apcupsd cannot find usb ups on Debian Sarge
 

I have an apc smart-ups 750 connected via usb to an old rev. a bondi blue imac running Debian Sarge. When I try to start apcupsd I get the following message:

Tue Aug 09 11:54:53 EDT 2005 apcupsd FATAL ERROR in linux-usb.c at line 575
Cannot find UPS device --
For a link to detailed USB trouble shooting information,
please see (URL redacted so that I can post this message).
Tue Aug 09 11:54:53 EDT 2005 apcupsd error shutdown completed

I've made the necessary /dev files using the examples/make-hiddev script. I've gone through the USB troubleshooting page at Checking-Out-Your-USB-Subsystem.html (sorry, haven't posted enough to include the full url) with the following results.

> cat /proc/bus/usb/devices
T: Bus=01 Lev=01 Prnt=01 Port=00 Cnt=01 Dev#= 5 Spd=1.5 MxCh= 0
D: Ver= 1.10 Cls=00(>ifc ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS= 8 #Cfgs= 1
P: Vendor=051d ProdID=0002 Rev= 0.06
S: Manufacturer=American Power Conversion
S: Product=Smart-UPS 750 FW:651.12.D USB FW:4.2
S: SerialNumber=QS0451144323
C:* #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=e0 MxPwr= 30mA
I: If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 1 Cls=03(HID ) Sub=00 Prot=00 Driver=usbhid
E: Ad=81(I) Atr=03(Int.) MxPS= 6 Ivl=100ms

> ls -l /sys/bus/usb/drivers
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 7 root root 0 2005-08-09 11:45 .
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 0 2005-08-09 11:45 ..
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 0 2005-08-09 11:45 hiddev
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 0 2005-08-09 11:45 hub
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 0 2005-08-09 11:54 usb
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 0 2005-08-09 11:45 usbfs
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 0 2005-08-09 11:54 usbhid

> ls /dev/usb/hid*
crw-rw---- 1 root root 180, 96 2005-02-27 18:35 /dev/usb/hiddev0
crw-rw---- 1 root root 180, 97 2005-02-27 18:35 /dev/usb/hiddev1
crw-rw---- 1 root root 180, 106 2005-02-27 18:35 /dev/usb/hiddev10
crw-rw---- 1 root root 180, 107 2005-02-27 18:35 /dev/usb/hiddev11
crw-rw---- 1 root root 180, 108 2005-02-27 18:35 /dev/usb/hiddev12
crw-rw---- 1 root root 180, 109 2005-02-27 18:35 /dev/usb/hiddev13
crw-rw---- 1 root root 180, 110 2005-02-27 18:35 /dev/usb/hiddev14
crw-rw---- 1 root root 180, 111 2005-02-27 18:35 /dev/usb/hiddev15
crw-rw---- 1 root root 180, 98 2005-02-27 18:35 /dev/usb/hiddev2
crw-rw---- 1 root root 180, 99 2005-02-27 18:35 /dev/usb/hiddev3
crw-rw---- 1 root root 180, 100 2005-02-27 18:35 /dev/usb/hiddev4
crw-rw---- 1 root root 180, 101 2005-02-27 18:35 /dev/usb/hiddev5
crw-rw---- 1 root root 180, 102 2005-02-27 18:35 /dev/usb/hiddev6
crw-rw---- 1 root root 180, 103 2005-02-27 18:35 /dev/usb/hiddev7
crw-rw---- 1 root root 180, 104 2005-02-27 18:35 /dev/usb/hiddev8
crw-rw---- 1 root root 180, 105 2005-02-27 18:35 /dev/usb/hiddev9

and for good measure because this point is a little quirky on Debian:

> ls -l /dev/usb/hid/hid*
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 180, 96 2005-08-09 11:08 /dev/usb/hid/hiddev0
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 180, 97 2005-08-09 11:08 /dev/usb/hid/hiddev1
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 180, 106 2005-08-09 11:08 /dev/usb/hid/hiddev10
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 180, 107 2005-08-09 11:08 /dev/usb/hid/hiddev11
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 180, 108 2005-08-09 11:08 /dev/usb/hid/hiddev12
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 180, 109 2005-08-09 11:08 /dev/usb/hid/hiddev13
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 180, 110 2005-08-09 11:08 /dev/usb/hid/hiddev14
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 180, 111 2005-08-09 11:08 /dev/usb/hid/hiddev15
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 180, 98 2005-08-09 11:08 /dev/usb/hid/hiddev2
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 180, 99 2005-08-09 11:08 /dev/usb/hid/hiddev3
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 180, 100 2005-08-09 11:08 /dev/usb/hid/hiddev4
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 180, 101 2005-08-09 11:08 /dev/usb/hid/hiddev5
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 180, 102 2005-08-09 11:08 /dev/usb/hid/hiddev6
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 180, 103 2005-08-09 11:08 /dev/usb/hid/hiddev7
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 180, 104 2005-08-09 11:08 /dev/usb/hid/hiddev8
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 180, 105 2005-08-09 11:08 /dev/usb/hid/hiddev9

And finally, here's where the trouble starts:

> ./hid-ups
Couldn't find USB UPS device, check your /dev.

Here's a synopsis of my apcupsd.conf file:
UPSNAME apc
UPSCABLE usb
UPSTYPE usb
DEVICE /dev/usb/hid/hiddev[0-15]

I've also tried changing DEVICE to /dev/usb/hiddev[0-15] and leaving it blank with the same result.

Any ideas?

--dlk

Did you solve the problem?
 

I know you posted a long time ago but I have exactly the same problem on Gentoo. Did you manage to solve it and how?

Cheers

Tim.

Solved it myself.

The problem was that I do not have a USB mouse or keyboard. So I excluded USB HID (Human Interface Device) from my kernel. The UPS daemon uses the HID drivers to control the UPS. I recompiled the kernel with the USB HID options built in (one option's help notes even mentioned the UPS!). The system then worked perfectly. I even leave the DEVICE setting blank.