USB3 External HDD not recognised

English Hardware
1

ASRock P55 and rear USB 3.0 port on the board is by Fresco (FL1000G). Driver was recently upgraded in Windows and now everything works as it should with a Seagate Backup Plus portable external hdd (no PSU).

However in openSUSE (12.3 KDE) it appears to be dead in the water. I’m pretty sure there is power going through the device when it’s connected but the LED doesn’t come on and the drive doesn’t mount or isn’t recognised at all.

And interestingly when I rebooted the PC with the device plugged in the LED came on during boot, but got to the desktop and it’s still not recognised or mountable. Unplug it again at the desktop, and plug it back in, results in the same, no LED and dead.

USB 2.0 is fine and works as it should.

I’ve been reading some old threads but don’t know what’s still applicable etc…

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=114355
[ubuntu] Fresco Logic USB 3.0 not working](http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1907551)
http://forums.opensuse.org/english/get-technical-help-here/hardware/464501-usb3-hd-not-detected.html

and none of those seem to offer a definitive solution. Any ideas?

Thanks.

2

I don’t know the solution here (or even if there is a solution), but always useful to provide more information about the USB device in question.

In particular, the chipset info and possible active driver

lsusb -nnk

If you have ‘usbutils’ package installed, you can also execute

useb-devices

and look for the relevant usb device in that output.

In additon, ‘dmesg’ output might at least provide some clues as to how the device is being handled.

dmesg|tail
3

Let me say that openSUSE works just fine with USB 3.0 and any problem you have must be a motherboard chipset or BIOS or UEFI PC setup setting issue. I can say that if the BIOS setup offers a legacy USB setting, I do turn it on, but this more relates to mice and keyboards as I understand it. As an example of what you can do with USB 3.0, I just got a new Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook that includes a USB 3.0 port (All has worked with openSUSE on this laptop so far). I managed to install all of openSUSE 12.3 with Linux kernel 3.7, grub 2.0 and was able to fully boot from this External USB 3.0, connected to a USB 3.0 port, with this hard drive running a copy of openSUSE 12.3.

Before openSUSE 12.3 was released, I put in a request, that was accepted and used, to place full USB 3.0 support into the intred kernel image. One thing you could try is to see if booting from a new copy of openSUSE 13.1, now in Beta 1, might work. Or, you can upgrade your kernel in openSUSE 12.3 to see if it makes any difference. Only the very latest kernel would include hot off the presses chipset support should that be the actual problem.

For kernel upgrades, look at my blog on the subject here:

openSUSE and Installing New Linux Kernel Versions - Blogs - openSUSE Forums

Thank You,

4

Before openSUSE 12.3 was released, I put in a request, that was accepted and used, to place full USB 3.0 support into the intred kernel image. One thing you could try is to see if booting from a new copy of openSUSE 13.1, now in Beta 1, might work. Or, you can upgrade your kernel in openSUSE 12.3 to see if it makes any difference. Only the very latest kernel would include hot off the presses chipset support should that be the actual problem.

Yes, that is worth a shot IMO.

5

Thanks for the replies guys.

The board was right on the cusp when USB 3.0 first came out and became a marketing thing. The board is an ASRock P55 Pro/USB3. I didn’t have any USB 3.0 devices so I’ve never been bothered with it until I just bought this Seagate portable and the first driver they provided for Windows (on the disk) didn’t work for the port they provided, but the latest Fresco driver works properly.

BIOS on this board there’s not a lot there tbh, Everything that should be is enabled is (I think, I checked the other day).

But I’ll give the 13.1 beta live disk a whirl later on when I get chance but in the mean time just to give you an idea, here’s some outputs…

Bare in mind there’s already a usb 2.0 Hitachi external HDD (+ psu) plugged in.

The Seagate portable HDD, with cable plugged into usb 3.0 port…

lsusb

Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0020 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0020 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
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:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 1532:000d Razer USA, Ltd 
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 046a:0023 Cherry GmbH CyMotion Master Linux Keyboard G230
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 1a40:0101 Terminus Technology Inc. 4-Port HUB
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 0bda:0151 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. Mass Storage Device (Multicard Reader)
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 4971:ce17 SimpleTech 1TB SimpleDrive II USB External Hard Drive

