All USB ports suddenly stop working

[Alan Vincent]

Been having a problem with all usb ports suddenly ceasing to work. It first appeared in 9.10 several months ago and is now appearing in 10.4 I don't know what package controls USB operations, and I get no error messages when this happens. since both my mouse and keyboard are USB, both cease to function so I cannot get any additional details. I have tried unplugging and replugging in the devices into both the same and into different USB ports and functionality does *not* resume. The only way I have been able to regain usb functionality is a hard reboot, upon which it immediately starts working again. This has happened while I have worked in multiple applications so I don't think it is application specific and is a problem with the operating system.

Currently running 32bit ubuntu 10.04 on an HP Pavilion a1640n and have no other operating systems installed
---
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.21.
Architecture: i386
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: ubuntu 2754 F.... pulseaudio
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xfdff4000 irq 22'
   Mixer name : 'Realtek ALC889A'
   Components : 'HDA:10ec0885,103c2a36,00100101'
   Controls : 42
   Simple ctrls : 23
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Frequency: Once a day.
LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release i386 (20100429)
MachineType: HP Pavilion 061 RC663AA-ABA a1640n
Package: linux (not installed)
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/casper/vmlinuz file=/cdrom/preseed/hostname.seed boot=casper initrd=/casper/initrd.lz quiet splash -- maybe-ubiquity
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-21.32-generic 2.6.32.11+drm33.2
Regression: No
RelatedPackageVersions: linux-firmware 1.34
Reproducible: No
RfKill:
 0: phy0: Wireless LAN
  Soft blocked: no
  Hard blocked: no
Tags: lucid needs-upstream-testing
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-21-generic i686
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lpadmin plugdev sambashare
dmi.bios.date: 11/24/2006
dmi.bios.vendor: Phoenix Technologies, LTD
dmi.bios.version: 3.14
dmi.board.name: Buckeye
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTek Computer INC.
dmi.board.version: 1.05
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Hewlett-Packard
dmi.chassis.version: 1111
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnPhoenixTechnologies,LTD:bvr3.14:bd11/24/2006:svnHPPavilion061:pnRC663AA-ABAa1640n:pvr0nx1114RE101BUCKE00:rvnASUSTekComputerINC.:rnBuckeye:rvr1.05:cvnHewlett-Packard:ct3:cvr1111:
dmi.product.name: RC663AA-ABA a1640n
dmi.product.version: 0nx1114RE101BUCKE00
dmi.sys.vendor: HP Pavilion 061

[Alan Vincent (alan-d-vincent)]

After further investigating this, it seems to happen most often when the system has been idle for a while. It rarely happens when I'm actively using the system (although it has happened a few times). Just about any time I leave the system idle for more than an hour this will happen.

[Alan Vincent (alan-d-vincent)]

Power management settings are
Put the computer to sleep when inactive for - never
put the display to sleep when inactive for - never

Even with the settings to never put the computer to sleep when it has been active, I am still experiencing the problem.

[Jeremy Foshee (jeremyfoshee)]

Hi Alan,

Please be sure to confirm this issue exists with the latest development release of Ubuntu. ISO CD images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/ . If the issue remains, please run the following command from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal). It will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report.

apport-collect -p linux 577648

Also, if you could test the latest upstream kernel available that would be great. It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please remove the 'needs-upstream-testing' tag. This can be done by clicking on the yellow pencil icon next to the tag located at the bottom of the bug description and deleting the 'needs-upstream-testing' text. Please let us know your results.

Thanks in advance.

    [This is an automated message. Apologies if it has reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]

[Alan Vincent (alan-d-vincent)]

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[Alan Vincent (alan-d-vincent)]

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[Alan Vincent (alan-d-vincent)]

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[Alan Vincent (alan-d-vincent)]

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[Alan Vincent (alan-d-vincent)]

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[Alan Vincent (alan-d-vincent)]

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[Alan Vincent (alan-d-vincent)]

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[Alan Vincent (alan-d-vincent)]

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[Alan Vincent (alan-d-vincent)]

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[Alan Vincent (alan-d-vincent)]

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[Alan Vincent (alan-d-vincent)]

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[Alan Vincent (alan-d-vincent)]

