Arch Linux

nathan28

Member

Registered: 2011-05-18

Posts: 61

slow USB transfer

I can't figure out how to replicate this yet, but it's happened twice today. I'm stuck and don't know what to look at next, but it's a problem.

My USB transfer speeds slowed to a crawl on a 2GB directory copied via Ranger just now, and earlier on a larger transfer. Several GB took ~2 hours over USB 2.0 from ext4 HDD to fat32 USB. The USB stick is RadioShack's GigaWare brand and shows up as Sandisk in lsusb, and never been formatted since i opened it.

Looks like ehci_hcd is loading properly for the disk. usb 8-2 is my mouse. Got a USB fan plugged in (one 5V one), too.

I haven't modified the udev rules and usually let udiskie mount things.

dmesg | grep usb

[304447.009631] usb 1-3: reset high speed USB device number 2 using ehci_hcd
[304447.239650] usb 8-2: reset full speed USB device number 2 using uhci_hcd
[306484.456105] usb 2-1: new high speed USB device number 7 using ehci_hcd
[306484.581252] scsi10 : usb-storage 2-1:1.0
[309421.079092] usb 2-1: USB disconnect, device number 7
[324573.564350] usb 8-2: USB disconnect, device number 2
[372694.409521] usb 8-2: new full speed USB device number 3 using uhci_hcd
[372694.576607] input: Microsoft Microsoft® Nano Transceiver v2.0 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.2/usb8/8-2/8-2:1.0/input/input17
[372694.576714] generic-usb 0003:045E:0745.0004: input,hidraw0: USB HID v1.11 Keyboard [Microsoft Microsoft® Nano Transceiver v2.0] on usb-0000:00:1d.2-2/input0
[snip]
[496984.930431] usb 2-1: new high speed USB device number 8 using ehci_hcd
[496985.056227] scsi11 : usb-storage 2-1:1.0
[498636.454057] usb 2-1: USB disconnect, device number 8
[499099.880160] usb 2-1: new high speed USB device number 9 using ehci_hcd
[499100.005128] scsi12 : usb-storage 2-1:1.0
[499953.395984] usb 2-1: USB disconnect, device number 9
[659242.307482] usb 2-2: new high speed USB device number 10 using ehci_hcd
[659242.786728] usbcore: registered new interface driver usblp
[661547.446152] usb 2-2: USB disconnect, device number 10
[681909.354822] usb usb3: root hub lost power or was reset
[681909.354862] usb usb4: root hub lost power or was reset
[681909.354902] usb usb5: root hub lost power or was reset
[681909.355014] usb usb6: root hub lost power or was reset
[681909.355053] usb usb7: root hub lost power or was reset
[681909.355091] usb usb8: root hub lost power or was reset
[681909.595249] usb 1-3: reset high speed USB device number 2 using ehci_hcd
[681909.825233] usb 8-2: reset full speed USB device number 4 using uhci_hcd
[788645.857480] usb usb3: root hub lost power or was reset 
[788645.857521] usb usb4: root hub lost power or was reset
[788645.857560] usb usb5: root hub lost power or was reset
[788645.857806] usb usb6: root hub lost power or was reset
[788645.857861] usb usb7: root hub lost power or was reset
[788645.857901] usb usb8: root hub lost power or was reset
[788646.097878] usb 1-3: reset high speed USB device number 2 using ehci_hcd
[788646.327888] usb 8-2: reset full speed USB device number 4 using uhci_hcd
[1043552.825767] usb 2-3: new high speed USB device number 11 using ehci_hcd
[1043552.951568] scsi13 : usb-storage 2-3:1.0
[1069442.865548] usb 2-3: USB disconnect, device number 11        # Disk unmounted with udiskie via pcmanfm and physically removed
[1069585.269848] usb 2-3: new high speed USB device number 12 using ehci_hcd   # Disk reinserted and mounted
[1069585.394806] scsi14 : usb-storage 2-3:1.0   # Transfer speeds are normal again

I'm not sure where to look next to try to diagnose. There's a bug report that may describe this but i'm out of my depth here.

On edit I'm assuming those power lost/reset events are suspends but not sure.

Last edited by nathan28 (2011-08-24 03:19:46)

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in the beginning was the switch operator

pigiron

Member

From: USA

Registered: 2009-07-14

Posts: 150

Re: slow USB transfer

First of all, what I'm about to say may be close to worthless... but that never stopped me before

But this caught my eye:

Looks like ehci_hcd is loading properly for the disk. usb 8-2 is my mouse. Got a USB fan plugged in (one 5V one), too.

combined with this:

[788645.857480] usb usb3: root hub lost power or was reset
[788645.857521] usb usb4: root hub lost power or was reset
[788645.857560] usb usb5: root hub lost power or was reset
[788645.857806] usb usb6: root hub lost power or was reset
[788645.857861] usb usb7: root hub lost power or was reset
[788645.857901] usb usb8: root hub lost power or was reset

I have a nettop powered by one of those little 90W "brick" power supplies and if I plug my Hauppage USB TV adapter into the sucker it draws so much power that all hell breaks loose on the system. I can't tell how badly though because the USB keyboard goes dead.

A powered USB hub fixed that issue.

But again, I have no idea if this is even remotely related to your errors.

Another thing (since I'm on a roll with bad advice)... I've got some USB flash drives that are simply dog slow... they just are. Put a different brand into the same slot and do the same operations and the difference is amazing. Plus, you don't mention the size of the USB flash drive, but they are known to get slower on writes the closer they are to being full... that's just how they roll.