[ale] USB HD issues

Tue Aug 25 00:41:54 EDT 2009

Linux bolivar 2.6.28-15-generic #49-Ubuntu SMP Tue Aug 18 18:40:08 UTC 2009 i686 GNU/Linux

Has anyone been having USB Storage issues with certain kernels? recently I've been getting 'device descriptor read/64, error -110' errors where my external hard drives have been dropping out, while they'd been working steadily before with no hardware changes. Sometimes they are accompanied by very fear-inducing click-of-death noises from the drives, but as this seems to be happening to any USB drive and not just the one, I think it may be something to do with recent software updates. Work has prevented me from trying to nail down version differences, but here's what I get:

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[29946.856078] usb 1-3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 3
[29947.169066] usb 1-3: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[29947.301547] scsi3 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
[29947.305816] usb-storage: device found at 3
[29947.305824] usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
[29952.318305] usb-storage: device scan complete
[29952.322006] scsi 3:0:0:0: Direct-Access     Seagate  FreeAgent Pro    400A PQ: 0 ANSI: 4
[29952.374218] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] 976773168 512-byte hardware sectors: (500 GB/465 GiB)
[29952.378332] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
[29952.378342] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 1c 00 00 00
[29952.378349] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[29952.383522] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] 976773168 512-byte hardware sectors: (500 GB/465 GiB)
[29952.386199] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
[29952.386209] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 1c 00 00 00
[29952.386216] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[29952.386228]  sdb: sdb1 sdb2
[29952.418235] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI disk
[29952.418422] sd 3:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg1 type 0
[29993.694676] kjournald starting.  Commit interval 5 seconds
[29993.695912] EXT3 FS on sdb2, internal journal

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Starts up fine, and does a journal recovery from the last time it cut out...

[29993.695920] EXT3-fs: recovery complete.
[29993.697564] EXT3-fs: mounted filesystem with ordered data mode.

Reads for a good while, then cuts out:

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[36179.112082] usb 1-3: reset high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 3
[36194.224199] usb 1-3: device descriptor read/64, error -110
[36209.440076] usb 1-3: device descriptor read/64, error -110
[36209.656091] usb 1-3: reset high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 3
[36224.768081] usb 1-3: device descriptor read/64, error -110
[36239.984076] usb 1-3: device descriptor read/64, error -110
[36240.200077] usb 1-3: reset high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 3
[36245.221161] usb 1-3: device descriptor read/8, error -110
[36250.343684] usb 1-3: device descriptor read/8, error -110
[36250.556087] usb 1-3: reset high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 3
[36255.584171] usb 1-3: device descriptor read/8, error -110
[36260.704152] usb 1-3: device descriptor read/8, error -110
[36260.808134] sd 3:0:0:0: Device offlined - not ready after error recovery
[36260.808160] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] Result: hostbyte=DID_ABORT driverbyte=DRIVER_OK,SUGGEST_OK
[36260.808173] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 156262054
[36260.808187] Buffer I/O error on device sdb2, logical block 1733
[36260.808195] lost page write due to I/O error on sdb2
[36260.808240] Aborting journal on device sdb2.
[36260.808284] sd 3:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to offline device
[36260.808293] Buffer I/O error on device sdb2, logical block 1545
[36260.808300] lost page write due to I/O error on sdb2
[36260.808325] journal commit I/O error
[36260.809347] usb 1-3: USB disconnect, address 3
[36260.968732] usb 1-3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 4
[36261.693750] ext3_abort called.
[36261.693765] EXT3-fs error (device sdb2): ext3_put_super: Couldn't clean up the journal
[36261.693776] Remounting filesystem read-only
[36276.084147] usb 1-3: device descriptor read/64, error -110
[36291.303270] usb 1-3: device descriptor read/64, error -110
[36291.516091] usb 1-3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 5
[36306.628070] usb 1-3: device descriptor read/64, error -110
[36321.849674] usb 1-3: device descriptor read/64, error -110
[36322.064060] usb 1-3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 6
[36327.085451] usb 1-3: device descriptor read/8, error -110
[36332.204255] usb 1-3: device descriptor read/8, error -110
[36332.420078] usb 1-3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 7
[36337.440176] usb 1-3: device descriptor read/8, error -110
[36342.562836] usb 1-3: device descriptor read/8, error -110
[36342.664092] hub 1-0:1.0: unable to enumerate USB device on port 3
[36342.692922] hub 1-0:1.0: over-current change on port 4
[36342.796074] hub 1-0:1.0: over-current change on port 1
[36343.140087] usb 3-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 2
[36355.988103] hub 3-0:1.0: unable to enumerate USB device on port 1

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One of the forums online suggested messing with /etc/modprobe.d/ to change scsi_mod inq_timeout, so I did:

echo 20 > /sys/module/scsi_mod/parameters/inq_timeout		# from 5
echo 1 > /sys/module/scsi_mod/parameters/scsi_logging_level	# from 0

This seems to be helping so far, it hasn't cut out yet, but I'm not going to stay up late enough tonight to reproduce it again.

-George