Ubuntu 13.04 does not recognize USB drive

Question

Using Ubuntu 13.04 (with Gnome 3), my new USB stick (details see dmesg/lsusb) doesn't show up automatically. Situation:

• The drive does not show up at fdisk -l
• The drive does appear when running lsusb
• The drive is correctly recognized by a Windows 8 Machine

After waiting some minutes and watching the reset high-speed USB device number 4 using ehci-pci messages in my dmesg, I decided to pull out my stick, which resulted in a disk read failure.

dmesg

Aug 27 19:44:48 nbuntu kernel: [  257.189068] sd 9:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached 
SCSI removable disk
Aug 27 19:44:55 nbuntu kernel: [  264.349591] usb 3-2: new high-speed USB device number 4 using ehci-pci
Aug 27 19:44:55 nbuntu kernel: [  264.797502] usb 3-2: New USB device found, idVendor=0951, idProduct=162b
Aug 27 19:44:55 nbuntu kernel: [  264.797505] usb 3-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
Aug 27 19:44:55 nbuntu kernel: [  264.797507] usb 3-2: Product: DT HyperX 3.0
Aug 27 19:44:55 nbuntu kernel: [  264.797508] usb 3-2: Manufacturer: Kingston
Aug 27 19:44:55 nbuntu kernel: [  264.797510] usb 3-2: SerialNumber: 20CF30E118F8BD6180000356
Aug 27 19:44:55 nbuntu kernel: [  264.797883] scsi10 : usb-storage 3-2:1.0
Aug 27 19:44:56 nbuntu kernel: [  265.794211] scsi 10:0:0:0: Direct-Access     Kingston DT HyperX 3.0    PMAP PQ: 0 ANSI: 6
Aug 27 19:44:56 nbuntu kernel: [  265.794905] sd 10:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 0
Aug 27 19:44:56 nbuntu kernel: [  265.795986] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdc] 123469824 512-byte logical blocks: (63.2 GB/58.8 GiB)
Aug 27 19:44:56 nbuntu kernel: [  265.796576] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off
Aug 27 19:44:56 nbuntu kernel: [  265.796580] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 45 00 00 00
Aug 27 19:44:56 nbuntu kernel: [  265.797200] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdc] Write cache: disabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
Aug 27 19:45:27 nbuntu kernel: [  296.403451] usb 3-2: reset high-speed USB device number 4 using ehci-pci
Aug 27 19:45:58 nbuntu kernel: [  327.264520] usb 3-2: reset high-speed USB device number 4 using ehci-pci
Aug 27 19:46:29 nbuntu kernel: [  358.221324] usb 3-2: reset high-speed USB device number 4 using ehci-pci
Aug 27 19:47:00 nbuntu kernel: [  389.178831] usb 3-2: reset high-speed USB device number 4 using ehci-pci
Aug 27 19:47:31 nbuntu kernel: [  420.087249] usb 3-2: reset high-speed USB device number 4 using ehci-pci
Aug 27 19:47:50 nbuntu kernel: [  438.752891] usb 3-2: USB disconnect, device number 4
Aug 27 19:47:50 nbuntu kernel: [  438.766483] ldm_validate_partition_table(): Disk read failed.
Aug 27 19:47:50 nbuntu kernel: [  438.766494] Dev sdc: unable to read RDB block 0
Aug 27 19:47:50 nbuntu kernel: [  438.766507]  sdc: unable to read partition table

lsusb

Bus 003 Device 004: ID 0951:162b Kingston Technology 
Bus 004 Device 002: ID 046d:c526 Logitech, Inc. Nano Receiver
Bus 005 Device 002: ID 046d:c318 Logitech, Inc. Illuminated Keyboard
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 008 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 009 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub

Someone on the sellers homepage also stated he can't use the stick with Linux, Android, his TV and his Blu-Ray Player. Can somebody give me a hint what the problem could be?

Solution 1

When I used the stick recently on a Windows 7 machine it asked me to repair the drive (I didn't "securely" remove it). I checked both boxes and went ahead. After the repair all my devices now correctly reconize the stick.

