USB Hub problem

**oldgeezer** · 11-25-2003, 10:37 AM

Although something about 'usb hub c' flashes past on the boot screen, I cannot seem to activate my generic internal 4-port hub (switched on in BIOS). I looked at all the advice from 'search', but none directly applies to hubs. There was no entry in etc/modules.conf referring to usb-controller, for example, although there were references to usb in etc/modules that I didn't fully understand. What is uhci? It works fine in W98 with the generic hub driver. Any help greatfully received, thanks.
OG.

**oldgeezer** · 11-27-2003, 09:59 AM

Sorry, chaps - I just cannot make any progress with this. I have both a USB hub and a usb card reader attached. I cannot print through the hub; not sure about the card reader. The dmesg|grep usb gives:

usb.c: registered new driver usbdevfs
usb.c: registered new driver hub
usb-ohci.c: USB OHCI at membase 0xd284e000, IRQ 10
usb-ohci.c: usb-00:02.3, Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 7001 (#2)
usb.c: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
usb-ohci.c: USB OHCI at membase 0xd2850000, IRQ 5
usb-ohci.c: usb-00:02.2, Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 7001
usb.c: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 2
usb.c: registered new driver usb-storage
usb.c: registered new driver dsbr100

without a CF card attached.
There is no entry in /proc/bus/usb/devices.
Basically, this dumbo doesn't understand what is required to be done! Your help would be most appreciated, please.
OG.

**Heiko** · 11-27-2003, 01:55 PM

Hi,

I seem to have a similar problem, my USB2 Compact Flash Card Reader is not recognized - given that I don't have any other USB devices, I can't even tell if the USB interface works at all. Mind: I am a neebie with Linux/knoppix, so I may very well make some stupid mistakes...

Some details:
- I'm using Knoppix 3.2 (Linux 2.4.20-xfs)

- no manufacturer is known for the Flash Card Reader (just "manufactured in China"). There comes a readme with the reader though, quoting a Linux-HOWTO on how to rebuild a kernel with support for this device. Relevant to me seem to be some configuration hints:
Support for USB = m
UHCI Alternate Drive(JE) or OHCI (Compaq,iMacs,OPTi,SiS,ALi,...) support = m
USB Mass storage support = m
Preliminary USB device filesystem = y

-"dmesg | grep usb" gives
usb.c: registered new driver usbdevfs
usb.c: registered new driver hub
usb-uhci.c: $Revision: 1.275 $ time 19:01:21 Jan 29 2003
usb-uhci.c: High bandwidth mode enabled
usb-uhci.c: USB UHCI at I/O 0xd400, IRQ 11
usb-uhci.c: Detected 2 ports
usb.c: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
usb-uhci.c: USB UHCI at I/O 0xd800, IRQ 11
usb-uhci.c: Detected 2 ports
usb.c: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 2
usb-uhci.c: v1.275:USB Universal Host Controller Interface driver
usb_control/bulk_msg: timeout
usb.c: USB device not accepting new address=2 (error=-110)
usb_control/bulk_msg: timeout
usb.c: USB device not accepting new address=3 (error=-110)
usb.c: registered new driver usb-storage

- the power led of the reader is on during the first part of the boot process, but it goes out near the "usb-uhci.c: v1.275:USB Universal Host Controller Interface driver" message.

- "lspci - v" gives for usb
00:07.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB (rev 16) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: VIA Technologies, Inc. (Wrong ID) USB Controller
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 11
I/O ports at d400 [size=32]
Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 2

00:07.3 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB (rev 16) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: VIA Technologies, Inc. (Wrong ID) USB Controller
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 11
I/O ports at d800 [size=32]
Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 2

- "cat /proc/scsi/scsi" gives
Attached devices:
Host: scsi0 Channel: 00 Id: 00 Lun: 00
Vendor: LG Model: CD-ROM CRD-8521B Rev: 1.03
Type: CD-ROM ANSI SCSI revision: 02

Additionally, the usb-storage module is not loaded (how do I add it to be loaded automatically anyway?) - I can load it manually, but that doesn't change a thing. And I tried already booting with and without a CF-Card inserted in the reader.

