# Dell Laptop USB Controller



## zac (Oct 7, 2009)

I've been working on getting FreeBSD 7.2 running on my old laptop (Dell Inspiron 1100) over the last two weeks.  I'm very happy so far.  I have one major snag, though.  I can't get USB flash drives to connect.  I followed the handbook article:

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en/books/handbook/usb-disks.html

The kernel has been customized, but I have ensured all the devices on that list are included.  But, right under section 18.5.2 where it shows sample dmesg output, my system doesn't agree.  I only get the first line like this:


```
umass0: <LEXAR MEDIA JUMPDRIVE2, class 0/0, rev 2.00/1.25, addr 2> on uhub3
```

I don't get the "GEOM" line or anything below that.  There are no "da*" devices in /dev.

"camcontrol devlist" shows basically the same information, but instead of the "(da0,pass0)" part at the end, it's just blank.

Finally, when I remove the flash drive, the USB controller completely bombs out.  Nothing can connect (like a mouse), and reinserting the flash drive does not trigger the detection anymore.  I'm kinda guessing I need some additional kernel support for this particular controller/motherboard.

I've searched around, but searching for the lack of log output is an art I haven't mastered.  Does anyone have any pointers where to look next?  I'm really excited to get this system rolling, and the rest of the desktop environment works perfectly so far.

Thanks!


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## vermaden (Oct 7, 2009)

Try deleting all partitions on onther system that "sees" it, if that does not help, create your partition(s) and label them.


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## zac (Oct 7, 2009)

It never occurred to me to mess with the media.  I've been experimenting with an older flash drive that didn't matter if I borked it.  I don't have another BSD system handy until later today, and Windows only lets me reformat to NTFS 

So, just to see if the media is having the problem, I tried my fancy, new SanDisk 8GB stick, and it works perfectly!

Even though Windows (of various versions) has no problem with it I'm going to try reformatting this older flash drive later today.

Thanks for steering me in the right direction!


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## vermaden (Oct 7, 2009)

@zac

You can use *Disk Management* from standart installation to delete partitions:
http://www.pcbuyerbeware.co.uk/Disk_Management_XP.gif

Or use free partition management software:
http://www.partition-tool.com/personal.htm


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