1217:8221 [Dell Latitude E6430] O2 Micro Cardreader does not work on Ubuntu 14.10

[Thomas]

Up until recently, SD cards used to be detected but were pretty slow. Since a couple of days (I'm not sure if a Kernel update happened that caused this), putting in a SD card has no effect and leads to no error messages being displayed in dmesg.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.10
Package: linux-image-3.16.0-29-generic 3.16.0-29.39
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.16.0-29.39-generic 3.16.7-ckt2
Uname: Linux 3.16.0-29-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.14.7-0ubuntu8.1
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC1: wiecki 3421 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC0: wiecki 3421 F.... pulseaudio
Date: Mon Jan 26 13:17:32 2015
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=4ba5761f-fae8-4eb6-97ce-f1f209cad27b
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-01-15 (376 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Kubuntu 13.10 "Saucy Salamander" - Release amd64 (20131016.1)
MachineType: Dell Inc. Latitude E6430
ProcFB:

ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-3.16.0-29-generic root=/dev/mapper/kubuntu--vg-root ro quiet splash
PulseList:
 Error: command ['pacmd', 'list'] failed with exit code 1: Home directory not accessible: Permission denied
 No PulseAudio daemon running, or not running as session daemon.
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-3.16.0-29-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-3.16.0-29-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.138.1
SourcePackage: linux
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to utopic on 2014-10-24 (93 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 08/19/2014
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A16
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.type: 9
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA16:bd08/19/2014:svnDellInc.:pnLatitudeE6430:pvr01:rvnDellInc.:rn:rvr:cvnDellInc.:ct9:cvr:
dmi.product.name: Latitude E6430
dmi.product.version: 01
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This change was made by a bot.

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

Would it be possible for you to test the latest upstream kernel? Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Please test the latest v3.19 kernel[0].

If this bug is fixed in the mainline kernel, please add the following tag 'kernel-fixed-upstream'.

If the mainline kernel does not fix this bug, please add the tag: 'kernel-bug-exists-upstream'.

If you are unable to test the mainline kernel, for example it will not boot, please add the tag: 'kernel-unable-to-test-upstream'.
Once testing of the upstream kernel is complete, please mark this bug as "Confirmed".

Thanks in advance.

[0] http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.19-rc6-vivid/

[Thomas (thomas-wiecki)]

OK, I tested the latest kernel:
>>uname -a
Linux posterior 3.19.0-031900rc6-generic #201501261152 SMP Mon Jan 26 16:53:27 UTC 2015 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

But the behavior is the same -- no SD detection, no error message.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Thomas, could you please boot into a prior kernel and advise which one specifically this problem did not occur with?

[Thomas (thomas-wiecki)]

I only had 3.16.0-28-generic installed which has the same problem.

[Thomas (thomas-wiecki)]

I also tested with:
* 3.16.0-23-generic
* 3.13.0-37-generic

SD card was not detected by an of the kernels. I'm starting to wonder if the kernel has anything to do with this?

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Thomas, would it be possible it was working in Trusty, and then you upgraded to Utopic and it stopped working?

[Thomas (thomas-wiecki)]

Christopher, no, this definitely worked in Utopic not too long ago (less than a week). It's possible that there was a non-clean removal of the SD card.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Thomas, could you boot into a kernel from Trusty (3.13.x) to see if this would allow your SD card to work?

[Thomas (thomas-wiecki)]

Christopher, I already tried that: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1414619/comments/7 and alas, it didn't work.

I would be very surprised if the SD card did not work before my upgrade, as I said, it only stopped working very recently. But if not the kernel, what else could it be?

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Thomas, just to clarify, a kernel version prior to what was tested in #7.

Also, did you try to reformat the SD card to see if this would begin working again?

In addition, could you please advise to the packages upgraded on the day you noticed the SD card stopped working?

[Thomas (thomas-wiecki)]

Christopher, only the ones listed in #7, I thought 3.13.0-37-generic was from karmic?

Will try reformatting, but I also tried a different card with the same result. Isn't there supposed to be a mmblock device discovered?

Unfortunately I didn't pay close enough attention to the updating of the packages but I do update quite frequently. Is there an update history I could browse?

[penalvch (penalvch)]

>"I thought 3.13.0-37-generic was from karmic?"

3.13.x would be from Trusty, not Karmic.

>"Is there an update history I could browse?"

Synaptic Package Manager, Ubuntu Software Center (iirc), or /var/log.

[Thomas (thomas-wiecki)]

OK, after formatting the SD on a windows machine, it was correctly detected again. However, this also coincided with the kernel upgrade to 3.16.0-30-generic. I *think* I tried it with the new kernel and it didn't work but it's possible I'm misremembering.

In any case, my issue is resolved for now. Thank you so much for your help! I wonder if this still represents a bug somewhere if a broken SD card can not be detected.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Thomas, if the card file system is corrupted or the SD card has hardware failure, no OS may be able to read it, and it would need to be reformatted or replaced respectively.

In your case, what would want to be investigated is what sequence of events specifically led up to the presumed corrupted SD card file system. Without at least a reproduction scenario, and which update(s) caused this issue if applicable, it is most difficult to analyze this problem.

Despite this, this bug report is being closed due to your last comment https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1414619/comments/15 regarding this being fixed via reformatting the SD card. For future reference you can manage the status of your own bugs by clicking on the current status in the yellow line and then choosing a new status in the revealed drop down box. You can learn more about bug statuses at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Status. Thank you again for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Please submit any future bugs you may find.