Usb storage devices don't work, everything else usb does

scheme · 01-04-2011, 05:15 AM

After installing Ubuntu, my laptop hasn't been able to open usb storage devices. First was installed 9.4, now running 10.04 and the problem persists.

After turning the computer on and putting the flash drive in, dmesg or lsusb doesn't give any indication of a device available. After "sudo modprobe usb-storage" dmesg gives continuous error reports but lsusb still doesn't show anything.

dmesg.txt (after modprobe usb-storage)
Putting external hd (self-powered) and a usb flash drive stick in and out of usb slot(s). At one point I did 'modprobe hid' and 'modprobe usbhid' but nothing changed.

Everything else than storage devices work perfectly (mouse, bluetooth, camera etc). A weird note: when a device is plugged in lsusb might show the 3 usb slots as empty but add the plugged device as a fourth one.

uname -a:

Code:

Linux 2.6.32-27-generic #49-Ubuntu SMP Wed Dec 1 23:52:12 UTC 2010 i686 GNU/Linux

Thanks in advance!

tredegar · 01-04-2011, 07:26 AM

What is the output of mount ?
What is the output of cat /etc/fstab

scheme · 01-04-2011, 08:38 AM

fstab:

Code:

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid -o value -s UUID' to print the universally unique identifier
# for a device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name
# devices that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
proc            /proc           proc    defaults        0       0
# / was on /dev/sda1 during installation
UUID=27ed7be7-9049-4c1c-91ac-bb8d2ba172e5 /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
# swap was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=02085dce-f9f6-484e-ac10-122c61b9083c none            swap    sw              0       0
/dev/scd0       /media/cdrom0   udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec,utf8 0       0

mount:

Code:

/dev/sda1 on / type ext4 (rw,errors=remount-ro)
proc on /proc type proc (rw)
none on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
none on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw)
none on /dev type devtmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
none on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=0620)
none on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
none on /var/run type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
none on /var/lock type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
none on /lib/init/rw type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
binfmt_misc on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
gvfs-fuse-daemon on /home/computer_user/.gvfs type fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon (rw,nosuid,nodev,user=computer_user)

scheme · 01-04-2011, 10:01 AM

The 2.0 port is using ehci and the 1.1 are using ohci (as far as I know). Both modules produce more or less similar error messages; This makes me think it's not either modules fault. I can't think of any angle to go at this from so I'd appreciate suggestions.

tredegar · 01-04-2011, 02:44 PM

I asked you to post the above (mount, fstab) because if there is a bad entry in fstab then USB disks may not mount.

This does not seem to be the case for you.

Your dmesg output suggests that the USB cable may be bad.

Some suggestions:
Try another slot, try another cable, open up and de-dust your PC, making sure all USB connections are clean and secure.
If you are using a hub, or cable extensions, try the device without these extra bits. The maximum cable length for USB 2.0 seems to be 6' / 2m, hubs or no hubs. I do not use "hubs" as USB can be too picky.

Hope this helps.

scheme · 01-04-2011, 03:44 PM

Dmesg suggests the cable is bad even when I'm not using a cable but a flash drive. Also I've gone through several different usb storage devices (with cables and without) and tried every port, the outcome is the same. Still, every other usb device works suggesting there's nothing particularilly wrong with the usb ports.

I'm not using usb hubs or any extensions.

Good suggestions but not really helpfull at this case

cleaning the laptop is always a good idea but I doubt it'd be of much help now (just did it in the matter of fact!)