Here’s the same plugged into standard usb 2.0…

Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0020 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0020 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
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:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 1532:000d Razer USA, Ltd 
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 046a:0023 Cherry GmbH CyMotion Master Linux Keyboard G230
**Bus 001 Device 010: ID 0bc2:a003 Seagate RSS LLC **
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 1a40:0101 Terminus Technology Inc. 4-Port HUB
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 0bda:0151 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. Mass Storage Device (Multicard Reader)
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 4971:ce17 SimpleTech 1TB SimpleDrive II USB External Hard Drive

lsmod | grep xhci

usb 3.0…

xhci_hcd              103975  0

usb 2.0…

xhci_hcd              103975  0

dmesg | grep ehci

usb 3.0…

[30888.412390] usb 1-1.4: new high-speed USB device number 9 using ehci_hcd
[54513.895859] usb 1-1.6: reset high-speed USB device number 6 using ehci_hcd
[61366.751423] usb 1-1.6: reset high-speed USB device number 6 using ehci_hcd
[89746.043311] usb 1-1.4: new high-speed USB device number 10 using ehci_hcd

usb 2.0…

[30888.412390] usb 1-1.4: new high-speed USB device number 9 using ehci_hcd
[54513.895859] usb 1-1.6: reset high-speed USB device number 6 using ehci_hcd
[61366.751423] usb 1-1.6: reset high-speed USB device number 6 using ehci_hcd
[89746.043311] usb 1-1.4: new high-speed USB device number 10 using ehci_hcd

dmesg|tail

usb 3.0…

[90686.578063] usb 3-1: Device not responding to set address.
[90686.778635] usb 3-1: Device not responding to set address.
[90686.979122] usb 3-1: device not accepting address 110, error -71
[90687.030062] hub 3-0:1.0: unable to enumerate USB device on port 1
[90688.637587] hub 4-0:1.0: Could not disable port 1 after 1500 ms
[90688.894051] usb 3-1: new high-speed USB device number 112 using xhci_hcd
[90688.894115] usb 3-1: Device not responding to set address.
[90689.094714] usb 3-1: Device not responding to set address.
[90689.295168] usb 3-1: device not accepting address 112, error -71
[90689.346086] hub 3-0:1.0: unable to enumerate USB device on port 1

usb 2.0…

[91979.376145] scsi 14:0:0:0: Direct-Access     Seagate  Backup+ BK       0836 PQ: 0 ANSI: 6
[91979.376599] sd 14:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg8 type 0
[91979.379887] sd 14:0:0:0: [sdg] Spinning up disk...
[91983.486494] .ready
[91983.487608] sd 14:0:0:0: [sdg] 1953525167 512-byte logical blocks: (1.00 TB/931 GiB)
[91983.488376] sd 14:0:0:0: [sdg] Write Protect is off
[91983.488387] sd 14:0:0:0: [sdg] Mode Sense: 2b 00 10 08
[91983.489636] sd 14:0:0:0: [sdg] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, supports DPO and FUA
[91983.518105]  sdg: sdg1
[91983.520702] sd 14:0:0:0: [sdg] Attached SCSI disk
6

I suggest downloading a 13.1 Live image, boot from it, connect the disk on the USB 3.0 port and repeat the things you already did. That would at least tell you whether it will work with a newer kernel without having to install one.

7

The dmesg output is consistent with many other USB 3.0 bug reports and threads I’ve found while searching. You could try testing with a later kernel via a Live distro or similar. You might also consider filing a bug report for this.

8

hummm, unfortunately the latest factory live disk doesn’t want to play ball. I keep getting: ** Can’t disable ASPM : OS doesn’t have ASPM **then a string of sequences leading to Failed to copy utimer code…Reboot in 120 secs

I can wait for the 13.1 final to come if need be and go from there.

9

I see same 13.1-beta1 ‘utimer error’ with my Asus P6T Deluxe motherboard using the 13.1 liveDVD (KDE). I did manage to install 13.1 beta1 in a test partition, but that does not help wrt the liveCD.

I suppose you could try install an openSUSE-12.3 factory 3.11-kernel (that install should also keep your old kernel, but if you use proprietary graphic and other proprietary drivers a factory kernel could cause a problem).

There may be a boot code (or a BIOS setting) that works around the ‘utimer code’ error, but I’ve been struggling with a cold/flu and have not had the energy to search for such myself. I do note that even with ‘safe settings’ one obtains the ‘utimer code’ error (with my Asus motherboard).

10

Let me say that plugging in a USB-2 hub or USB-2 device with a USB-3 device can be an issue. The native USB 3 port on the PC should have only USB-3 devices connected else its likely to have an issue as being USB 3.

