I first posted this thread to the Mandrake forum with no results...i'm trying here cause I know someone out there has the answer to this

I've just installed Mandrake 9.2 on my asus P4PE-X computer

I also think i've discovered the problem with my usb devices

after plugging my scanner into each port and booting till i got thru all the ports, i found that i get a response from usb port #4.... i also notice, as listed below, that it is the only port that is linked to the EHCI driver..(the only port that says USB2....the kde desktop information window (sort of a lspci) shows that the uhci driver is linked to the other three usb ports.

[root@localhost goineasy9]# lsusb
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 03f0:0205 Hewlett-Packard ScanJet 3300c
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
[root@localhost goineasy9]# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp. 82845G/GL [Brookdale-G] Chipset Host Bridge (rev 03)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82845G/GL [Brookdale-G] Chipset AGP Bridge (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB USB (Hub #1) (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB USB (Hub #2) (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB USB (Hub #3) (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB USB2 (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82801BA/CA/DB/EB PCI Bridge (rev 82)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp. 82801DB LPC Interface Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82801DB Ultra ATA Storage Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corp. 82801DB/DBM SMBus Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 02)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV11 [GeForce2 MX/MX 400] (rev b2)
02:05.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4401 100Base-T (rev 01)

The question is...how do i link the EHCI driver to the other usb ports...i've looked thru the Mandrake guide....and all thru the configuration options and there doesn't seem to be and easy way of doing this....i'm just getting the hang of linux....please help...i'm so close

thanks in advance

Tom

please respond even if you think this question is dumb....i'm a newbie...and i need to know whether this question is valid or not...

Hi.

EHCI will be attached to all ports. The fourth device (the EHCI device) isn't really a USB device in itself - it just adds USB 2 capabilities to all the other hubs (There are usually only three hubs on motherboards).

If the scanner/whatever device can do USB 2, then it will use USB 2. If it can't, then it won't.

In other words, don't worry about it.

I take it the scanner does work regardless of which port it's plugged into, yes?

P.S. You say you tried all the ports, rebooting between. Why the reboots?

Thanks for the reply David

the reason for the question was because the other usb ports don't work...when i initially plugged my HP 810c Deskjet into usb port #1 Mandrake couldn't find the printer...i experimented with the other ports when i was using Sun JDS...their tech people had me trying ports 1 and 3 because of the 2 dual ports on the motherboard...(1 & 2 are in one location, 3 and 4 in another) ...it wasn't until i installed Mandrake and started looking deeper into linux that i found lspci and the info that was in my initial question. i've since put the printer on the parallel port...and it was recognized immediately...when i found the lspci info....instead of moving the printer again...i plugged the scanner into the different ports...it only worked in port number 4...the one that shows a link to the ehci driver...the others show a link to the uhci driver... that's why i thought this could be the problem...since i'm only a linux user for the past 3 weeks this is what caught my eye....am i wrong?....does this make any sense? please help....

thanks in advance

I know it sounds stupid, but are you sure all the USB ports are actually connected to your motherboard?

Thanks again

it doesn't sound stupid..i thought of that since i started...i was just about to bring the computer back to the computer store but since my computer guy doesn't support linux...the only way he could test the ports would be to install windows xp and try testing it...i would really like to avoid putting anything microsoft on this box...

i really thought (after installing mandrake and looking at the lspci output) that if the usb ports weren't connected or malfunctioning...they wouldn't appear on the lspci list....is that a wrong assumption?

is there anyway i can force the ehci driver into these ports?

i read a thread authored by smithgp2 who has my same motherboard who had a problem with a sound card...he was using red hat....but 2 lines in his modules.conf file read:

alias usb-controller ehci-hcd
alias usb-controller1 usb-uhci

then he went into post-install etc...

usb-controller isn't recognized on my system....but seeing this i'm hopeful there are commands in mandrake that i can use.

am i barking up the wrong tree? or is there something i can do short of bringing the box back to the dealer?... i've looked at the motherboard and i can't find anything wrong...besides..if port 4 is working, that means port 3 should work too...they're a dual port attached to the motherboard...ports 1 and 2 have an ethernet plug added and are also one module attached directly to the motherboard....

just some background...in the mid 80's i had my own computer software business...BW (before windows)...i use to repair computers back then when serial ports were on cards...gee if something didn't work you just plugged a new card into the bus...i lost interest when windows took over, and really haven't been more than a user for 10 years...

sorry i sound so newbie...but linux is my key back into computers...i really appreciate your help...any ideas?

Thanks again
Tom

I vaguely remeber having a similar problem when I installed mdk9.1 on someone's computer. Only one of 4 usb port would work. I don't remember exactly what I did but one thing I remember doing is looking at
/etc/modules.conf
and editing some usb related entries. Maybe if you post your modules.conf file, someone can see what's wrong.

sorry, I can't be more specific.

Could you post the output from 'lsmod'

I've had a look at the specs for your motherboard. There are three hubs on the board, with two ports on each hub.

