try to plug an USB into a RJ-45 port, I must tell you that it is most likely worth mentioning

There is clearly an error here and on the Trezor website. Both devices are shipped with USB type A connector on one end. Obviously, you wouldn't be able to plug in USB-C into micro-USB port and vice-versa, so I don't think it's necessary to mention.

Most people can probably still do the first and second tips. But for the third tip, special skills are needed, including knowing which part is the source of the problem, is it enough to re-solder it, or even have to replace the damaged spare part.

It happens to any device, not just Trezor so the USB cable might be the issue but since he bought Trezor last 2015 there is a possibility it's a hardware issue it could be the USB connector or shorted parts like capacitor or ICs.

Here's a sample of the Trezor board.



I just want to help 1GUARDIAN(And also others) if he doesn't want to buy new.

First thing, check the USB connector it might have full of dirt and rust to remove them use a brush and lacquer thinner(Or any rust cleaner, alcohol, or fluid) then test it again.

If not, you must disassemble the Trezor as shown in the image above then do this clean the ICs with brush and thinner make sure LCD is far and protected.

If it still doesn't work it might have some shorted capacitor or maybe one of the IC pins has lost contact with the board so you might need to resolder the pins to fix the issue.

Yes, of course, I meant that the cable should be of the same type. This is a correct clarification. Thanks.

I have two identical trezors, which I bought at different times. And accordingly there were two identical cables. And thank God that in my case the cable problems turned out to be the reason for the inoperability of one of my trezors.

^ We have also watch carefully, Trezor has different wire/cable each other.

Trezor One uses USB B to micro USB cable and Trezor T uses USB B to USB C cable

if confused with each other, Trezor still won't work. (CMIIW)

Perhaps not everything is as sad as it seems.

About six months ago I had a similar situation - when connected to a laptop, the screen blinked and it did not react at all to button presses. At first I was also very upset because I thought it was the end. But then I decided to try to replace the wire that connects the Trezor and the laptop, and what my surprise was when I connected the wire from my second Trezor and voila - it worked again as if nothing had happened. In my case, it was just that.

You also can try to do it. Chances are slim, but why not give it a try. Maybe it's not about the breakdown of the device.

Yes I agree. The authentication key is a device specially designed for this purpose, which will probably last several times longer than my Trezor. Moreover, if you very often use Trezor for authentication purposes, then for sure it will become unusable much faster than if it was used only as a wallet.

This is a very correct thought. And in fact, I was fighting back in 2015 to buy myself a spare Trezor. But for some reason i didn't.  And now i see that it's a rather stupidly. Now I will have to wait another week and a half until the new Trezor is delivered to me. All these weeks and a half, I will not have access to either the mail or the stock exchange. In conditions when there is now a strong growth in bitcoin, it was rather stupid to be left without a spare Trezor. But apparently this will be a lesson for me for the future.

I've been thinking some more about this - does anyone know if the U2F is compatible between different hardware wallets? You can restore the Trezor U2F to other Trezors, and you can restore the Ledger U2F to other Ledgers, but I've never tried to restore from one device to the other. Given that there are no open source third party tools you can use to restore your seed phrase to recover your U2F like you can do with bitcoin wallets, if you cannot restore to other devices that it puts you in a precarious situation of being entirely dependent on that one company. If that company goes bankrupt, or you are unable to obtain a replacement wallet from them for another reason, then you could find yourself locked out of your accounts.

If U2F is not cross-compatible, then there is a strong argument to made to always have a second device as a back up stored somewhere secure in the event of loss or failure of your first device.

Thank you so much buddy. You calmed me down a lot. The fact is that some time ago I lost my mobile number and therefore I entered the mail almost always using my Trezor as a second factor. It remains to purchase a new Trezor and restore it. Thank you very much for the hint.

Yes. The private keys used in the 2FA app are derived from the seed phrase the Trezor was set up with, and so recovering the seed phrase to another device will recover the 2FA app just as it would recover a bitcoin wallet.

You can see the relevant info on the Trezor wiki here:

I had an unexpected situation last night. Suddenly my first Trezor, which I bought back in 2015, stopped working. When I tried to connect it to the USB connector, the screen started flashing and he stopped responding to button presses. I checked it after a couple of hours but everything is still - the screen is blinking and it doesn't work anymore.

To make matters worse, I used it as a second factor to access my gmail. In this regard, I had a question - if I buy a new Trezor and restore it using a seed-phrase, will the function allowing it to be used as a key for two-factor authentication also be restored? Or not ? Has anyone encountered such a situation? If so, please give an answer to this question. It is very important for me to know if I have a chance to recover it exactly as a two-factor authentication key.