Thank You,

11

IMHO, this makes it a bug worth reporting as host controllers are supposed to be fully-backwards compatible

FL1000 FRESCO LOGIC INC.===Leap into SuperSpeed===

12

Except the bug can be the hardware in the PC. We have already seen some who only have USB-3 ports and can’t get a keyboard or mouse to work up from boot. Yet, any combination of hardware on others seems to work. On the issue of mixing USB 2 and 3, I feel it should “work”, but not sure if a USB-3 device remains working at USB-3 speeds in a mixed setup. As for an external USB-3 hard drives, you are best to take them all the way to a Native PC USB-3 port and don’t connect any hubs or anything else there in between. In fact, I am not sure I have seen a USB-3 rated port hub yet at any local store around me. Perhaps you can find a USB-3 hub online somewhere.

Thank You,

13

Obviously USB 3.0 device requires a USB 3.0 host controller and USB 3.0 cable for USB 3.0 connectivity and associated speeds, but both are backward compatible AFAIU. Indeed the OP reports that USB 2.0 connectivity is working with his external HDD. I have read of problematic USB host controller chipsets, that are not so well supported by the xhci_hcd driver, so this needs to be investigated further.

14

The Hitachi usb 2 external hard drive + psu is plugged into a rear usb 2 port and has been for two years.

I’ve got a blue usb 3 cable plugged into the board’s (single) rear usb 3 port with nothing attached to it at the moment. When I did those command outputs I plugged the usb 3 device (seagate backup plus portable - no psu) into the cable.

If I want to use the new seagate portable device I have to use a usb 2 port and plug it in, it’s not plugged in all the time like the Hitachi.

Hope this clarifies.

I’ll just wait for the next RC (KDE) live disk to come out and try it then. Then come back to this thread befre filling any bug report out.

15

Edit: And all other peripherals are plugged into usb 2 ports. Keyboard, mouse, printer (when used), card reader plugged into internal usb 2 header, etc.

16

A silly question … which may (or may not) be worth asking. Could you please confirm there are no entries in your /etc/fstab for this USB3 external HDD. If there are such entries, it could lead to strange symptoms (although I would not have anticipated the symptoms you reported - so its unlikely to be fstab related - but I am now rusty on the symptoms to expect, and hence my question).

17

@oldcpu: His dmesg output confirms issues with USB 3.0 connectivity only. AFAIU, the USB 3.0 capable HDD does work when connected as USB 2.0 device (ie with USB 2.0 host controller and USB 2.0 cable.)

18

yep. and the fstab file just mentions my main Samsung hard drive.

RC will be out soon and we’ll go from there. thanks for the help guys.

19

I’m curious to know what flavor of linux you are using. We are talking 12.3 Opensuse correct? I’m using openSUSE 12.3 (x86_64)
VERSION = 12.3
CODENAME = Dartmouth

Using the command above provides the following results:
lsusb: invalid option – ‘n’
lsusb: invalid option – ‘n’
lsusb: invalid option – ‘k’
Usage: lsusb [options]…

[QUOTEIf you have ‘usbutils’ package installed, you can also execute

useb-devices
and look for the relevant usb device in that output.

I have usbutils installed and this is also get:
If ‘useb-devices’ is not a typo you can use command-not-found to lookup the package that contains it, like this:
cnf useb-devices

In additon, 'dmesg' output might at least provide some clues as to how the device is being handled.

dmesg|tail

[/QUOTE]

Of course Dmesg works, but here is my problem. 

This has started since some of the updates. I guess I need to start ignoring these "important" security patches until they have had a chance to be in the wild a little. I am having trouble with USB ports, and my CDROM drive. It is IDE, but no longer found. It was totally gone yesterday, but today, it acted like it was seen, per the logs, but now it seem to have diappeared again. It is late and I'm about to call it quits, but I'm thinking if I have an older live disk, maybe I can boot up and see if the problems go away. 

This all started when all of a sudden I could no longer view, or transcode DVD movies, and it has gone downhill from there. I know you are talking USB3 HD's here and if I need to move this to a new thread I can, but I think this is all related. I lost my usb mouse yesterday on a USB2 port... things are acting all borked. Is the thinking this is a kernel issue?
20

Sorry must have been having a senior moment with that :slight_smile:

lsusb -v

If you have ‘usbutils’ package installed, you can also execute

usb-devices