Weird problem with USB

[Inodoro Pereyra]

Ok, a couple of days ago, after a long struggle, I finally managed to install Ubuntu 10.04 LTS on both my laptop and desktop computers, from the live CD I had previously downloaded.

Now, I find I'm having the same issue on both machines, when I use the USB ports: whatever I plug in works perfectly, but the moment I unplug it (whether I just unplug it or I use the "safely remove drive" option), it completely crashes the OS, to the point that nothing works, not even the mouse, and I have to power down the machine, and power it back up.

Can anybody tell me WTH is going on, and how to fix it?

Thanks in advance.

[Inodoro Pereyra]

Nobody?

[anewguy]

Just a point about forum rules (yes, you can get officially warned on this - I was a couple of years ago):

don't bump a thread until at least 24 hours have elapsed with no reply. Everyone is volunteer, and not everyone who may be able to help is just available to help you. You may not have known about this rule, so I just wanted to advise you

Also, I'll be checking to see if I can find anything resembling your problem on the net. Right now I don't know why it would do that especially on 2 different systems.

Is it the same USB device, or ANY USB device? What devices are they?

Did you install Ubuntu as stand-alone, dual-boot or as a wubi installation?

Did you run the update-manager after the install? It may be something that is fixed in a later kernel.

Post that back and we'll go from there. Also, I think you'll find the people who can help the most won't be on here for an hour or 2.

Dave

EDIT: if it's a Aiptek graphics tablet you may want to see: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AiptekTablet

You might also see: http://derekneely.com/tag/system/

[Inodoro Pereyra]

Thank you Anewguy for the warning. I honestly didn't know.

Here's what I can tell you about it:

IN both computers, Ubuntu was installed as stand alone, from the 10.04 live CD. Both computers had previously run 10.04, upgraded from a live CD 9.10 install, and ran fine, without any problems.

In both, all of the USB ports produce the same problem. I can leave a thumb drive or external hard drive connected for hours, and the machine will run fine, but the moment I disconnect them, everything freezes up.

The laptop is an Acer Aspire 5002 WLCi, AMD64, with 1.25 GB of RAM. Both onboard USB ports have the same problem.

The desktop is a Pentium 4 clone (single core) with 2 GB DDR2, and an Asus P5GDC Deluxe MoBo. All 4 onboard ports, and 4 extra USB 2.0 ports on a Compaq card are having the same problem.

I ran the update manager on the desktop last night. Didn't run it on the laptop yet.

I'm pretty sure the problem is the live CD, as it's the only thing both computers have in common. What I want to know is if I can solve it, without having to go reinstall both computers from the 9.10 CD, and then upgrade to 10.04...

EDIT: I just did the " sudo apt-get remove modemmanager" thing on my laptop. Didn't work.

[amjjawad]

I'm pretty sure the problem is the live CD

LiveCD has NOTHING to do with this. You run the LiveCD to try Ubuntu without installation and then install Ubuntu OR when you have some issues and you want to do certain task(s). Otherwise, you are NOT running Ubuntu from a LiveCD, are you?

[Inodoro Pereyra]

LiveCD has NOTHING to do with this. You run the LiveCD to try Ubuntu without installation and then install Ubuntu OR when you have some issues and you want to do certain task(s). Otherwise, you are NOT running Ubuntu from a LiveCD, are you?

Well, I couldn't tell you. I'm far from an expert when it comes to Ubuntu. All I know is that 2 weeks ago I was running 10.04.3 on both my computers without a hitch. Then, I made the mistake of trying to upgrade to 11.04, and now, having switched back to 10.04, this time installed from the downloaded live Cd, I'm having plenty of problems I never had before.

[amjjawad]

Well, I couldn't tell you. I'm far from an expert when it comes to Ubuntu. All I know is that 2 weeks ago I was running 10.04.3 on both my computers without a hitch. Then, I made the mistake of trying to upgrade to 11.04, and now, having switched back to 10.04, this time installed from the downloaded live Cd, I'm having plenty of problems I never had before.

So you suspect there is something wrong in your LiveCD?

What other issues do you have?

You can post these issues here and we'll try our best or you can wipe your HDD and start from scratch but make sure to backup your important files if any.

I personally love to try lots of steps before wiping the HDD and install again but that's me

[westie457]

Well, I couldn't tell you. I'm far from an expert when it comes to Ubuntu. All I know is that 2 weeks ago I was running 10.04.3 on both my computers without a hitch. Then, I made the mistake of trying to upgrade to 11.04, and now, having switched back to 10.04, this time installed from the downloaded live Cd, I'm having plenty of problems I never had before.

When you did the upgrade from 10.04 to 11.04 was it via the Update manager - that is from 10.04 to 10.10 to 11.04 - or did you install 11.04 straight over the top of 10.04 without formatting the partition. Or did you go for the clean install. Not that how you upgraded should make any difference.

