I am forced to use Hardy with kernel 2.6.20-16-generic (later kernel versions result in no sound and/or no suspend/hibernate despite my best efforts so far). I confirm that I have an issue with mounting USB devices as well. I have a Dell Dimension 4700 with BIOS Rev. A10. Plugging in a Logitech USB mouse always works. Any external USB hard disks are mounted only if they are connected and turned on when the system starts up. But: 1. Plugging in external USB hard disks after system start-up results in very brief activity of the internal hard disk, as if the system notices something, but then nothing happens: no icon on the desktop or in My Computer. 2. Plugging in a camera via USB opens up f-spot manager, sometimes it asks about importing photos, sometimes it asks me to confirm the camera model (Canon SD 700 IS, which it calls Canon IXUS 800, I think), but in any event it always errors out with "Error connecting to camera. Received error 'Could not claim USB device' while connecting to camera" . 3. Plugging in an SD card via a USB card reader produces no results -- all of the USB card reader slots are shown as "unable to mount" or "media empty -- format?" despite the card being full of data. There are no USB problems when I boot the same computer into Windows XP (MCE, SP2) -- except that Windows had somehow lost the "Safe Removal" icon, so I need to shut down Windows full or or restart it to unmount any external USB storage devices. Mounting properly unmounted devices back in Hardy with kernel 2.6.20-16-generic only works for external USB hard disks, and only when they are already plugged in and turned on at start-up. lsusb Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000 Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000 Bus 004 Device 004: ID 046d:c01a Logitech, Inc. Bus 004 Device 001: ID 0000:0000 Bus 005 Device 001: ID 0000:0000 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000 cat /proc/bus/usb/devices cat: /proc/bus/usb/devices: No such file or directory dmesg [...] [ 5112.611821] usb 5-7: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 8 [ 5112.776247] usb 5-7: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice [ 5121.535133] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.535452] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.535613] FAT: Directory bread(block 476908) failed [ 5121.535734] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.535852] FAT: Directory bread(block 476909) failed [ 5121.535971] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.536088] FAT: Directory bread(block 476910) failed [ 5121.536207] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.536324] FAT: Directory bread(block 476911) failed [ 5121.536442] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.536559] FAT: Directory bread(block 476912) failed [ 5121.536678] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.536793] FAT: Directory bread(block 476913) failed [ 5121.536910] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.537026] FAT: Directory bread(block 476914) failed [ 5121.537141] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.537258] FAT: Directory bread(block 476915) failed [ 5121.537375] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.537491] FAT: Directory bread(block 476916) failed [ 5121.537607] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.537723] FAT: Directory bread(block 476917) failed [ 5121.537840] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.537955] FAT: Directory bread(block 476918) failed [ 5121.538071] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.538187] FAT: Directory bread(block 476919) failed [ 5121.538304] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.538420] FAT: Directory bread(block 476920) failed [ 5121.538536] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.538652] FAT: Directory bread(block 476921) failed [ 5121.538783] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.538900] FAT: Directory bread(block 476922) failed [ 5121.539022] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.539138] FAT: Directory bread(block 476923) failed [ 5121.539257] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.539374] FAT: Directory bread(block 476924) failed [ 5121.539492] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.539611] FAT: Directory bread(block 476925) failed [ 5121.539729] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.539845] FAT: Directory bread(block 476926) failed [ 5121.539963] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.540081] FAT: Directory bread(block 476927) failed [ 5121.540199] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.540315] FAT: Directory bread(block 476928) failed [ 5121.540433] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.540549] FAT: Directory bread(block 476929) failed [ 5121.540667] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.540859] FAT: Directory bread(block 476930) failed [ 5121.540979] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.541097] FAT: Directory bread(block 476931) failed [ 5121.541215] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.541331] FAT: Directory bread(block 476932) failed [ 5121.541450] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.541566] FAT: Directory bread(block 476933) failed [ 5121.541685] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.541803] FAT: Directory bread(block 476934) failed [ 5121.541922] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.542038] FAT: Directory bread(block 476935) failed [ 5121.542156] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.542271] FAT: Directory bread(block 476936) failed [ 5121.542389] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.542507] FAT: Directory bread(block 476937) failed [ 5121.542625] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.542746] FAT: