LinuxQuestions.org - External USB DISK: Failure to assign device

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External USB DISK: Failure to assign device

I have two identical brand new external SATA drives:
(Western Digital Scorpio 500G SATA 2.5" notebook HD)
mounted in Coolermaster enclosure, providing USB connection
to computer.

When plugged into 2 different computers (Slackware 12.2, 13 respectively)
the device is 'seen' but no device is assigned and the device is 'offlined'
after about 20 seconds.

Here is the tail of /var/log/messages:

Code:

Nov 23 13:46:32 geezer kernel: usb 1-4.2: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 6

Nov 23 13:46:32 geezer kernel: usb 1-4.2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice

Nov 23 13:46:32 geezer kernel: scsi4 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices

Nov 23 13:46:43 geezer kernel: usb 1-4.2: reset high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 6

Nov 23 13:47:20 geezer last message repeated 4 times

Nov 23 13:47:20 geezer kernel: scsi 4:0:0:0: scsi: Device offlined - not ready after error recovery

There have been a couple of similar queries posted in the past:
e.g.
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-14/portable-usb-enclosure-not-recognized-680939/"]http://URL="http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-14/portable-usb-enclosure-not-recognized-680939/"]http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-14/portable-usb-enclosure-not-recognized-680939/[/URL][/URL]

But no definitive solutions:

As these are brand new and identical I think we can rule out hardware malfunction.

Greatly appreciate any pointers as to how to chase this.

Steve

hi

were these partitioned and formatted under windows?

run gparted or "fdisk -l" or qtparted.

If they are new....they may not have been partitioned and formatted....so its impossilbe for linux to mount=read such hardware.

Once they are partitioned and formatted...your log should show them....just like an usb stick...eg

Code:

Nov 23 16:21:48 siduxbox kernel: usb 1-8: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 2

Nov 23 16:21:48 siduxbox kernel: usb 1-8: New USB device found, idVendor=0204, idProduct=6025

Nov 23 16:21:48 siduxbox kernel: usb 1-8: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3

Nov 23 16:21:48 siduxbox kernel: usb 1-8: Product: Flash Disk

Nov 23 16:21:48 siduxbox kernel: usb 1-8: Manufacturer: CBM

Nov 23 16:21:48 siduxbox kernel: usb 1-8: SerialNumber: 000000123456

Nov 23 16:21:48 siduxbox kernel: usb 1-8: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice

Nov 23 16:21:48 siduxbox kernel: Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...

Nov 23 16:21:48 siduxbox kernel: scsi4 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices

Nov 23 16:21:48 siduxbox kernel: usb-storage: device found at 2

Nov 23 16:21:48 siduxbox kernel: usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning

Nov 23 16:21:48 siduxbox kernel: usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage

Nov 23 16:21:48 siduxbox kernel: USB Mass Storage support registered.

Nov 23 16:21:53 siduxbox kernel: usb-storage: device scan complete

Nov 23 16:21:53 siduxbox kernel: scsi 4:0:0:0: Direct-Access    CBM      Flash Disk      5.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2

Nov 23 16:21:53 siduxbox kernel: sd 4:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0

Nov 23 16:21:53 siduxbox kernel: sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] 2047488 512-byte logical blocks: (1.04 GB/999 MiB)

Nov 23 16:21:53 siduxbox kernel: sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off

Nov 23 16:21:53 siduxbox kernel: sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 0b 00 00 08

Nov 23 16:21:53 siduxbox kernel: sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through

Nov 23 16:21:53 siduxbox kernel: sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through

Nov 23 16:21:53 siduxbox kernel: sdb: sdb1

Nov 23 16:21:53 siduxbox kernel: sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through

Nov 23 16:21:53 siduxbox kernel: sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk

Nov 23 16:21:56 siduxbox kernel: kjournald starting.  Commit interval 5 seconds

Nov 23 16:21:56 siduxbox kernel: EXT3 FS on sdb1, internal journal

Nov 23 16:21:56 siduxbox kernel: EXT3-fs: mounted filesystem with writeback data mode.

Nov 23 16:21:56 siduxbox hald: mounted /dev/sdb1 on behalf of uid 1000

Might be a problem with the drive using to much power.
You could try with a powered USB-hub, use a USB-cable with extra power connector or just try a different USB-port!

Thanks very much for those suggestions guys:

AUS9: The drives were originally unformatted. Since my original post I have formatted one of the drives (FAT32) in windows.
It is still not visible in linux - the /var/log/messages shows the same result as posted above. i.e. the disk is detected
but no actual device is reported.

UPPMAN: The drive came with a 'double USB' cable. I have tried it on several machines using one/both cables connected.
Same result.

GENERAL: Have tried on a couple of SUSE boxes as well as Slackware. Same result.

Have you enabled ACPI in the BIOS?

Any chance that these disks are formatted using GPT?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUID_Partition_Table

This would allow them to be formatted with Windows, but not readable with Slackware as it does not have support for GPT.

Thanks for all those suggestions guys.

It turns out (I think) to be some sort of problem in the coolermaster enclosures.

When I put the Western Digital disk in a generic SATA > USB adapter everything behaves as normal.

Hence I suspect the coolermaster may have been designed/tested against
XP but may not be strictly adhering to standards (It exhibits problems on Vista and on MAC-OS as well as LInux).

For now, all I can do is advise against using this particular enclosure
(Coolermaster RX251 2.5" SATA to USB) if you are a linux user.

PS IF anyone has good recommendation for 2.5" SATA / USB enclosure I would appreciate your advice.

Thanks again for all suggestions.

hi

can you connect these sata disks to motherboard without slowing down to usb?

maybe a pciexpress sata card?