Does not detect hotplugged USB storage device with USB wireless

[Felicia]

Binary package hint: gvfs

I upgraded from Karmic to Lucid on my Compaq Evo n610c. The usb flash drive that I used to be able to mount and use was no longer recognized. After trying several things (I'll list in a moment), I've concluded that the usb flash will not show up in "PLACES" when I plug it in if the usb wireless is already plugged in.

I've tried - turning off automount, it did not help
I've tried blacklisting the floppy drive (because there isn't one) - this improved by startup time, but did not affect the usb

What does work:
1) starting the laptop without the wireless, then plugging in the usb, then plugging in the wireless.
2) plugging in the wireless and the usb then starting the laptop.

While I'd like to leave the wireless usb plugged in all the time, it's rather inconvenient to remember to plug in the usb flash before I boot the computer - or shut down and reboot when I forget (restarting actually takes longer than shut down/boot by ~6 sec.).

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: gvfs 1.6.1-0ubuntu1build1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-22.35-generic 2.6.32.11+drm33.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-22-generic i686
Architecture: i386
Date: Thu Jun 3 20:23:20 2010
HotplugNewDevices: /dev/sdb /dev/sdb1
HotplugNewMounts:

InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release i386 (20100429)
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_US.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: gvfs
Symptom: storage
Title: Does not detect hotplugged storage device

[Felicia (sisternotes)]

Update: I tried the suggestion offered in Question 111055 to add the mounting applet, but when i plug in my USB flash memory stick, it does not show up as an option for mounting.

[Uwe Geuder (ubuntulp-ugeuder)]

Hi Felicia!

In response to your questions in https://bugs.launchpad.net/584052 :

I have really no clue whether your problem here is a duplicate of any of the existing reports or something different.

I would recommend to update udisks before any further investigations. If you don't want to wait,
a new version 1.0.1-1ubuntu1 is already available in lucid-proposed as mentioned in https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/udisks/+bug/539515/comments/120 . Otherwise you have to wait a while until this or yet a newer version becomes available in "normal" lucid-updates.

If upgrading alone does not just solve the issue and you need to continue investigations, it might be interesting to compare the output of "udisks --dump" when the USB drive is recognized to the case when it's not recognized.

[Felicia (sisternotes)]

Hi Uwe,

Thank you! I'm feeling experimental so I'll try the proposed version and report back.

By the way, I "discovered" that I never really needed to turn off automount in order to use my mp3 player in Rhythm Box. It turns out that Rhythm box can use it just fine, I just don't see the devise as a drive in "places"...don't really need to.

[Felicia (sisternotes)]

Updated udisks, but still not able to read my usb (it works in other computers). Here's the output to udisks -- dump...it's quite long. I'll post again after I shutdown and boot up with the usb plugged in.

Showing information for /org/freedesktop/UDisks/devices/sda
  native-path: /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1f.1/host0/target0:0:0/0:0:0:0/block/sda
  device: 8:0
  device-file: /dev/sda
    presentation: /dev/sda
    by-id: /dev/disk/by-id/ata-FUJITSU_MHS2040AT_D_NLA5T3515N2C
    by-id: /dev/disk/by-id/scsi-SATA_FUJITSU_MHS2040_NLA5T3515N2C
    by-path: /dev/disk/by-path/pci-0000:00:1f.1-scsi-0:0:0:0
  detected at: Fri 11 Jun 2010 08:29:44 PM EDT
  system internal: 1
  removable: 0
  has media: 1 (detected at Fri 11 Jun 2010 08:29:44 PM EDT)
    detects change: 0
    detection by polling: 0
    detection inhibitable: 0
    detection inhibited: 0
  is read only: 0
  is mounted: 0
  mount paths:
  mounted by uid: 0
  presentation hide: 0
  presentation nopolicy: 0
  presentation name:
  presentation icon:
  size: 40007761920
  block size: 512
  job underway: no
  usage:
  type:
  version:
  uuid:
  label:
  partition table:
    scheme: mbr
    count: 5
  drive:
    vendor: ATA
    model: FUJITSU MHS2040AT D
    revision: 3005
    serial: NLA5T3515N2C
    WWN:
    detachable: 0
    can spindown: 1
    rotational media: Yes, unknown rate
    write-cache: enabled
    ejectable: 0
    adapter: /org/freedesktop/UDisks/adapters/0000_3a00_3a1f_2e1
    ports:
      /org/freedesktop/UDisks/adapters/0000_3a00_3a1f_2e1/host0
    similar devices:
    media:
      compat:
    interface: ata
    if speed: (unknown)
    ATA SMART: Updated at Fri 11 Jun 2010 08:30:15 PM EDT
      overall assessment: Disk has a few bad sectors
===============================================================================
 Attribute Current|Worst|Threshold Status Value Type Updates
===============================================================================
 raw-read-error-rate 100|100| 46 good 140346 Pre-fail Online
 throughput-performance 100|100| 30 good 0 Pre-fail Offline
 spin-up-time 100|100| 25 good 25.6 secs Pre-fail Online
 start-stop-count 94| 94| 0 n/a 3288 Old-age Online
 reallocated-sector-count 99| 99| 24 good 8 sectors Pre-fail Online
 seek-error-rate ...