Directory bread(block 476938) failed [ 5121.542864] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.542978] FAT: Directory bread(block 476939) failed [ 5121.543100] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.543217] FAT: Directory bread(block 476940) failed [ 5121.543335] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.543455] FAT: Directory bread(block 476941) failed [ 5121.543572] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.543691] FAT: Directory bread(block 476942) failed [ 5121.543808] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.543923] FAT: Directory bread(block 476943) failed [ 5121.544041] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.544159] FAT: Directory bread(block 476944) failed [ 5121.544277] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.544387] FAT: Directory bread(block 476945) failed [ 5121.544501] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.544617] FAT: Directory bread(block 476946) failed [ 5121.544736] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.544853] FAT: Directory bread(block 476947) failed [ 5121.544978] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.545095] FAT: Directory bread(block 476948) failed [ 5121.545213] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.545331] FAT: Directory bread(block 476949) failed [ 5121.545450] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.545568] FAT: Directory bread(block 476950) failed [ 5121.545686] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.545805] FAT: Directory bread(block 476951) failed [ 5121.545922] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.546040] FAT: Directory bread(block 476952) failed [ 5121.546160] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.546278] FAT: Directory bread(block 476953) failed [ 5121.546396] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.546514] FAT: Directory bread(block 476954) failed [ 5121.546636] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.546760] FAT: Directory bread(block 476955) failed [ 5121.546880] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.546990] FAT: Directory bread(block 476956) failed [ 5121.547107] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.547220] FAT: Directory bread(block 476957) failed [ 5121.547336] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.547453] FAT: Directory bread(block 476958) failed [ 5121.547574] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.547693] FAT: Directory bread(block 476959) failed [ 5121.547812] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.547934] FAT: Directory bread(block 476960) failed [ 5121.548050] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.548164] FAT: Directory bread(block 476961) failed [ 5121.548277] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.548388] FAT: Directory bread(block 476962) failed [ 5121.548506] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.548624] FAT: Directory bread(block 476963) failed [ 5121.548740] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.548856] FAT: Directory bread(block 476964) failed [ 5121.549181] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.549309] FAT: Directory bread(block 476965) failed [ 5121.549431] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.549549] FAT: Directory bread(block 476966) failed [ 5121.549670] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.549788] FAT: Directory bread(block 476967) failed [ 5121.549906] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.550027] FAT: Directory bread(block 476968) failed [ 5121.550148] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.550266] FAT: Directory bread(block 476969) failed [ 5121.550386] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.550503] FAT: Directory bread(block 476970) failed [ 5121.550623] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5121.550749] FAT: Directory bread(block 476971) failed [ 5122.178538] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.178600] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.178609] FAT: Directory bread(block 476908) failed [ 5122.178619] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.178627] FAT: Directory bread(block 476909) failed [ 5122.178636] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.178643] FAT: Directory bread(block 476910) failed [ 5122.178652] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.178659] FAT: Directory bread(block 476911) failed [ 5122.178672] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.178683] FAT: Directory bread(block 476912) failed [ 5122.178692] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.178699] FAT: Directory bread(block 476913) failed [ 5122.178708] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.178714] FAT: Directory bread(block 476914) failed [ 5122.178723] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.178730] FAT: Directory bread(block 476915) failed [ 5122.178738] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.178745] FAT: Directory bread(block 476916) failed [ 5122.178754] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.178760] FAT: Directory bread(block 476917) failed [ 5122.178769] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.178775] FAT: Directory bread(block 476918) failed [ 5122.178784] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.178791] FAT: Directory bread(block 476919) failed [ 5122.178799] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.178806] FAT: Directory bread(block 476920) failed [ 5122.178814] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.178821] FAT: Directory bread(block 476921) failed [ 5122.178829] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.178836] FAT: Directory bread(block 476922) failed [ 5122.178844] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.178851] FAT: