# external USB drive keeps disconnecting from laptop



## monkeyboy (Nov 25, 2012)

I'm having a problem using external USB hard drives with laptops and FreeBSD. I've tried several laptops (mostly Dell), several USB drives (external powered, Seagate), and FreeBSD versions 8.2 and 9.1RC3. The drive(s) keep disconnecting ("lost device") and reconnecting.

The same drive(s) work fine on Desktop PC FreeBSD, as well as Windows XP (including desktop PC and the same model laptops running XP). I presume its something in the ehci USB driver, perhaps handling the DEC uPD 720100 (the desktop PC uses an Intel chip I gather).

Suggestions on how to make external USB drives work with USB 2.0 and laptops very welcome...

A relevant snippet of messages below:


```
Nov 22 23:57:50 home kernel: ehci0: <NEC uPD 720100 USB 2.0 controller> mem 0x88
002000-0x880020ff irq 11 at device 0.2 on cardbus1
Nov 22 23:57:50 home kernel: ehci0: [ITHREAD]
Nov 22 23:57:50 home kernel: usbus3: EHCI version 1.0
Nov 22 23:57:50 home kernel: ugen2.1: <NEC> at usbus2
Nov 22 23:57:50 home kernel: uhub2: <NEC OHCI root HUB, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00
, addr 1> on usbus2
Nov 22 23:57:50 home kernel: usbus3: <NEC uPD 720100 USB 2.0 controller> on ehci
0
Nov 22 23:57:50 home kernel: usbus3: 480Mbps High Speed USB v2.0
Nov 22 23:57:50 home kernel: ugen3.1: <NEC> at usbus3
Nov 22 23:57:50 home kernel: uhub3: <NEC EHCI root HUB, class 9/0, rev 2.00/1.00
, addr 1> on usbus3
Nov 22 23:57:50 home kernel: uhub1: 3 ports with 3 removable, self powered
Nov 22 23:57:50 home kernel: uhub2: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
Nov 22 23:57:50 home kernel: uhub3: 5 ports with 5 removable, self powered

===

Nov 22 22:46:35 home kernel: umass0:0:0:-1: Attached to scbus0
Nov 22 22:46:35 home kernel: da0 at umass-sim0 bus 0 scbus0 target 0 lun 0
Nov 22 22:46:35 home kernel: da0: <Seagate FreeAgent 102D> Fixed Direct Access S
CSI-4 device
Nov 22 22:46:35 home kernel: da0: 40.000MB/s transfers
Nov 22 22:46:35 home kernel: da0: 1430799MB (2930277168 512 byte sectors: 255H 6
3S/T 182401C)
Nov 22 22:46:35 home kernel: ugen3.2: <Seagate> at usbus3 (disconnected)
Nov 22 22:46:35 home kernel: umass0: at uhub3, port 1, addr 2 (disconnected)
Nov 22 22:46:35 home kernel: (da0:umass-sim0:0:0:0): lost device
Nov 22 22:46:35 home kernel: (da0:umass-sim0:0:0:0): removing device entry
Nov 22 22:46:36 home root: Unknown USB device: vendor 0x0bc2 product 0x3001 bus
uhub3
Nov 22 22:46:36 home kernel: ugen3.2: <Seagate> at usbus3
Nov 22 22:46:36 home kernel: umass0: <Interface0> on usbus3
Nov 22 22:46:36 home kernel: umass0:  SCSI over Bulk-Only; quirks = 0x0000
Nov 22 22:46:37 home kernel: umass0:0:0:-1: Attached to scbus0
Nov 22 22:46:37 home kernel: da0 at umass-sim0 bus 0 scbus0 target 0 lun 0
Nov 22 22:46:37 home kernel: da0: <Seagate FreeAgent 102D> Fixed Direct Access S
CSI-4 device
Nov 22 22:46:37 home kernel: da0: 40.000MB/s transfers
Nov 22 22:46:37 home kernel: da0: 1430799MB (2930277168 512 byte sectors: 255H 6
3S/T 182401C)
Nov 22 22:46:37 home kernel: ugen3.2: <Seagate> at usbus3 (disconnected)
Nov 22 22:46:37 home kernel: umass0: at uhub3, port 1, addr 2 (disconnected)
Nov 22 22:46:37 home kernel: (da0:umass-sim0:0:0:0): AutoSense failed
Nov 22 22:46:37 home kernel: (da0:umass-sim0:0:0:0): lost device
Nov 22 22:46:37 home kernel: (da0:umass-sim0:0:0:0): removing device entry
Nov 22 22:46:39 home root: Unknown USB device: vendor 0x0bc2 product 0x3001 bus
uhub3
Nov 22 22:46:39 home kernel: ugen3.2: <Seagate> at usbus3
Nov 22 22:46:39 home kernel: umass0: <Interface0> on usbus3
Nov 22 22:46:39 home kernel: umass0:  SCSI over Bulk-Only; quirks = 0x0000
Nov 22 22:46:40 home kernel: umass0:0:0:-1: Attached to scbus0
Nov 22 22:46:40 home kernel: da0 at umass-sim0 bus 0 scbus0 target 0 lun 0
Nov 22 22:46:40 home kernel: da0: <Seagate FreeAgent 102D> Fixed Direct Access S
CSI-4 device
Nov 22 22:46:40 home kernel: da0: 40.000MB/s transfers
Nov 22 22:46:40 home kernel: da0: 1430799MB (2930277168 512 byte sectors: 255H 6
3S/T 182401C)
```


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## jb_fvwm2 (Nov 25, 2012)

Does the laptop have a new (fully charged) battery, or is running on AC power? Are you running commands that write to/from it speedily rather than slowly? Is it plugged into an intermittent hub before the usb port? Unsure which may be more pertinent...


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## monkeyboy (Nov 25, 2012)

jb_fvwm2 said:
			
		

> Does the laptop have a new (fully charged) battery, or is running on AC power? Are you running commands that write to/from it speedily rather than slowly? Is it plugged into an intermittent hub before the usb port? Unsure which may be more pertinent...


Laptop running off of AC but battery is also 100% charged and good.

Commands, well actually I don't need to even use any commands before the drives start doing their disconnect/reconnect cycling. If I get far enough (sometimes the drives are "stable" for 1-5mins), I start with fdisk, bsdlabel, mount, and rarely get to a point where I can start a dump or tar or similar.

No hub involved.


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## jb_fvwm2 (Nov 25, 2012)

FWIW, I had to replace an EIDE laptop disk and an inexpensive [1] usb disk caddy was the easiest way I found to install to it (nothing else would work.)  I'd review the amazon reviews for your disk enclosure... they seem to have a few hints which may help in this case, but maybe not...  ( I use external disks in two other methods *besides* usb routinely, using flash drives almost exclusively on the usb hub/port) 
[1] less than 10 dollars.


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## monkeyboy (Dec 2, 2012)

ok, well does anyone have FreeBSD ...
- working on a laptop
- with a USB 2.0 port
- and an external USB hard DISK drive (preferably a Seagate)

(working solidly)?


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