flaky usb behavior

[oldgeek]

I tried what you suggested--plugged in a different usb, it didn't work, then another, which did work. Then I unplugged the first one, then put it back in, and it still didn't work, although the other one was still operative. I used different physical mount points with the same results. I also cannot use more than one usb at a time--the others won't mount. I also tried using a hum, with different results--the first one didn't mount, but when I plugged in the second one, that one didn't mount and the first one did!
Here are the results of the dmesg commands, in the order you suggested:
First usb plugged in:

[ 2445.945017] usb-storage 2-1.1:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[ 2445.945168] scsi host4: usb-storage 2-1.1:1.0
[ 2446.956618] scsi 4:0:0:0: Direct-Access USB Flash Memory 1.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS
[ 2446.957248] sd 4:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg1 type 0
[ 2447.343462] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] 492544 512-byte logical blocks: (252 MB/241 MiB)
[ 2447.344189] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
[ 2447.344193] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 23 00 00 00
[ 2447.344878] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] No Caching mode page found
[ 2447.344886] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 2447.348834] sdb: sdb1
[ 2447.351359] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk

And with the second one plugged and the first one still in:
[ 2447.343462] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] 492544 512-byte logical blocks: (252 MB/241 MiB)
[ 2447.344189] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
[ 2447.344193] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 23 00 00 00
[ 2447.344878] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] No Caching mode page found
[ 2447.344886] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 2447.348834] sdb: sdb1
[ 2447.351359] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
[ 2750.217937] usb 2-1.2: new high-speed USB device number 21 using ehci-pci
[ 2750.327862] usb 2-1.2: New USB device found, idVendor=0781, idProduct=5567
[ 2750.327867] usb 2-1.2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[ 2750.327870] usb 2-1.2: Product: Cruzer Blade
[ 2750.327873] usb 2-1.2: Manufacturer: SanDisk
[ 2750.327876] usb 2-1.2: SerialNumber: 4C530001201124110182
[ 2750.328436] usb-storage 2-1.2:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[ 2750.328668] scsi host5: usb-storage 2-1.2:1.0
[ 2751.339290] scsi 5:0:0:0: Direct-Access SanDisk Cruzer Blade 1.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 6
[ 2751.339909] sd 5:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
[ 2751.340704] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] 30595072 512-byte logical blocks: (15.7 GB/14.6 GiB)
[ 2751.342470] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off
[ 2751.342475] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 43 00 00 00
[ 2751.343572] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] Write cache: disabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[ 2751.354064] sdc: sdc1
[ 2751.358073] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI removable disk

Anything weird? I don't know if I copied enough--I don't remember how to copy long quotes in a box so I chose what I thought was pertinent, the last part of the output.

[Qqmike]

I'm no expert on reading dmesg output, but I don't see any obvious red signs, and it looks like a lot of the dmesg posts you see on the Internet at forums. Is this firmware? hardware (but your USB ports do work, so something else)? the OS? I don't know. Surely someone else has had this issue or seen it.

[Snowhog]

What has crossed my mind, is whether or not the 'problematic USB' is a USB 3.0 stick. IF it is, and the PC only supports USB 2.1, that would/might explain why?

[oldgeek]

No, it's a 2.0 usb stick. The problem is not in the stick itself, I gather. Perhaps I need to get the computer cleaned professionally and try it again. Lima is hard on electronics due to the high humidity--over 90% these days (it's winter).

[Qqmike]

I think it takes some expert to know exactly how to configure USB in BIOS. Most people do it by word-of-mouth: if one user tells another user to enable/disable such-and-such a setting, well ... Of course, you could research it. But I notice that settings in BIOS for USB are not always intuitive; the settings options are not defined well for the typical user.

I just checked my BIOS-(UEFI-)firmware settings, on an ASUS H97-PLUS, built 2015, and I see these USB settings:

Legacy USB Support: Enabled
Intel xHCI Mode: Smart Auto
EHCI hand-off: Disabled

However, I ran into one post where although counter-intuitive to the user (who has USB problems) and the research he had done, he had to Disable his Legacy USB Support.