Any help would be appreciated

Heiko

**oldgeezer** · 11-30-2003, 04:02 PM

We don't seem to be generating much interest, Heiko! Surprising? With over ninety viewers, there must be a need out there?
OG.

**aay** · 12-01-2003, 01:06 AM

Originally Posted by oldgeezer

Although something about 'usb hub c' flashes past on the boot screen, I cannot seem to activate my generic internal 4-port hub (switched on in BIOS). OG.

This is just a thought, but have you tried disabling it in your bios as well? This seems to be needed in order to get some devices (e.g. some sound cards) to work under knoppix. Also if you want to see the complete text of what's flashing past you on the screen, simply go to a shell and do this:

Code:

dmesg |more

This will display all those messages that you see when you boot up. Press the space bar to see more. If you want to write all this to a file then just do this:

Code:

dmesg > dmest.txt

This will save all of this info to a file called dmesg.txt in your home directory. I have found that checking these messages is an essential part of doing trouble shooting in linux. Then you can post back here as well as google on anything that shows up.

Do try the bios thing though. Perhaps it's getting assigned to the wrong com port.

Adam

**oldgeezer** · 12-01-2003, 03:49 PM

Adam rides to the rescue again! Very many thanks for those helpful c omments. There are a couple of problems in my case: the K7S5A doesn't have full disable function for USB1 header and would require an AMIbpc fix or w.h.y. The second problem is the caddy system I'm now operating on this machine, so am anxious to avoid BIOS changes every time I swap h/ds and OSs! Notwithstanding, I'll experiment next time the opportunity arises.
Nice to have your advice, most appreciated.
OG.

**oldgeezer** · 12-03-2003, 08:46 AM

You may have stumbled on something, aay. The K7S5A (Cheepoman) BIOS has an item 'USB function for DOS' in Peripherals. I usually have this switched off, but switching it on reinstates my printer in the Printer Manager! It still doesn't print, though (yet!), either through the backplane connectors or the hub. I also switched the DOS flat mode back on in Advanced, although this shouldn't influence events. I guess Linux is a Disc Operating System - that's the attraction. All this represents quite a problem for a caddied system! It is unacceptable to change the BIOS everytime I switch h/d + OS. Fortunately, I will be able to use my dual purpose printer on the parallel port. So much for the universal move to USB devices! There isn't a lot of point in moving printers off the parallel port. It is just as fast as USB1.1; USB2.0 won't be much faster because the delays are elsewhere, especially for ink jets. A switch box is no more of a problem than a hot-plug device. Printer and m/b manufacturers would do well to ignore all that bad advice to dump the parallel port - propaganda masquerading as technical progress, again?!
OG.

**aay** · 12-03-2003, 06:45 PM

Originally Posted by oldgeezer

You may have stumbled on something, aay. The K7S5A (Cheepoman) BIOS has an item 'USB function for DOS' in Peripherals. I usually have this switched off, but switching it on reinstates my printer in the Printer Manager! It still doesn't print, though (yet!),

I usually set up my printer via the kcontrol center as it sounds like you are trying to do. I've seen some other posts suggest trying to set up directly via the web interface for cups.

Open a browser and go to: localhost:631

See if that helps.

Adam

**rhughes** · 12-04-2003, 08:16 AM

Heiko, the messages you're getting from dmesg look a lot like the ones I was getting with my USB printer. In particular, the "device not accepting address" errors look like the ones I had.

Have you tried booting with "knoppix noapic"? The FAQ list on linux-usb.org suggests this as one of several possible solutions if you are getting this error message. I don't understand what it does, but it solved the problem I was having with my printer.

**oldgeezer** · 12-04-2003, 10:42 AM

APIC can be switched off in BIOS, and should be, unless you tangle with WXP! Important not to confuse with ACPI, which I think isn't supported, either, in 2.4?
OG.