For example, I have three hubs on my motherboard (just like you), and I get the following from lsusb:

Bus 004 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 06b9:4061 Alcatel Telecom Speed Touch ISDN
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

Notice the 4 busses.
On this machine, busses 2, 3 and 4 are the busses used for each of the hubs on the motherboard when they're working in USB 1 mode. Whenever I plug in a USB 2 device, it always gets assigned to bus 1, regardless of which of the three hubs on my motherboard I plug it into.
Your machine may use a different bus number for the USB 2 bus, but any time you plug in a USB 2 device it will be assigned to that bus - it doesn't matter which port you plug it into; your USB2 devices will always be listed on that bus.

Have a look at this:
http://www.linux-usb.org/usb2.html
Especially the 'USB 1.1 "Companion Controllers"' section.

If your scanner/printer doesn't work at all on some of the ports, then you have a hardware problem. I believe Asus boards have had problems with USB in the past:
http://www.linux-usb.org/FAQ.html#sh2

Hi again....c u been busy

looking up the specs for my motherboard went well beyond the call of duty...i really appreciate LQ and its members...thanks again...

as requested here are the readouts from modules.conf and lsmod

[root@localhost goineasy9]# lsmod
Module Size Used by Tainted: P
ppp_deflate 4472 0 (autoclean)
bsd_comp 5400 0 (autoclean)
lp 8160 0
parport_pc 25544 1
parport 34472 1 [lp parport_pc]
agpgart 48292 3 (autoclean)
snd-seq-oss 32000 0 (unused)
snd-seq-midi-event 6080 0 [snd-seq-oss]
snd-seq 42544 2 [snd-seq-oss snd-seq-midi-event]
snd-pcm-oss 43652 0
snd-mixer-oss 14200 0 [snd-pcm-oss]
snd-intel8x0 22020 0
snd-pcm 79588 0 [snd-pcm-oss snd-intel8x0]
snd-timer 18436 0 [snd-seq snd-pcm]
snd-ac97-codec 45720 0 [snd-intel8x0]
snd-mpu401-uart 4704 0 [snd-intel8x0]
snd-rawmidi 17760 0 [snd-mpu401-uart]
snd-seq-device 5832 0 [snd-seq-oss snd-seq snd-rawmidi]
snd-page-alloc 9044 0 [snd-intel8x0 snd-pcm]
snd 41380 0 [snd-seq-oss snd-seq-midi-event snd-seq snd-pcm-oss snd-mixer-oss snd-intel8x0 snd-pcm snd-timer snd-ac97-codec snd-mpu401-uart snd-rawmidi snd-seq-device]
soundcore 6340 0 [snd]
ppp_async 9312 1
ppp_generic 24292 3 [ppp_deflate bsd_comp ppp_async]
slhc 6564 1 [ppp_generic]
af_packet 14856 0 (autoclean)
sr_mod 19384 0 (autoclean)
floppy 55932 0
bcm4400 32140 1 (autoclean)
supermount 84032 2 (autoclean)
scanner 12064 0
ide-cd 33956 0
cdrom 32608 0 [sr_mod ide-cd]
ide-scsi 11376 0
scsi_mod 106176 2 [sr_mod ide-scsi]
nvidia 1765440 11
ehci-hcd 19212 0 (unused)
usb-uhci 25136 0 (unused)
usbcore 74988 1 [scanner ehci-hcd usb-uhci]
rtc 9004 0 (autoclean)
ext3 60048 2
jbd 39264 2 [ext3]
[root@localhost goineasy9]#



Modules.conf

probeall usb-interface usb-uhci ehci-hcd
alias sound-slot-0 snd-intel8x0
above snd-intel8x0 snd-pcm-oss
alias eth0 bcm4400
probeall scsi_hostadapter ide-scsi

I hope this helps...i can see the scanner in lsmod and the usb line in modules..

here's an interesting point...today i got an email from SUN

they said there was an upgrade to the BIOS for my motherboard and that i should download it and try reinstalling JDS...i gave up on JDS and their tech staff...the only real answers i've gotten came from LQ....so that experiment will have to wait...unless u think i should try that....u seem to be much more knowledgeable then they are....

once again...thanks in advance....

Tom

see if it helps if you remove the usb-uhci entry in your modules.conf. That's a module for usb1.1 and shouldn't be needed.

I would try the BIOS update. It looks like your configuration is OK.

If you've only been able to get one of the USB ports to work at all, then it probably is a hardware fault. The BIOS upgrade may sort this out, but it might not.

Dave

Thanks again for your help

I'm gonna try removing uhci from modules.conf
I'm also gonna try downloading the new bios

If those thinks don't help
I think that a trip to my computer guy is in order

Just hope he doesn't have to infect my box with Windoz

I'll let you know what happens....

Thanks
Tom

I promised to get back to you....ok...here's the scoop

it seems it was somewhat of a hardware problem.....i had my computer store guy attach a hard disk to my box and try to install my printer, scanner etc....plugged into the same usb ports...windows xp didn't recognize them either..it seems that plugging early usb1 devices into usb2 headers(the plugs) didn't work...when he plugged usb1 headers into the motherboard and i attached the devices to the usb1 headers they were recognized...problem solved

it seems that some of the earlier usb1 devices are not upwardly compatible to usb2...and since i bought my printer and scanner when usb was in it's infantcy these devices(my HP deskjet 812c and scanner 3300c) need to be plugged into usb1 headers...

thank you for your help....don't think this problem would have been solved without your input.....it was your observations that helped the tech diagnose the problem....

Thanks again
Tom