MSI X370 USB not working

[algebralives]

*****BASICS*****
Installed Lubuntu on new MSI laptop. Everything works great except USB flash drives or external DVD drives. The USB hardware is fine. I know it's OS related. Effected: Ubuntu, Lubuntu, Mint (11.10, 12.04 Beta)


*****SPECS*****
MSI X370 Laptop
AMD E-450 1.65GHz
AMD Radeon HD6320 Graphics Card
4 GB SSD
500 GB HDD


*****THE STORY*****
Used unetbootin to attempt to install the following on the laptop/netbook but failed while copying files during installation: Lubuntu 11.10 (32 and 64), Ubuntu 11.10 (32 and 64), Mint 12 (32), Mint LXDE 12 (32), Lubuntu 12.04 Beta (64). This is the reason I filed this under Ubuntu because I believe it's a systemic issue.

However, after installing elementary Jupiter, I was successful. Because Jupiter is based on 11.04, I installed Lubuntu 11.04 (32). Installation was flawless. I used the upgrade feature to upgrade to Lubuntu 11.10. No problems except for my USB drives again.

Now my USB has limited functionality. Printer works great. However, I can only copy about 100-20 MB worth of stuff with a flash drive before it crashes. After it crashes, I can't use any flash drive until I reboot. Not only will it not mount, it doesn't even recognize the drive is there. External DVD (hooked into USB) spins up to speed, looks promising, and then crashes.


*****IT'S NOT THE USB PORT*****
Please don't suggest this as an option. I copied 40GB of music from an external hard drive while I was still in Lubuntu 11.04. Worked great. I know this is an Ubuntu 11.10+ issue...


Help? Thanks!!

[mhrpinca]

Similar problem here... i cant tether my phone for more than a minute before i lose my internet conection and if i conect an external drive it recognizes it, connects to it than imediatly disconects.....******* me off.

[algebralives]

Ironically, I'm posting this running the brand new 12.04 off a USB stick. It seems to work fine. Maybe there was a kernel fix. I'll post again if the upgrade solves it...

Good luck with your tethering!

[dumaron]

You can find a temporary solution in this topic: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=11882892

[algebralives]

Thanks, Dumaron. I'm going to repost the solution below. Upgrading to 12.04 did not help, but this did. Although it is claimed to be a temp fix, I'm marking this solved.

In terminal:

 sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

Add the following line, save, and reboot:

 blacklist rts5139

[iyas120]

With new kernel on ubuntu 12.04.1 and above.. this problem is solved by default. Thanks to kernel team...