Removing usb drive safely from the desktop icon freezes the computer

[Michael Andrews]

I am running Ubuntu 10.04LTS and I use a Western Digital USB external hard drive to back up my data.

No problems with this in the past but my system now freezes about two seconds after I click 'Remove device safely' from the desktop icon (the one that appears when I plug the USB lead in).

However the problem does not occur when I go to Places - Computer and access the icon there. So this acts as a temporary fix.

[Eliah Kagan (degeneracypressure)]

Please open a Terminal window (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run:

apport-collect 823324

That will automatically attach important information to this bug report, to make it much more useful to developers.

Please also post here about (or edit the bug description here to include) the technical information you recently provided at https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+question/167165. (Just provide the short excerpts from the log files--there is no need to link to http://paste.ubuntu.com here. The full logs should be included in the information attached automatically by apport-collect.)

After the above information has been provided, this bug can be changed back from Incomplete to New.

[Michael Andrews (botanic88)]

The apport-collect 823324 did not work!

However here is an extract from syslog which shows:

(1) plugging in a memory stick and then removing it safely.
(2) plugging in my WD usb hard drive worked but
(3) The WD usb hard drive did not unmount when I tried to remove it safely (using the icon on the desktop).

Aug 9 08:55:58 George rsyslogd: [origin software="rsyslogd" swVersion="4.2.0" x-pid="829" x-info="http://www.rsyslog.com"] rsyslogd was HUPed, type 'lightweight'.
Aug 9 08:55:58 George rsyslogd: [origin software="rsyslogd" swVersion="4.2.0" x-pid="829" x-info="http://www.rsyslog.com"] rsyslogd was HUPed, type 'lightweight'.
Aug 9 08:56:06 George anacron[1030]: Job `cron.daily' terminated
Aug 9 08:56:06 George anacron[1030]: Normal exit (1 job run)

Aug 9 09:00:32 George kernel: [ 751.540616] usb 2-1.4: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 3
Aug 9 09:00:32 George kernel: [ 751.636500] usb 2-1.4: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
Aug 9 09:00:32 George kernel: [ 751.672935] Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...
Aug 9 09:00:32 George kernel: [ 751.673376] scsi4 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
Aug 9 09:00:32 George kernel: [ 751.673704] usb-storage: device found at 3
Aug 9 09:00:32 George kernel: [ 751.673707] usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
Aug 9 09:00:32 George kernel: [ 751.673732] usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage
Aug 9 09:00:32 George kernel: [ 751.673840] USB Mass Storage support registered.
Aug 9 09:00:37 George kernel: [ 756.672994] usb-storage: device scan complete
Aug 9 09:00:37 George kernel: [ 756.673972] scsi 4:0:0:0: Direct-Access LEXAR JD TRAVELER 1000 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS
Aug 9 09:00:37 George kernel: [ 756.675041] sd 4:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
Aug 9 09:00:37 George kernel: [ 756.678872] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] 248928 512-byte logical blocks: (127 MB/121 MiB)
Aug 9 09:00:37 George kernel: [ 756.679693] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
Aug 9 09:00:37 George kernel: [ 756.679698] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 43 00 00 00
Aug 9 09:00:37 George kernel: [ 756.679702] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
Aug 9 09:00:37 George kernel: [ 756.682956] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
Aug 9 09:00:37 George kernel: [ 756.682962] sdb: sdb1
Aug 9 09:00:37 George kernel: [ 756.735331] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
Aug 9 09:00:37 George kernel: [ 756.735340] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
Aug 9 09:01:09 George kernel: [ 789.233039] usb 2-1.4: USB disconnect, address 3

Aug 9 09:01:46 George kernel: [ 825.511378] usb 1-1.2: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 4
Aug 9 09:01:46 George kernel: [ 825.605222] usb 1-1.2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
Aug 9 09:01:46 George kernel: [ 825.605556] scsi5 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
Aug 9 09:01:46 George kernel: [ 825.605730] usb-storage: device found at 4
Aug 9 09:01:46 George kernel: [ 825.605734] usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
Aug 9 09:01:51 George kernel: [ 830.603679] usb-storage: device scan ...

[Eliah Kagan (degeneracypressure)]

@Michael Andrews
Since I requested that you provide additional information, this bug was identified as a duplicate of bug 811745. Bug 811745 has all the necessary information, and a fix for it has actually been developed (and is available, just hasn't yet been rolled out as a standard update). See bug 811745 for details. Therefore, it is no longer necessary for you to attempt to apport-collect this bug.

If you have trouble using the fix in bug 811745, please feel free to ask for help with that in https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+question/167165.

[Eliah Kagan (degeneracypressure)]

Correction: The update has now been released. Just update your system, and you should receive it, and your problem should be fixed. See https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+question/167165 (post #13) for details.