USB ports randomly dropped after prolonged uptime

English Hardware
1

As I always say, Linux is quite lacking when it comes to hardware support and stability, as much as I love it. I’ve been reminded of this by a bizarre new issue, which I think appeared and / or intensified a few months ago:

After about 2 days of uptime, USB ports seem to be randomly dropped and disabled. They work again after restarting the machine, but until then the affected ports are dead. This is apparently signaled by another strange behavior: My webcam turns itself on out of nowhere (the led on it turns bright) then shuts itself back off. When the USB breakage takes place, any port or device can be affected. In worst case scenarios, it drops my wireless headphones or wireless keyboard and mouse (both USB), in which case I’m forced to restart.

Anyone know what can be causing an error like this, and why USB ports would be suddenly dropped by the operating system?

2

Can you tell us more about your USB controller hardware and kernel version? Are they USB3 ports?

lsusb -v

If you have ‘usbutils’ installed, you can also run

usb-devices

When the ports go down, do you see anything interesting reported in /var/log/messages perhaps?

3

On 2013-10-29 02:26, MirceaKitsune wrote:
>
> As I always say, Linux is quite lacking when it comes to hardware
> support and stability,

It is rock solid here, for many years.

> Anyone know what can be causing an error like this, and why USB ports
> would be suddenly dropped by the operating system?

What about your PSU?

What does the log say?

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 12.3 x86_64 “Dartmouth” at Telcontar)

4

My motherboard has USB3 ports, but I’m not aware of having any devices that run on them (especially USB3 ones).

I don’t remember what my PSU is exactly, but I think it was 500w and otherwise it’s a solid and modern one. I doubt that’s related however, since this looks like it breaks in the OS due to some driver / kernel issue.

Next time it happens, I’ll look in /var/log/messages. For now this is lsusb:

mircea@linux-qz0r:~> lsusb
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 05e3:0606 Genesys Logic, Inc. USB 2.0 Hub / D-Link DUB-H4 USB 2.0 Hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 045e:076d Microsoft Corp. LifeCam HD-5000
Bus 005 Device 002: ID 1131:1004 Integrated System Solution Corp. Bluetooth Device
Bus 006 Device 002: ID 046d:c52b Logitech, Inc. Unifying Receiver
Bus 006 Device 003: ID 046d:0a29 Logitech, Inc. 
Bus 008 Device 002: ID 056a:00d1 Wacom Co., Ltd Bamboo Pen & Touch (CTH-460-DE)
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 008 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 009 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 03f0:5711 Hewlett-Packard PhotoSmart C4100 series
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 05e3:0606 Genesys Logic, Inc. USB 2.0 Hub / D-Link DUB-H4 USB 2.0 Hub
Bus 010 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
mircea@linux-qz0r:~>
5

Happened again today. Here is the /var/log/messages containing all lines from today, read a minute after the USB ports were messed with.