I sure do not want to mess with someone else's BIOS settings! In my case, I keep the original BIOS firmware file handy on a flash drive in the event that I totally mess up the BIOS. It did get damaged a couple times. One time it caused two USB ports NOT to work, but the other ones did work.

What I'm getting at here is that I don't suppose you could damage your BIOS USB settings by experimenting, based perhaps on some research you do first. IMPORTANT (of course): First, write down your existing settings! That way, you could always return your USB settings to the state they were in before you experimented.

[Qqmike]

More to the point ... ... if it were me, I would definitely experiment with this. As I said above, it takes either an expert or some good research to sort this all out, but, for example, one thing I see is this business:
[ 2750.217937] usb 2-1.2: new high-speed USB device number 21 using ehci-pci
whereas mine shows another technology:
[ 1037.079842] usb 3-6: new high-speed USB device number 5 using xhci_hcd

btw, the entire output was:

[B][ 1037.079842] usb 3-6: new high-speed USB device number 5 using xhci_hcd[/B]
[ 1037.230187] usb 3-6: New USB device found, idVendor=13fe, idProduct=1d00
[ 1037.230189] usb 3-6: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[ 1037.230191] usb 3-6: Product: DataTraveler 2.0
[ 1037.230193] usb 3-6: Manufacturer: Kingston
[ 1037.230194] usb 3-6: SerialNumber: 5B79129A0100
[ 1037.276722] usb-storage 3-6:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[ 1037.276844] scsi host6: usb-storage 3-6:1.0
[ 1037.276909] usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage
[ 1037.285274] usbcore: registered new interface driver uas
[ 1038.300477] scsi 6:0:0:0: Direct-Access     Kingston DataTraveler 2.0 PMAP PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS
[ 1038.301067] sd 6:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
[ 1038.903505] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] 7823360 512-byte logical blocks: (4.01 GB/3.73 GiB)
[ 1038.903680] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
[ 1038.903684] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 23 00 00 00
[ 1038.905201] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] No Caching mode page found
[ 1038.905210] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 1038.906955]  sdb: sdb1

and guess what else it said:
[ 1039.443172] FAT-fs (sdb1): Volume was not properly unmounted. Some data may be corrupt. Please run fsck.

Ha! WTH! I better get on it, and pay better attention!

[oldgeek]

I'm not sure the BIOS is the culprit. My USB drives worked finje with 18.04 until I accidentally crashed the machine doing something forbidden on a USB drive--the one with the original problem that started this thread. I was trying to copy an appimage onto the stick when it fatally crashed the computer. Unable to start it up correctly, I ended up re-installing the OS and files, which I had fortunately back up (with Aptik) and hadn't tried a USB drive until now, with the results described. At the moment I can use one USB drive if I plug in a 'dummy' first and then the drive I want to use. I can read and write to the stick, no matter which usb point I use, and even after I take out the first 'dummy' drive. I'm going to get the thing cleaned tomorrow and check out the usb board to see if there are any electrical problems there. If not, I'll just have to take a few seconds more to use the thumbdrive, which isn't a big deal after all. It's just that I don't like when things go wrong and there doesn't seem to be a reason why. Of course, there always is a reason.

I would like to thank all of you for your patience and your willingness to help out on what must be a rather boring topic.