In your Grub menu do have any earlier kernels or distros to boot into. If you do try one of the earlier ones to see if the problem still happens.

Now to what could be the cause of the problem. When you downgraded from 11.04 to 10.04 was it a clean install - that is formatting the partition - or did you just put 10.04 straight into the partition leaving your /home folder as is?

If all this is as clear as mud to you hopefully it will become clear with the next statement.

A down grade to an older version should always be done as a clean install to remove any chance of conflicting drivers and differences between versions of installed packages.

[anewguy]

When you did the upgrade from 10.04 to 11.04 was it via the Update manager - that is from 10.04 to 10.10 to 11.04 - or did you install 11.04 straight over the top of 10.04 without formatting the partition. Or did you go for the clean install. Not that how you upgraded should make any difference.

In your Grub menu do have any earlier kernels or distros to boot into. If you do try one of the earlier ones to see if the problem still happens.

Now to what could be the cause of the problem. When you downgraded from 11.04 to 10.04 was it a clean install - that is formatting the partition - or did you just put 10.04 straight into the partition leaving your /home folder as is?

If all this is as clear as mud to you hopefully it will become clear with the next statement.

A down grade to an older version should always be done as a clean install to remove any chance of conflicting drivers and differences between versions of installed packages.

Just returned to get back online. After reading the new posts, down to yours, this is exactly what I was thinking as well. Any downgrade is best done as a clean install, however downgrading from 11.04 to 10.04 is definitely a time to do a clean install. Too many libs, executables, etc., that can be left behind from 11.04.

So, +1 on your post!

Dave

[Inodoro Pereyra]

So you suspect there is something wrong in your LiveCD?

What other issues do you have?

You can post these issues here and we'll try our best or you can wipe your HDD and start from scratch but make sure to backup your important files if any.

I personally love to try lots of steps before wiping the HDD and install again but that's me

Well, I'm not a programmer, and, like I said, all I know about Ubuntu is that I love it.
My training is in electronics, and, in a case like this one, the normal MO is to look for anything in common on the affected systems. All these 2 computers have in common (besides the problem itself) is that both are runnung clean installs from the live CD, and that both were running perfectly before, on the upgraded version (through the update manager) from 9.10.

Other than that, a couple of days ago, right after installing it on my laptop, I spent little more than 20 hours straight to be able to get the BCM43 wireless driver working on it, but, as I learned, reading dozens of threads and articles while I was trying to get it running, that's to be expected with the Broadcom wireless drivers...

When you did the upgrade from 10.04 to 11.04 was it via the Update manager - that is from 10.04 to 10.10 to 11.04 - or did you install 11.04 straight over the top of 10.04 without formatting the partition. Or did you go for the clean install. Not that how you upgraded should make any difference.

In your Grub menu do have any earlier kernels or distros to boot into. If you do try one of the earlier ones to see if the problem still happens.

Now to what could be the cause of the problem. When you downgraded from 11.04 to 10.04 was it a clean install - that is formatting the partition - or did you just put 10.04 straight into the partition leaving your /home folder as is?

If all this is as clear as mud to you hopefully it will become clear with the next statement.

A down grade to an older version should always be done as a clean install to remove any chance of conflicting drivers and differences between versions of installed packages.

I have probably been through all those scenarios (and actually a few more) in the last 2 weeks.
Here's what happened, as best I remember:

Up till 2 weeks ago, I was running 10.04.3 LTS (Wubi) on both machines, upgraded from 9.10. In both cases I had been running Ubuntu without a problem since I had installed it, almost 2 years ago. I was using Windows XP on my laptop, and 7 on my desktop.
2 weeks ago (give or take) I found out, while installing an application (Emc2) that 11.04 had been released. Even when I was warned here not to upgrade Wubi, I decided to do it. The installer crashed in the middle of the install, and I lost everything.
Then, since I had no use for XP anymore, I decided to do a clean 10.04 install on the laptop. I did it from the 9.10 live CD, and everything worked perfectly.
Meanwhile, I had an extra hard drive I wanted to install on the desktop, and, due to the debacle with Wubi on the laptop, I decided to install it, and do a dual boot, with Windows 7 on one HDD, and Ubuntu on the other one. I did (again from the 9.10 live CD) and, despite a few little complications (had to install W7 twice), everything worked perfectly in the end.
A few days later, I decided to give 11.04 a try on the laptop, given that it didn't have wubi anymore. I upgraded, and pretty much hated 11.04 from the get go: way too many bugs. Frustrated (and pretty much in love with Compiz on my desktop), I decided that at least I was gonna have 10.10 on the desktop.
I upgraded to 10.10, and, for some reason, my video went straight to hell: menues didn't close, animations worked horribly, etc.
That's when I decided to get the 10.04 CD (to save the time it takes to install 9.10, and then upgrade), and do a clean install on both computers. Now, both computers have clean installs of 10.04, and both have the same USB problem.

Sorry guys for the long post. I hope it helps somehow...