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[Alan Vincent (alan-d-vincent)]

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[Alan Vincent (alan-d-vincent)]

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[Alan Vincent (alan-d-vincent)]

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[Alan Vincent (alan-d-vincent)]

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[Alan Vincent (alan-d-vincent)]

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[Alan Vincent (alan-d-vincent)]

So trying the system from a 10.04 live CD, I experience the same issue...no USB response after a period of time. Each time it will boot up with full usb support for both mouse, keyboard, external drive etc...If I leave it for a bit, then everything connected to the USB ports quits working. Doesn't matter which usb port i try..front ports, back ports, none of them work.. I followed the instructions for the apport (while running off the live CD). I'm not sure exactly what you are wanting me to do to test the upstream kernal. I have no clue how I would go about testing it and reporting back any sort of valuable information. I'm not a complete linux newbie (been running it for several years now) but I really don't knwo what I'm doing when it comes to any sort of testing or programing.

[Jeremy Foshee (jeremyfoshee)]

Alan,
    No problem. The good part is that in using linux that long, you have had no need to install new kernels in this manner. That is definitely a good thing. :-) So what i am asking you to do here is find the kernel that matches with your current version based on the list available at the link I provided above. download the kernel -generic image and the architecture specific headers (i386/X64) and the generic headers marked -all. you then install these based on the instructions on that same page and reboot your machine.

You can verify that you have the kernel you installed running by doing uname -a from the command line. Instructions for removing the kernel (should you so desire) should be available from that same page.

Hope that helps.

~JFo

[Alan Vincent (alan-d-vincent)]

So, after further testing with the Live CD and the regular install, I was unable to get the problem to happen a second time with the live cd (it happened only once with the live CD). I was able to regularly experience it on the regular fresh install. The only difference? the Nvidia graphics card driver! On the installed distribution I enabled it, on the live CD, you cannot. Once I disabled the nvidia graphics card driver (current version) the problem went away. I think what must have been happening was the image of the screen was freezing, but not neccesarily the USB ports..but I couldn't see that since the screen was frozen. I do now have a new set of problems though where if the nvidia card is disabled the system has problems switching between and logging in and out of multiple user accounts (the screen will just go black and nothing will happen).

So should I be changing the bug to the nvidia package? Should I be filing a new bug about the black screen of death when either switching between user accounts or trying to log off one and go to the other?

[Jeremy Foshee (jeremyfoshee)]

Alan,
    unfortunately, to mu knowledge Nvidia don't use Launchpad to work their bugs. I think it is very odd that the graphics card driver is causing this, but i can't fault your testing results. Did you get the opportunity to try an upstream kernel? I'm putting this forward to be reviewed by a member of the Kernel Team to see if we can get you further in defining this issue.

Thanks!

~JFo

[Chase Douglas (chasedouglas)]

Since this appears to be an issue with the nvidia graphics drivers, I am reassigning it to the appropriate source package.

[Thomas (teoverton)]

Hi, I'd like to add that I'm having the same problem on an asus pundit (amd with nvidia chipset), and none of my other lucid boxes (6 in all). I don't know if it is relevant, but I would like to add that my usb controller on this box is Nvidia as well as the onboard graphics and therefore graphics driver. The problem is intermittent, but at least once a day, usually much more often, the usb ports just lock up... as above and a hard reboot is necessary.

[gaberlunzie (gerardda)]

Though I'm not sure about the source (allegedly Nvidia), I have the same problem described. I'm running Ubuntu 10.10 with Nvidia and Ubuntu hangs when my USB devices like mouse, keyboard and speaker all suddenly stop working, forcing me to hard reboot. The problem appears to be occurring with increasing frequency over the past two or so weeks till now, where I am rebooting a few minutes into each login!

This problem has been inherited through successive releases of Ubuntu (since 10.04, I think), along with another problem where Ubuntu crawls to a stop with no memory usage and heavy disk usage. I think these problems should be marked as 'High' status.

[gaberlunzie (gerardda)]

Update: Since upgrading to 11.04 my system has been generally stable and USB ports have rarely ceased working to cause a system hang (though it happened today while I was using VirtualBox!) Knock on wood (since my experience over the past two releases is that such disruptions increase in frequency with time.)