O2 Micro integrated card reader doesn't work at all on Acer Aspire 8943G

[Lukáš Chmela]

The internal reader in my Acer Aspire 8943G laptop from O2 Micro manufacturer doesn't work at all with Ubuntu 11.04 and 11.10. It doesn't mount any memory card nor recognize that a card has been inserted (system log doesn't show any new message when I insert or remove a card).

I have tried using A-DATA 16GB SDHC Class 6 and a very old 16MB long MemoryStick or whatever it was.

A workaround is adding "options sdhci debug_quirks=0x40" into a configuration file in /etc/modprobe.d and then running `sudo update-initramfs -u -k all`.

This has made SD cards working but xD cards are still not recognized at all.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: linux-image-2.6.38-8-generic 2.6.38-8.42
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-8.42-generic 2.6.38.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-8-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: fglrx
AlsaVersion:
 Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.24.
 Compiled on May 23 2011 for kernel 2.6.38-8-generic (SMP).
Architecture: amd64
ArecordDevices:
 **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC670 Analog [ALC670 Analog]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: lukaschmela 2525 F.... pulseaudio
                      lukaschmela 4749 F.... Lexicon.exe
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] Adresář nebo soubor neexistuje
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xf8600000 irq 43'
   Mixer name : 'Realtek ALC670'
   Components : 'HDA:10ec0670,1025038b,00100002'
   Controls : 27
   Simple ctrls : 16
Card1.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:1 'Generic'/'HD-Audio Generic at 0xf8120000 irq 44'
   Mixer name : 'ATI R6xx HDMI'
   Components : 'HDA:1002aa01,00aa0100,00100200'
   Controls : 4
   Simple ctrls : 1
Card1.Amixer.values:
 Simple mixer control 'IEC958',0
   Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined penum
   Playback channels: Mono
   Mono: Playback [on]
Date: Mon Aug 1 23:25:42 2011
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Release amd64 (20110427.1)
MachineType: Acer Aspire 8943G
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=cs_CZ:en
 LANG=cs_CZ.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-8-generic root=UUID=099129b9-b3c5-446d-ad9b-b68a81006d99 ro splash quiet quiet splash vt.handoff=7
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-2.6.38-8-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-2.6.38-8-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.52
SourcePackage: linux
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 08/11/2010
dmi.bios.vendor: Phoenix
dmi.bios.version: V1.06
dmi.board.name: SM83-CP
dmi.board.vendor: Acer
dmi.board.version: Not Applicable
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: Acer
dmi.chassis.version: N/A
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnPhoenix:bvrV1.06:bd08/11/2010:svnAcer:pnAspire8943G:pvrNotApplicable:rvnAcer:rnSM83-CP:rvrNotApplicable:cvnAcer:ct10:cvrN/A:
dmi.product.name: Aspire 8943G
dmi.product.version: Not Applicable
dmi.sys.vendor: Acer

[Lukáš Chmela (lukaschmela)]

There is a workaround from https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/605043/comments/7

Simply add a "options sdhci debug_quirks=0x40" line into a new file (e.g. card-reader.conf) in /etc/modprobe.d

[Lukáš Chmela (lukaschmela)]

`sudo update-initramfs -u -k all` has to be run after that in order to make the changes permanent - otherwise you would need to do modprobe -r sdhci_pci sdhci && modprobe sdhci sdhci_pci after every boot.

[Lukáš Chmela (lukaschmela)]

Update: xD cards are still not recognized at all with this workaround - logs don't show any new entry.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Lukáš Chmela, thank you for reporting this and helping make Ubuntu better. This bug was reported a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue? If so, could you please attach all information noted in https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingHardwareDetection ? As well, can you try with the latest development release of Ubuntu? ISO CD images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/ .

If it remains an issue, could you run the following command from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal). It will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report.

apport-collect -p linux <replace-with-bug-number>

Also, if you could test the latest upstream kernel available that would be great. It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please remove the 'needs-upstream-testing' tag. This can be done by clicking on the yellow pencil icon next to the tag located at the bottom of the bug description and deleting the 'needs-upstream-testing' text. Please let us know your results.

Thanks in advance.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for linux (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]