Directory bread(block 476923) failed [ 5122.178859] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.178866] FAT: Directory bread(block 476924) failed [ 5122.178874] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.178881] FAT: Directory bread(block 476925) failed [ 5122.178890] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.178896] FAT: Directory bread(block 476926) failed [ 5122.178904] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.178911] FAT: Directory bread(block 476927) failed [ 5122.178919] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.178926] FAT: Directory bread(block 476928) failed [ 5122.178934] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.178941] FAT: Directory bread(block 476929) failed [ 5122.178949] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.178956] FAT: Directory bread(block 476930) failed [ 5122.178964] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.178971] FAT: Directory bread(block 476931) failed [ 5122.178979] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.178986] FAT: Directory bread(block 476932) failed [ 5122.178995] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.179001] FAT: Directory bread(block 476933) failed [ 5122.179009] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.179016] FAT: Directory bread(block 476934) failed [ 5122.179025] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.179031] FAT: Directory bread(block 476935) failed [ 5122.179046] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.179052] FAT: Directory bread(block 476936) failed [ 5122.179061] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.179068] FAT: Directory bread(block 476937) failed [ 5122.179076] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.179083] FAT: Directory bread(block 476938) failed [ 5122.179091] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.179098] FAT: Directory bread(block 476939) failed [ 5122.179106] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.179113] FAT: Directory bread(block 476940) failed [ 5122.179121] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.179128] FAT: Directory bread(block 476941) failed [ 5122.179136] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.179142] FAT: Directory bread(block 476942) failed [ 5122.179152] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.179158] FAT: Directory bread(block 476943) failed [ 5122.179167] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.179173] FAT: Directory bread(block 476944) failed [ 5122.179182] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.179188] FAT: Directory bread(block 476945) failed [ 5122.179197] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.179203] FAT: Directory bread(block 476946) failed [ 5122.179212] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.179218] FAT: Directory bread(block 476947) failed [ 5122.179227] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.179233] FAT: Directory bread(block 476948) failed [ 5122.179242] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.179248] FAT: Directory bread(block 476949) failed [ 5122.179257] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.179263] FAT: Directory bread(block 476950) failed [ 5122.179272] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.179278] FAT: Directory bread(block 476951) failed [ 5122.179287] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.179294] FAT: Directory bread(block 476952) failed [ 5122.179302] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.179308] FAT: Directory bread(block 476953) failed [ 5122.179317] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.179323] FAT: Directory bread(block 476954) failed [ 5122.179332] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.179338] FAT: Directory bread(block 476955) failed [ 5122.179347] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.179353] FAT: Directory bread(block 476956) failed [ 5122.179362] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.179368] FAT: Directory bread(block 476957) failed [ 5122.179377] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.179383] FAT: Directory bread(block 476958) failed [ 5122.179392] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.179398] FAT: Directory bread(block 476959) failed [ 5122.179407] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.179414] FAT: Directory bread(block 476960) failed [ 5122.179422] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.179429] FAT: Directory bread(block 476961) failed [ 5122.179437] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.179444] FAT: Directory bread(block 476962) failed [ 5122.179452] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.179459] FAT: Directory bread(block 476963) failed [ 5122.179467] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.179474] FAT: Directory bread(block 476964) failed [ 5122.179482] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.179489] FAT: Directory bread(block 476965) failed [ 5122.179497] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.179504] FAT: Directory bread(block 476966) failed [ 5122.179513] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.179519] FAT: Directory bread(block 476967) failed [ 5122.179528] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.179535] FAT: Directory bread(block 476968) failed [ 5122.179543] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.179550] FAT: Directory bread(block 476969) failed [ 5122.179565] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.179571] FAT: Directory bread(block 476970) failed [ 5122.179580] scsi 4:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to dead device [ 5122.179587] FAT: Directory bread(block 476971) failed [...] I can run other tests and/or commands and attach results if this would help. Thanks in advance for your assitance.