NULL pointer dereference when connecting USB mass storage device

[Torbjörn Söderstedt]

Usually when I connect my USB freecom hard disk, I get this error. I need to reboot if I want to try again, because sometimes it works. I also got this error in edgy.

[Torbjörn Söderstedt (torso690-deactivatedaccount)]

torbjrn@sexymate:~$ id
uid=1000(torbjrn) gid=1000(torbjrn) groups=4(adm),20(dialout),24(cdrom),25(floppy),29(audio),30(dip),44(video),46(plugdev),109(lpadmin),111(scanner),114(admin),1000(torbjrn)
torbjrn@sexymate:~$ id hal
id: hal: No such user
torbjrn@sexymate:~$ id haldaemon
uid=106(haldaemon) gid=110(haldaemon) groups=110(haldaemon),24(cdrom),25(floppy),46(plugdev),122(powerdev)
torbjrn@sexymate:~$ uname -a
Linux sexymate 2.6.20-15-generic #2 SMP Sun Apr 15 07:36:31 UTC 2007 i686 GNU/Linux

[Gabriel Schulhof (nix-go-nix)]

I can confirm this on 2.6.20-16-386

[Gabriel Schulhof (nix-go-nix)]

P.S.: I get this when /dis/connecting a device

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. This bug does not meet the criteria for a stable release update and is being marked as Won't Fix for this particular version of the kernel. You can learn more about the stable release update process at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/StableReleaseUpdates .
However, the issue that you reported is one that should be possible to test with the live environment of the Desktop CD of the development release - Gutsy Gibbon. It would help us greatly if you could test with it so we can work on getting it fixed in the actively developed kernel. You can find out more about the development release at http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/ .
If you do decide to test with the development release of Ubuntu please comment on this bug report and include at least the minimal information requested at http://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeamBugPolicies . Thanks again and we appreciate your help.

[Torbjörn Söderstedt (torso690-deactivatedaccount)]

I tried connecting the same harddisk to a different computer running Gutsy Gibbon Tribe 5. The first attempt was successful, so I disconnected and reconnected and the second attempt failed. I have annotated the dmesg.log with the different cases.

[Amit Kucheria (amitk)]

Reportedly fixed with this patch: http://marc.info/?l=linux-scsi&m=118289275414202

Please test next kernel update and verify.

[Ben Collins (ben-collins)]

linux-source-2.6.22 (2.6.22-12.36) gutsy; urgency=low

  [Ben Collins]

  * ABI bump due to LED support being enabled.

  [Kyle McMartin]

  * fix memory leak in psparse.c
    - Bug introduced in previous commit to acpi

  [Upstream Kernel Changes]

  * Ubuntu: Allocate acpi_devices structure rather than leaving it on the
    stack.
  * ipw2100: Fix `iwpriv set_power` error
  * Fix ipw2200 set wrong power parameter causing firmware error
  * [SCSI] Fix async scanning double-add problems
    - LP: #110997

 -- Ben Collins <email address hidden> Thu, 20 Sep 2007 11:34:52 -0400

[Torbjörn Söderstedt (torso690-deactivatedaccount)]

Updated to 2.6.22-14 and now it works. The drive still spins up 3 times when I connect it though.