Since upgrading to Hardy Heron I have had various problems relating to usb devices. The only one that works is the mouse, and it will work at any of the outlets, but the printer and other devices do not work on any of the usb outlets. I have searched various forums for a solution, and came across the code "dmesg |tail -n20". I'm not sure what it is supposed to do but when I typed it into terminal (with a usb 'pen' in place) this is the readout
[10872.362675] usb 3-5: device descriptor read/64, error -32
[10872.578607] usb 3-5: device descriptor read/64, error -32
[10872.794556] usb 3-5: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 45
[10872.906493] usb 3-5: device descriptor read/64, error -32
[10873.122411] usb 3-5: device descriptor read/64, error -32
[10873.338348] usb 3-5: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 46
[10873.746178] usb 3-5: device not accepting address 46, error -32
[10873.858141] usb 3-5: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 47
[10874.265994] usb 3-5: device not accepting address 47, error -32
[10925.019281] Inbound IN=eth0 OUT= MAC=00:01:6c:36:df:91:00:0c:31:f1:e4:54:08:00 SRC=85.73.253.209 DST=82.42.217.41 LEN=78 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=114 ID=22819 PROTO=UDP SPT=10004 DPT=137 LEN=58
[10988.641768] Inbound IN=eth0 OUT= MAC=00:01:6c:36:df:91:00:0c:31:f1:e4:54:08:00 SRC=81.26.52.58 DST=82.42.217.41 LEN=48 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=110 ID=37575 DF PROTO=TCP SPT=3263 DPT=135 WINDOW=65535 RES=0x00 SYN URGP=0
[10989.480223] Inbound IN=eth0 OUT= MAC=00:01:6c:36:df:91:00:0c:31:f1:e4:54:08:00 SRC=217.227.96.78 DST=82.42.217.41 LEN=78 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=119 ID=49486 PROTO=UDP SPT=1029 DPT=137 LEN=58
[11151.026316] Inbound IN=eth0 OUT= MAC=00:01:6c:36:df:91:00:0c:31:f1:e4:54:08:00 SRC=24.64.67.180 DST=82.42.217.41 LEN=512 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=68 ID=60457 PROTO=UDP SPT=26016 DPT=1026 LEN=492
[11151.026767] Inbound IN=eth0 OUT= MAC=00:01:6c:36:df:91:00:0c:31:f1:e4:54:08:00 SRC=24.64.67.180 DST=82.42.217.41 LEN=512 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=68 ID=60458 PROTO=UDP SPT=26016 DPT=1027 LEN=492
[11151.026862] Inbound IN=eth0 OUT= MAC=00:01:6c:36:df:91:00:0c:31:f1:e4:54:08:00 SRC=24.64.67.180 DST=82.42.217.41 LEN=512 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=68 ID=60459 PROTO=UDP SPT=26016 DPT=1028 LEN=492
[11228.337164] Inbound IN=eth0 OUT= MAC=00:01:6c:36:df:91:00:0c:31:f1:e4:54:08:00 SRC=125.65.165.139 DST=82.42.217.41 LEN=40 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=111 ID=256 DF PROTO=TCP SPT=12200 DPT=8000 WINDOW=8192 RES=0x00 SYN URGP=0
[11248.196903] Inbound IN=eth0 OUT= MAC=00:01:6c:36:df:91:00:0c:31:f1:e4:54:08:00 SRC=201.25.144.130 DST=82.42.217.41 LEN=48 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=112 ID=37034 DF PROTO=TCP SPT=3189 DPT=135 WINDOW=16384 RES=0x00 SYN URGP=0
[11265.802575] Inbound IN=eth0 OUT= MAC= SRC=82.42.217.41 DST=82.42.217.255 LEN=264 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=64 ID=0 DF PROTO=UDP SPT=138 DPT=138 LEN=244
[11265.802644] Inbound IN=eth0 OUT= MAC= SRC=82.42.217.41 DST=82.42.217.255 LEN=241 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=64 ID=0 DF PROTO=UDP SPT=138 DPT=138 LEN=221
[11340.838350] Inbound IN=eth0 OUT= MAC=00:01:6c:36:df:91:00:0c:31:f1:e4:54:08:00 SRC=220.178.99.130 DST=82.42.217.41 LEN=404 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=108 ID=49705 PROTO=UDP SPT=51267 DPT=1434 LEN=384
mary@mary-desktop:~$

Until this problem is solved I cannot use any of my devices, but can access the internet and e-mails, and the keyboard is OK.

dmesg is the system log of messages. "|tail -n20" gave you the 20 most recent messages. USB devices are first recognized by the system. Onlt the first few of your output refer to a USB device. "lsusb" will tell you what the system sees. Plug or unplug a device and "lsusb" will show that. This is where to start. USB ports on the back of your box are soldered directly to the mother board. Front USB ports and card reader ports are connected by a cable. Second, they are logically mounted to the directory structure, usually in /dev. Mounting is controlled by UDEV with rules stored in /etc/udev/rules.d. It's unlikely that you would need to mess with these rules. It might be useful to know what you upgraded from and if you did a clean install or let the Update Manager do it for you.

Thank you for replying to my query. As you suggested I did lsusb with both the mouse and printer in sockets on the back of the computer, and this was the output.
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 002 Device 004: ID 045e:0084 Microsoft Corp. Basic Optical Mouse
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
I then interchanged the mouse and printer and got the same output.
I was using Gutsy and installed Hardy Heron through update Manager.
(I think I may also have installed Gutsy through update Manager sometime in the past)