Solution 2

I am running Linux mint (based on Ubuntu 12.04) and had a similar problem. It had to do with where my usb stick was plugged in. For certain ports the computer thinks that the device is underpowered so it doesn't do anything with it. In my case the usb stick was plugged into my usb keyboard. Here is what I did:

When I plugged it in the usb port on my keyboard it would not show up on fdisk -lwhen typing: tail /var/log/syslog I get:

Sep 19 09:11:55 taMereIV kernel: [ 1789.209786] usb 6-1.3: >new high-speed USB device number 8 using xhci_hcd
Sep 19 09:11:55 taMereIV kernel: [ 1789.228632] usb 6-1.3: >New USB device found, idVendor=8644, idProduct=800b
Sep 19 09:11:55 taMereIV kernel: [ 1789.228649] usb 6-1.3: >New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
Sep 19 09:11:55 taMereIV kernel: [ 1789.228659] usb 6-1.3: >Product: USB Flash Disk                
Sep 19 09:11:55 taMereIV kernel: [ 1789.228668] usb 6-1.3: >Manufacturer: General                       
Sep 19 09:11:55 taMereIV kernel: [ 1789.228677] usb 6-1.3: >SerialNumber: 033300000001BCAD
Sep 19 09:11:55 taMereIV kernel: [ 1789.229213] usb 6-1.3: >rejected 1 configuration due to insufficient available bus power
Sep 19 09:11:55 taMereIV kernel: [ 1789.229230] usb 6-1.3: >no configuration chosen from 1 choice
Sep 19 09:11:55 taMereIV mtp-probe: checking bus 6, device 8: "/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:10.0/usb6/6-1/6-1.3"
Sep 19 09:11:55 taMereIV mtp-probe: bus: 6, device: 8 was not an MTP device

I draw your attention to the line:

Sep 19 09:11:55 taMereIV kernel: [ 1789.229213] usb 6-1.3: >rejected 1 configuration due to insufficient available bus power

I therefore plugged in my USB stick directly into my laptop and now, tail /var/log/syslog

Sep 19 09:16:55 taMereIV kernel: [ 2089.398064] sd 2:0:0:0: >[sdb] Mode Sense: 03 00 00 00
Sep 19 09:16:55 taMereIV kernel: [ 2089.400020] sd 2:0:0:0: >[sdb] No Caching mode page present
Sep 19 09:16:55 taMereIV kernel: [ 2089.400042] sd 2:0:0:0: >[sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
Sep 19 09:16:55 taMereIV kernel: [ 2089.408118] sd 2:0:0:0: >[sdb] No Caching mode page present
Sep 19 09:16:55 taMereIV kernel: [ 2089.408140] sd 2:0:0:0: >[sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
Sep 19 09:16:55 taMereIV kernel: [ 2089.410067]  sdb: sdb1
Sep 19 09:16:55 taMereIV kernel: [ 2089.414727] sd 2:0:0:0: >[sdb] No Caching mode page present
Sep 19 09:16:55 taMereIV kernel: [ 2089.414743] sd 2:0:0:0: >[sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
Sep 19 09:16:55 taMereIV kernel: [ 2089.414754] sd 2:0:0:0: >[sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk

In particular my usb stick now shows up in fdsik-l. I'm guessing that compared to Win 8 a Linux system is more conservative when it comes to determining how much power is needed to power a USB memory stick.

Solution 3

You might need to just reformat the entire partition.

Comments

[Ludwig Schulze]

It shows in gparted?

[mnme]

No, not in fdisk -l, not in gparted, not in disks (gnome3 disk utility)

[mnme]

Thanks for the answer. It is an USB 3.0 stick, but even after waiting half an hour (I watched an episode of a TV show) it didn't mount the drive. What drives me crazy is that the stick gets a identifier from udev (sdc in dmesg), but I can't mount it. The terminal just hangs if i try to mount it manually.

[mnme]

Thanks for the late answer, but I doubt this would have solved my problem. The stick didn't show up in fdisk -l, parted or any other disk utility, so I was unable to format or repair it. (Additionally, the unable to read partition table error showed up after I disconnected the stick.)