[Qqmike]

Let us know what you find out if you "solve" this. Chances are that a re-install of Kubuntu would do the trick. I don't find these things boring, though . I had a strange deal once, after doing several hard re-boots (that is yet another story), I couldn't get the PC to boot up, but now and then it would boot up and I could use it normally as long as I didn't shut it down. The fix would be to re-flash the BIOS. You do this by putting the ASUS BIOS file on a flash drive, boot up, enter BIOS and the proper BIOS menu reads the file off that flash drive and re-flashes the BIOS with it and you are brand new, fresh to go. So to do this fix, I had to try 10 times to get the PC to boot up, though! It finally did, I entered BIOS, but BIOS didn't see that flash drive (that had the BIOS file on it). I tried all 4 front USB ports, no go. I finally figured out that along with my BIOS being generally damaged, the BIOS settings for those 4 front USB ports were damaged also (maybe they got turned off). So I plugged that BIOS flash drive into a back USB port on the PC, and that finally worked OK. Subtle, subtle, subtle problems.

Good luck and keep us posted.

[oshunluvr]

You can test the install by booting Kubuntu from another USB stick and then seeing I it will read the other (potentially bad) one.

If it were mine, I would zero it with dd and attempt a format with KPartitionManager. If this has already been attempted, my apologies, I'm late to this thread.

[Qqmike]

If it were mine, I would zero it with dd and attempt a format with KPartitionManager.

Yep, done. An interesting problem he has. If you have time sometime, maybe you could glean some ideas about this unusual behavior that he explains in some detail.

[oldgeek]

I tried booting the computer with a usb stick with the iso on it. That didn't work--the drive failed to mount, surprise surprise. I also cleaned the computer professionally today and got new USB points. That didn't work either--the sticks only open after the first stick is put in and doesn't mount. So those two solutions are discarded.

[Qqmike]

I tried booting the computer with a usb stick with the iso on it. That didn't work--the drive failed to mount, surprise surprise.

The live Kubuntu iso flash drive doesn't have to be mounted anywhere! In fact, it can be used on a computer that has no OS on it and thus could never be mounted.

Something amiss here.

The computer is On or Off, doesn't matter.
You plug in the live Kubuntu USB flash drive.
Ignore it now--don't worry about mounting or not or anything.
Now either turn your computer On or if it is already On then re-boot it.
At the proper time during POST, press your magic keyboard key to enter your BIOS-firmware setup menus.
Go to the Boot or Boot Override menu and select your flash drive to boot the computer from.
Exit and re-boot, and your computer is supposed to then boot into your live Kubuntu session.

[GreyGeek]

Every time I had a USB that wouldn't boot I used Kpartition to add the boot flag to the partition. Then it was recognized as a bootable device.

Also, you might have to install the mbr to it.
https://www.pendrivelinux.com/instal...-flash-device/

[Qqmike]

Problem here is that I thought this flash drive was the Live Kubuntu flash drive, containing the iso, in which case there should be no partition per se. If you view it in gparted, it may say /dev/sdx, ISO9660 -- i.e., there will be no partition to put a boot flag on! And no boot flag is necessary, it's all coded into the iso image written to that flash drive.

Steve Riley and I got into a detailed discussion about this once:

SteveRiley:
Actually, you don't even need to create the partitions, those are contained within the image. I verified this just now. Simply dd the ISO directly to the device node ...



Qqmike: Out of curiosity, I checked this. It seems correct, kind of amazingly.

I looked at three cases.
Prior to issuing the above dd command,
(1) There is NOTHING on the flash drive.
or,
(2) There is a valid MBR partition on the flash drive (in GParted: msdos).
or,
(3) There is a valid GPT partition scheme on the flash drive.

In all three cases, the following dd statement builds a bootable, live USB Kubuntu/installer (which, of course, I tested each time) (Note: my flash drive is seen as /dev/sdb in my system):
...
etc.
[the dd command stuff...]

So now if he writes an MBR to that flash drive, it will kill his live Kubuntu iso.

https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...l=1#post370675

[oldgeek]

Something amiss here... Yeah, it was me using the wrong function key to boot the usb iso. I've just done it successfully, and tried three thumbdrives at one. They all opened correctly--but was that because there was a thumbdrive already present? I went back to normal running and tried again. Same problem, except this time I could open two drives at once instead of just one. So at least some progress was made. Is there a btrfs solution waiting in the wings, like rolling back? I haven't done that yet.