SuSe Linux 9.2 Freezes After Insertion of USB Flash Drive
 

I am running SuSe Linux 9.2 and a few seconds after inserting my Lexar Jumprdrive Secure into a USB port the O/S totally freezes. Nothing works. For a few seconds you can access the drive just like any other drive and it appears as an additional USB hard drive. After that the entire system freezes and must be powered down. Is there a fix for this problem? I tried inserting a PNY 256MB USB Flash Drive and SuSe won't even pick it up. I need to be able to use a Flash Drive. Can I fix the problem with the Lexar or should I buy a new one . . . and which one?

The Lexar flashcard isn't the only device that locks up the computer with Suse Linux 9.2. I have a kangaroo 30 GB hard drive that does the same thing and I have to do as you do in killing the computer and rebooting it. My Lexar Jumpdrive and the Kangaroo hard drive (USB) both worked without any problems when I had Suse Linux 9.0. The problem started with 9.1 and I never had any success of resolving the problem with 9.1 but did have some success with 9.2 but I can't say it's foolproof because it hasn't been 100% successful so I'm not going to mention it at this time. The problem was created with ver 9.1 and I hope they finally resolve the problem because I used to use these devices all the time before 9.1 came to market.

Try to use the method described in this link:
http://portal.suse.com/sdb/en/2004/0...rom_subfs.html

Mounting and unmounting can be done via desktop icons. It works very well on my system.

Okay I will try what that link tells me. I hope that it works. It would be great to be able to use my flash drive again! Thanx!

I tried what that link told me. The link advises me to:

For hotpluggable media, like USB sticks, the procedure is even easier. First, run a YaST Online Update to update the hotplug package. Then open the file /etc/sysconfig/hotplug as root and set the variable HOTPLUG_USE_SUBFS from yes to no.

However, in my /etc/sysconfig/hotplug file, this variable is no where to be found. I used a CTRL+F also to locate this string, but couldn't find it at all that way either.

It seems things have changes in 9.2 :(
You could either try to locate the string in the other configuration files, or create it in /etc/sysconfig/hotplug. However, I don't know if this method will work in 9.2 (grrr, why can't they keep the configurations as I know them ;) )

I have the exact same Lexar Jump Drive and no issues/problems at all. As silly as this sounds, are you waiting long enough? It takes a good ten seconds for SuSE (and 30 seconds in XP) to recognize my drive.

Waiting long enough, yes. I wait until it appears in the devices section of SuSe and I can see and browse the contents for a few seconds and then everything freezes completely. I wonder how yours can work and mine does not? I really need it to work becuse I am a student and a software instructor. The flash drive is critical to my daily tasks.

Did you install all updates and bugfixes?

Yes, I always install updates whenever SuSe Watcher says that they are available (except for the Czech Administration Guide updates). Perhaps it's the chipset in my Lexar Jumpdrive Secure that's causing the problem? Any suggestions?

usb flash freezes suse
 

I have a sony 512mb flash drive, and I have the same intermittent locking up problem. My desktop has 2 usb ports on the front, and 2 in the back. If I use one of the ports in the front, the machine doesn't lock up, but my keyboard doesn't respond untill I unplug the flash drive. After I unplug it, whatever letters I tried to type while the flash drive was plugged in appear in the console window. The other port in the front doesn't work at all. I can access the drive on the back ports, but then sometimes it locks up.

I remember an article in the SUSE support database, that mentioned a problem with the order of USB drivers to load. It seems that the USB1 (uhci-hcd) driver is loaded first, which causes trouble with the USB2 driver (ehci-hcd). The proposed solution was to add ehci-hcd to /etc/sysconfig/kernel (MODULES_LOADED_ON_BOOT="ehci-hcd"). This will load the USB2 driver first and may solve the freezing problem.

EDIT: Found the reference: http://portal.suse.com/sdb/en/2004/01/USB_2_0.html

Thanks for the reply, the flash drive is usb 2.0 and all my ports are usb 1.1. I'll give it a try and see how it works.

Thanks again.

Finally, I got my USB flash drive to work. Thanx for that link to SuSE portal. Modifying the etc\sysconfig\kernel file did the trick for me. Now my life is so much easier, seriously. Thanx again.