Thinkpad USB2.0 drives aren't detected or unexpectedly disconnect

NobeyamaGP · 04-25-2008, 12:28 AM

So this problem has been bugging me for a while now. I have a 40GB usb powered hard drive that I use on the go. I also have a Thinkpad T41 that I use it with.

My problem is, about a month ago, after a substantial update to Debian Lenny, my laptop stopped detecting this drive. I thought it odd, but didn't think much more about it. Since then, I installed Arch linux and the problem persists there as well. I can remove the ehci_hcd module and it is detected just fine using uhci_hcd, but of course at reduced speeds. When I leave ehci_hcd enabled and plug my drive in, lsusb claims there is nothing detected, but my /var/log/messages.log file gets filled up with:

Code:

 Apr 22 18:57:35 Kaorin usb 4-4: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 16
Apr 22 18:57:35 Kaorin usb 4-4: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 19
Apr 22 18:57:36 Kaorin usb 4-4: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 21
Apr 22 18:57:36 Kaorin usb 4-4: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 25
Apr 22 18:57:37 Kaorin usb 4-4: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 29
Apr 22 18:57:38 Kaorin usb 4-4: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 35
Apr 22 18:57:40 Kaorin usb 4-4: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 44
Apr 22 18:57:43 Kaorin usb 4-4: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 58
Apr 22 18:57:43 Kaorin usb 4-4: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 60
Apr 22 18:57:44 Kaorin usb 4-4: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 65
Apr 22 18:57:48 Kaorin usb 4-4: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 84
Apr 22 18:57:49 Kaorin usb 4-4: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 92
Apr 22 18:57:54 Kaorin usb 4-4: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 118
Apr 22 18:57:54 Kaorin usb 4-4: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 119
Apr 22 18:57:54 Kaorin usb 4-4: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 120
Apr 22 18:57:55 Kaorin usb 4-4: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 121
Apr 22 18:57:56 Kaorin usb 4-4: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 2
Apr 22 18:57:57 Kaorin usb 4-4: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 8
Apr 22 18:57:59 Kaorin usb 4-4: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 16
Apr 22 18:58:24 Kaorin usb 2-2: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 2

And this continues until I unplug the drive.

I have since tried connecting my roommate's AC powered drive and it connected on the first try, however when I tried to copy something from it, it copied for a while and suddenly disconnected. /var/log/messages.log had this to say about that incident:

Code:

Apr 25 01:03:38 Kaorin usb 4-4: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 20
Apr 25 01:03:38 Kaorin usb 4-4: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
Apr 25 01:03:38 Kaorin Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...
Apr 25 01:03:38 Kaorin scsi2 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
Apr 25 01:03:38 Kaorin usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage
Apr 25 01:03:38 Kaorin USB Mass Storage support registered.
Apr 25 01:03:38 Kaorin usbcore: registered new interface driver hiddev
Apr 25 01:03:38 Kaorin hiddev0hidraw0: USB HID v1.10 Device [Western Digital External HDD] on usb-0000:00:1d.7-4
Apr 25 01:03:38 Kaorin usbcore: registered new interface driver usbhid
Apr 25 01:03:38 Kaorin drivers/hid/usbhid/hid-core.c: v2.6:USB HID core driver
Apr 25 01:03:43 Kaorin scsi 2:0:0:0: Direct-Access     WD       1200BB External  0602 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0
Apr 25 01:03:43 Kaorin sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] 234441648 512-byte hardware sectors (120034 MB)
Apr 25 01:03:43 Kaorin sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
Apr 25 01:03:43 Kaorin sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] 234441648 512-byte hardware sectors (120034 MB)
Apr 25 01:03:43 Kaorin sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
Apr 25 01:03:43 Kaorin sdb: sdb1
Apr 25 01:03:43 Kaorin sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI disk
Apr 25 01:03:43 Kaorin sd 2:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
Apr 25 01:03:51 Kaorin hald: mounted /dev/sdb1 on behalf of uid 1000
Apr 25 01:04:47 Kaorin usb 4-4: USB disconnect, address 20
Apr 25 01:04:47 Kaorin sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Result: hostbyte=0x07 driverbyte=0x00
Apr 25 01:04:47 Kaorin end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 3068781
Apr 25 01:04:47 Kaorin sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Result: hostbyte=0x07 driverbyte=0x00
Apr 25 01:04:47 Kaorin end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 3068813
Apr 25 01:04:47 Kaorin sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Result: hostbyte=0x07 driverbyte=0x00
Apr 25 01:04:47 Kaorin end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 3069053
Apr 25 01:04:47 Kaorin sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Result: hostbyte=0x07 driverbyte=0x00
Apr 25 01:04:47 Kaorin end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 3069293
Apr 25 01:04:47 Kaorin sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Result: hostbyte=0x07 driverbyte=0x00
Apr 25 01:04:47 Kaorin end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 3068781
Apr 25 01:04:47 Kaorin lost page write due to I/O error on sdb1
Apr 25 01:04:47 Kaorin hald[3802]: forcibly attempting to lazy unmount /dev/sdb1 as enclosing drive was disconnected

I have no idea what could be causing this. For now, the uhci_hcd module seems stable, but very very slow. My Arch install is completely up to date and i was running KDE on both distros. Does anyone have any idea what could be wrong? Thanks for any clues.

NobeyamaGP · 04-25-2008, 02:12 AM

I was just looking on thinkwiki and I'm afraid this may be my problem. So far I have experienced all of the symptoms listed there. It really sucks that it is hardware related, but I was worried since the problem followed me from Debian to Arch.