[Felicia (sisternotes)]

Here's the udisks --dump with the usb recognized:

========================================================================
Showing information for /org/freedesktop/UDisks/devices/sda
  native-path: /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1f.1/host0/target0:0:0/0:0:0:0/block/sda
  device: 8:0
  device-file: /dev/sda
    presentation: /dev/sda
    by-id: /dev/disk/by-id/ata-FUJITSU_MHS2040AT_D_NLA5T3515N2C
    by-id: /dev/disk/by-id/scsi-SATA_FUJITSU_MHS2040_NLA5T3515N2C
    by-path: /dev/disk/by-path/pci-0000:00:1f.1-scsi-0:0:0:0
  detected at: Fri 11 Jun 2010 08:41:19 PM EDT
  system internal: 1
  removable: 0
  has media: 1 (detected at Fri 11 Jun 2010 08:41:19 PM EDT)
    detects change: 0
    detection by polling: 0
    detection inhibitable: 0
    detection inhibited: 0
  is read only: 0
  is mounted: 0
  mount paths:
  mounted by uid: 0
  presentation hide: 0
  presentation nopolicy: 0
  presentation name:
  presentation icon:
  size: 40007761920
  block size: 512
  job underway: no
  usage:
  type:
  version:
  uuid:
  label:
  partition table:
    scheme: mbr
    count: 5
  drive:
    vendor: ATA
    model: FUJITSU MHS2040AT D
    revision: 3005
    serial: NLA5T3515N2C
    WWN:
    detachable: 0
    can spindown: 1
    rotational media: Yes, unknown rate
    write-cache: enabled
    ejectable: 0
    adapter: /org/freedesktop/UDisks/adapters/0000_3a00_3a1f_2e1
    ports:
      /org/freedesktop/UDisks/adapters/0000_3a00_3a1f_2e1/host0
    similar devices:
    media:
      compat:
    interface: ata
    if speed: (unknown)
    ATA SMART: Updated at Fri 11 Jun 2010 08:41:50 PM EDT
      overall assessment: Disk has a few bad sectors
===============================================================================
 Attribute Current|Worst|Threshold Status Value Type Updates
===============================================================================
 raw-read-error-rate 100|100| 46 good 167257 Pre-fail Online
 throughput-performance 100|100| 30 good 0 Pre-fail Offline
 spin-up-time 100|100| 25 good 25.6 secs Pre-fail Online
 start-stop-count 94| 94| 0 n/a 3290 Old-age Online
 reallocated-sector-count 99| 99| 24 good 8 sectors Pre-fail Online
 seek-error-rate 100|100| 47 good 247 Pre-fail Online
 seek-time-performance ...

[Felicia (sisternotes)]

Update: I've discovered a workaround that allows the use of the USB wireless and the USB flash drive.

1) While laptop is off, unplug all usb connected devices.
2) Turn on laptop and log in.
3) Plug in any or all usb devices, they should both be recognized (I only have two connection ports).

So, my new routine is to shut down the laptop and unplug the wireless usb. That way I don't forget to unplug it before I start-up. Then, after I have booted and logged in, plug in the wireless which will automatically connect (it doesn't take long at all). If I decide I need to use my flash drive (or attach my camera or mp3 player), no problem.

We are now using Lucid full time. If I can change the status to close this bug, I will.
Thank you for your attention.

[Felicia (sisternotes)]

Update - In the Ubuntu Forum, someone else has described a similar problem:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1559857

As described by Cypeng, this seems to be a problem that occurs with the loading of ndiswrapper. Any ideas on a more permanent work around than disabling ndiswrapper?

[david (david-skea)]

I'm running meerkat on an Acer 2201 using ndiswrapper and the windows neti2220 driver so also was having the same problem as described above. Then for other reasons I installed Virtual Box 4.0.2 and its addition for USB 2.0.
Lo and behold on rebooting and without opening up Virtual Box I can now see my wifi network AND all my USB ports. No problem in mounting or safely removing and of my USB flash disks. Seems that the Virtual Box addition has corrected the problem.

[Pedro Villavicencio (pedro)]

Thanks for the report, it has been some time without any response or feedback in this bug report and we are wondering if this is still an issue for you with the latest release of Ubuntu the Natty Narwhal, May you please test with that version and comment back if you're still having or not the issue? Please have a look at http://www.ubuntu.com/download to know how to install that version. Thanks in advance and sorry for the late response.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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