Tethering through phone

[naasking]

I have a Raspberry Pi B but it doesn't seem to recognize my Nexus 5 when I attempt to tether it over USB. lsusb shows no new devices, dmesg shows the exact same USB messages at boot whether the phone is plugged in or not, and this is the case for both full Jessie and Jessie lite versions of Raspbian.

Tethering to a PC works fine: my phone's USB tethering option becomes available and I just check it to tether. Plugging it into the raspberry pi shows the tethering option still greyed out, but at least the phone's charging symbol lights up indicating that it's getting power. It's on a 2.5 A power supply, which I would think would be enough.

Other USB devices work fine, and tried swapping ports and cables to no avail. Anyone else have any ideas? This seems like it should be a basic step, so I'm a little stumped here. The phone doesn't show up as a storage device or anything. It's like it's not even connected, so any suggestions would be much appreciated.

[dukla2000]

FWIW works fine for me so no fundamental issues.

Presume you are updated and upgraded. If you boot without the phone connected and then plug it in do you get anything in dmesg? My dvb stick won't initialise during boot but will on hotplug, pretty sure that is my power hitting a limit but you may have similar. Also do you have the config.txt option set for 1.2A to USB, can't recall the syntax offhand.

[naasking]

I have a B, not a B+, so the USB current setting doesn't apply I don't think. I had tried setting the max current on a few attempts though, and it didn't seem to have any effect.

Hotplugging often reboots the Pi, but when it hasn't, dmesg output hadn't changed. I'm thinking the B's power output limitations are causing the issues.

[dukla2000]

Hotplugging often reboots the Pi, but when it hasn't, dmesg output hadn't changed. I'm thinking the B's power output limitations are causing the issues.

Sounds like power to me. Think my LG G2 is a cousin of your Nexus 5 and it can suck 1A on charge. Only thought is to make sure the phone is fully charged before plugging it in?

[naasking]

Right, so basically I'd need a more recent Pi with higher USB output if I want to use my phone to tether, or to use my current Pi I'd need to use a USB rocket stick with my phone's SIM, since that probably requires less power.

[dukla2000]

Or a powered USB hub

[naasking]

A powered hub worked, but then I tried just the new cable that came with the hub and that worked too. Looks like both of my micro USB cables are bad. What are the odds? Thanks for the suggestions!