[ale] USB HD issues

Tue Aug 25 08:10:29 EDT 2009

I hate to say it but every time I've seen device descriptor read error
it has been followed shortly by the death of a drive. Since you
suspect it's a USB error and not a drive error, try rebooting to use a
different kernel. The "click of death" sound is not always bad when
it's an occasional click. when it's a persistent click about every 1
second or so, bye-bye drive and data.

On Tue, Aug 25, 2009 at 12:41 AM, George L. Allen<glallen01 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> 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:
>
> ---
>
> [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
>
> ---
>
> 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:
>
> ---
>
> [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
>
> ---
>
> 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
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>

-- 
-- 
James P. Kinney III
Actively in pursuit of Life, Liberty and Happiness