Can't use USB Ports

[GavinX]

I'm having a serious problem with my USB ports. Simply put, they just don't load anything. If I put in my JumpDrive, nothing happens. However, when I remove it, I get an error message saying

"The folder contents could not be displayed. "sda1" couldn't be found. Perhaps it has recently been deleted."

When I used an IBM computer none of this happened. However, on this Dell Optiplex GX240 the problem surfaces. My cousin has a similar machine and he has the same problem on Mandrake 10.0. I am using Ubuntu, and I have the same problem. I've searched the forums and can't seem to find any answer to solve this problem. It seem to me that there is a problem with Dell computers and the 2.6 kernel. Or is it with all kernels?

Any help would be appreciated since my JumpDrive is my life in digital.

[GavinX]

Anyone? Really desparate here!

[plainzwalker]

Not working at all as in nothing usb works? Mouse? Mem stick? If its a mem stick problem, then make sure the proper stuff is loaded in the kernels and the modules are loading properly. If they are and still nothing, then try manuall mounting. Maybe its formated NTFS and your kernel doesnt like it. I have however heard of problems with one of the 2.6 kernels and problems with USB, however I personally haven't witnessed any of these.


Jeff

[DSwain]

The USB device may not be auto mounting like most of those distros (desktop-oriented ones) cover by themselves. Did you go ahead and see if it was mounting it by looking in the Computer portion of Ubuntu? If it doesn't show up, you'll have to try and mount it by yourself.

You can do that by running this command in a console:

mount /dev/sda1 /directory/somewhere

What this does is takes the actual device and makes it accessible on a directory level. So, say I wanted to make the USB device avalible on my desktop. I would do the command

 mount /dev/sda1 /home/user/Desktop/usb

So then all that needs to be done is go to the usb directory on my desktop and there's my information.

You may have known this already but I was just going over it in case you didn't. If you do then do you know it's functioning in other computers (say a Windows machine)? I guess it also could be formatted in NTFS in which case would cause problems but I don't know many devices like this that use NTFS as it seems rather impractical for these devices.

[GavinX]

Originally posted by DSwain
The USB device may not be auto mounting like most of those distros (desktop-oriented ones) cover by themselves. Did you go ahead and see if it was mounting it by looking in the Computer portion of Ubuntu? If it doesn't show up, you'll have to try and mount it by yourself.

You can do that by running this command in a console:

mount /dev/sda1 /directory/somewhere

What this does is takes the actual device and makes it accessible on a directory level. So, say I wanted to make the USB device avalible on my desktop. I would do the command

 mount /dev/sda1 /home/user/Desktop/usb

So then all that needs to be done is go to the usb directory on my desktop and there's my information.

You may have known this already but I was just going over it in case you didn't. If you do then do you know it's functioning in other computers (say a Windows machine)? I guess it also could be formatted in NTFS in which case would cause problems but I don't know many devices like this that use NTFS as it seems rather impractical for these devices.

The problem is that /dev/sda does not exist. All of the modules e.g. usb-core are loading. It's just that the jumpDrive would not mount when inserted and brings up an error message when removed.

It works fine under Wndoze and with Mandrake on my IBM machine. It refuses to work on this Dell box with Linux, although it will work with Windoze on the same box.

[DrChuck]

Check and see if it even detects the presence of the drive. Do a dmesg -c to clear the boot messages, then plug in the drive, then run dmesg again. Post the results here. One possibility is that the stick is being assigned to a device other than /dev/sda.

[XiaoKJ]

actually, when this happens I usually would check the power sources. I believe your system is being overloaded and cannot provide for your USB ports

[leonpmu]

perhaps your drive requires USB 2.0 and you only have usb 1.0 or 1.1??

I have seen this on my external hard-disk.

Also, how many devices do you have on your USB chain?? if you have too many, it cannot give the power to your drive, so it can't run...

[GavinX]

Originally posted by leonpmu
Also, how many devices do you have on your USB chain?? if you have too many, it cannot give the power to your drive, so it can't run...

Actually, there are none on the USB chain, except the USB.

I do believe that it cannot be a power problem since the JumpDrive opperates fine on Windoze on the same machine, except on a second drive which is in permanently.

Also, as far as I can remember, the specs on the JumpDrive said that it could work with any.

[GavinX]

when i do the dmesg again, this is what I get:

gavin@ubuntu:~ $ sudo dmesg
usb 2-2: new full speed USB device using address 4
usb 2-2: control timeout on ep0out

[GavinX]

You will think that I'm crazy now but I just left the JumpDrive in the USB port for about five minutes and it popped up on the screen. The only problem is that the files which should be there cannot be seen!

Now this is getting spooky!

[EnigmaOne]

Originally posted by GavinX
>snip<...on this Dell Optiplex GX240 the problem surfaces.
>snip<...I am using Ubuntu, and I have the same problem. >snip<... It seem to me that there is a problem with Dell computers and the 2.6 kernel. Or is it with all kernels?

Dells are pretty weird machines to begin with, so take your time diagnosing this issue--you'll only have to do it once, you know.

Originally posted by DrChuck
Do a dmesg -c to clear the boot messages, then plug in the drive, then run dmesg again. Post the results here. One possibility is that the stick is being assigned to a device other than /dev/sda.

DrChuck is thing in the same direction as I am...I did a distro change and found that, under k2.6.7 my "scsi devices" were being enumerated differently enough that the ID's were reversed from what I was used to. If you have a CD/DVD burner on that machine, you may be seeing the same type of thing, in which case, DrChuck's suggestion would be the first step in sorting things out.

I don't use JumpDrives, in deference to flash memory cards and a reader, but I'm not positive that Ubuntu will auto mount the USB device for you. (I don't recall seeing that type of behavior in my evaluation of Warty.

Originally posted by GavinX
>snip<...The problem is that /dev/sda does not exist.

Then try /dev/sdb and its associated partition numbers.

You could try a different distro, incorporating the 2.6.x kernel in a Live-CD format (I favor Mepis for this.), and observe the enumeration behavior of one that is particularly successful, as well as the difference in modules loaded.

[edit]
I see you've made some progress in the interim. I also checked the tech specs on the GX240, and they don't clearly state that the USB support is at 2.0 firmware, past experience would suggest that you're at 1.1 firmware on the USB, but your dmesg output looks like that's not true.

I'd fall-back to trying a Live-CD distro to see what differences you can see in default performance, and narrow those down to kernel/module differences. You may be able to customize that Ubuntu install to speed things up for you.

[GavinX]

Originally posted by EnigmaOne
Then try /dev/sdb and its associated partition numbers.

Nothing with /dev/sd exists on this system. Neither sda, sdb, sdc nor sdd

[teeitup]

Start with out any USB devices plugged in.

Since your running Ubuntu try to install a program called usbview. It's in the debian package sources. This will tell you what your system sees.

Open a window and, as root, run tail -f /var/log/messages

Plug in the device.

What command are you using to mount the device?

Output of df

That should provide information to indicate what to do next.

Good Luck,

[EnigmaOne]

what does:
"ls -l /sys/block" (If you have /sys/ on your filesystem)
give you?