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graysky

Wiki Maintainer

From: :wq

Registered: 2008-12-01

Posts: 10,601

Website

external USB storage no longer recognized by kernel [SOLVED]

If I plug in an external USB thumb drive, my system no longer sees it.

-gdisk and fdisk do not see it
-gparted cannot see it
-thunar cannot see it

I have a USB mouse and keyboard that work just fine.  Here is my dmesg.  You can see in the last line that something detected me plugging in the USB thumb drive, but that's it.  Is this something with udev or ?

[  110.596683] usb 1-3: new high-speed USB device number 4 using ehci_hcd

I found this thread but my problem is different from the op's.

I run the linux-ck package from the AUR but as a sanity check, installed the ARCH kernel package and this problem exists under both:

$ uname -r
3.2.6-2-ARCH

Last edited by graysky (2012-02-19 00:44:26)

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CPU-optimized Linux-ck packages @ Repo-ck  • AUR packages • Zsh and other configs

graysky

Wiki Maintainer

From: :wq

Registered: 2008-12-01

Posts: 10,601

Website

Re: external USB storage no longer recognized by kernel [SOLVED]

Dunno what the problem with this is... only exists when I boot off a USB stick.  I am forced to conclude that the USB stick has issues.  After wiping it with dd and copying back over the system, everything is fine.  Odd.

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CPU-optimized Linux-ck packages @ Repo-ck  • AUR packages • Zsh and other configs

manzdagratiano

Member

From: New Jersey, USA

Registered: 2010-10-08

Posts: 137

Re: external USB storage no longer recognized by kernel [SOLVED]

I know this thread is marked solved, but I have the exact same problem - I just installed the linux-ck package from the AUR (running linux-ck version 3.2.11-1), alongwith the nvidia-ck package. The kernel was compiled with the localmodcfg and BFQ options enabled in the pkgbuild. Now when I plug in an external drive, dmesg detects it, but no device nodes are created under /dev.

There is nothing wrong with the drives (happens with multiple drives) - and they are mounting fine under the stock kernel. lsusb also shows the drive present. I thought this might be an issue with needing to rebuild initramfs using mkinitcpio, but the available hooks seem to include all the usual ones from the stock kernel, nor does the wiki article mention needing to do such a thing. Any ideas?

EDIT: I didn't notice in the OP that the problem persisted with both the -ck kernel and the stock kernel. In my case, it only persists with the -ck kernel - and this happens on two different computers.

Last edited by manzdagratiano (2012-03-16 06:40:27)

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Be formless, shapeless... like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup; you put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle; if you put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot... Now water can flow, or it can crash... Be water my friend

manzdagratiano

Member

From: New Jersey, USA

Registered: 2010-10-08

Posts: 137

Re: external USB storage no longer recognized by kernel [SOLVED]

Okay, I might have an understanding of the situation - since I was lazy and did not try to configure the kernel myself as in Gentoo, it seems like CONFIG_USB_STORAGE is not set in the kernel - apparently relying on localmodcfg is not enough. I will be lazy again and compile it with generic options like the stock kernel, and see if this flag gets enabled - else I shall have to subject myself to the joys of kernel configuration yet again.

EDIT: Decided to not be that lazy after all and enabled localmodcfg as well as the nconfig option - checked in the USB storage options manually, cursorily glancing at the other ones, and am now compiling. Fingers crossed! In the future, Herr graysky's modprobed_db script will really come in handy!

Last edited by manzdagratiano (2012-03-16 12:58:51)

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Be formless, shapeless... like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup; you put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle; if you put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot... Now water can flow, or it can crash... Be water my friend

manzdagratiano

Member

From: New Jersey, USA

Registered: 2010-10-08

Posts: 137

Re: external USB storage no longer recognized by kernel [SOLVED]

BINGO!!! Works like a charm... And this is why it shall ALWAYS be GNU/Linux!

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Be formless, shapeless... like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup; you put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle; if you put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot... Now water can flow, or it can crash... Be water my friend

prakharsingh95

Member

From: Roorkee

Registered: 2014-10-02

Posts: 33

Re: external USB storage no longer recognized by kernel [SOLVED]

Okay, I might have an understanding of the situation - since I was lazy and did not try to configure the kernel myself as in Gentoo, it seems like CONFIG_USB_STORAGE is not set in the kernel - apparently relying on localmodcfg is not enough. I will be lazy again and compile it with generic options like the stock kernel, and see if this flag gets enabled - else I shall have to subject myself to the joys of kernel configuration yet again.

EDIT: Decided to not be that lazy after all and enabled localmodcfg as well as the nconfig option - checked in the USB storage options manually, cursorily glancing at the other ones, and am now compiling. Fingers crossed! In the future, Herr graysky's modprobed_db script will really come in handy!

AAAAAAAHHhhh. How is it that this option is NOT enabled by default. I compiled my kernel 7 times and still no USB support! And now it's facepalm as the option unchecked....I am so so so trolled.

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A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.

Trilby

Inspector Parrot

Registered: 2011-11-29

Posts: 29,579

Website

Re: external USB storage no longer recognized by kernel [SOLVED]

prakharsingh,

Please do not "necrobump" old threads, particularly ones that have been solved for over 2 years.

Closing.

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"UNIX is simple and coherent..." - Dennis Ritchie, "GNU's Not UNIX" -  Richard Stallman