Chiming in on this... Feisty on kernel 2.6.20-16-generic #2 System is a Dell Inspiron 600m lspci -v says the USB interface is thus: USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-M) USB2 EHCI Controller Device is a low-profile laptop HD USB adapter. lsusb -v says: Bus 002 Device 005: ID 04b4:6830 Cypress Semiconductor Corp. USB-2.0 IDE Adapter Device Descriptor: bLength 18 bDescriptorType 1 bcdUSB 2.00 bDeviceClass 0 (Defined at Interface level) bDeviceSubClass 0 bDeviceProtocol 0 bMaxPacketSize0 64 idVendor 0x04b4 Cypress Semiconductor Corp. idProduct 0x6830 USB-2.0 IDE Adapter bcdDevice 0.01 iManufacturer 56 Cypress Semiconductor iProduct 78 USB2.0 Storage Device iSerial 100 DEF106F1A17F bNumConfigurations 1 Configuration Descriptor: bLength 9 bDescriptorType 2 wTotalLength 32 bNumInterfaces 1 bConfigurationValue 1 iConfiguration 0 bmAttributes 0xc0 Self Powered MaxPower 0mA Interface Descriptor: bLength 9 bDescriptorType 4 bInterfaceNumber 0 bAlternateSetting 0 bNumEndpoints 2 bInterfaceClass 8 Mass Storage bInterfaceSubClass 6 SCSI bInterfaceProtocol 80 Bulk (Zip) iInterface 0 Endpoint Descriptor: bLength 7 bDescriptorType 5 bEndpointAddress 0x88 EP 8 IN bmAttributes 2 Transfer Type Bulk Synch Type None Usage Type Data wMaxPacketSize 0x0040 1x 64 bytes bInterval 0 Device Qualifier (for other device speed): bLength 10 bDescriptorType 6 bcdUSB 2.00 bDeviceClass 0 (Defined at Interface level) bDeviceSubClass 0 bDeviceProtocol 0 bMaxPacketSize0 64 bNumConfigurations 1 Device Status: 0x0001 Self Powered Plugging it in gives me: [ 124.064000] usb 4-1.1: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 4 [ 124.156000] usb 4-1.1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice [ 124.336000] usbcore: registered new interface driver libusual [ 124.348000] Initializing USB Mass Storage driver... [ 124.348000] scsi2 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices [ 124.348000] usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage [ 124.348000] USB Mass Storage support registered. [ 124.348000] usb-storage: device found at 4 [ 124.348000] usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning [ 129.348000] usb-storage: device scan complete [ 134.920000] usb 4-1.1: reset high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 4 [ 145.084000] usb 4-1.1: reset high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 4 [ 150.248000] usb 4-1.1: reset high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 4 [ 160.412000] usb 4-1.1: reset high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 4 [ 160.504000] scsi 2:0:0:0: scsi: Device offlined - not ready after error recovery Removing ehci_hcd is an effective workaround for me.