After re-installing Lubuntu 12.04 system on my laptop an older problem re-emerged after a few days and installation of different programs: without apparent reason the external mouse and sometimes other usb connected devices (including hdd) stop working. The hdd shows it has tension as it has a light there, and the external mouse flashes for a second when plugged.
I have posted a different version of this problem before. I keep it for now as example of the two answers there. None of them works here.
Logging out-in does nothing, restart does.
The event seems entirely random, after reboot it will reappear after many days or weeks or, rarely, after a few hours.
- http://pastebin.com/0qR8bhhX in
var/log/syslog
after new occurrence (with only external wired mouse and keyboard)
What counts is at the end I guess:
Nov 24 14:06:55 cprq-HP-Compaq-nx8220-PY518EA-ABB kernel: [29953.822962] usb 3-1: USB disconnect, device number 3
Nov 24 14:06:57 cprq-HP-Compaq-nx8220-PY518EA-ABB kernel: [29955.069427] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.0: host controller process error, something bad happened!
Nov 24 14:06:57 cprq-HP-Compaq-nx8220-PY518EA-ABB kernel: [29955.069439] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.0: host controller halted, very bad!
Nov 24 14:06:57 cprq-HP-Compaq-nx8220-PY518EA-ABB kernel: [29955.069461] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.0: HC died; cleaning up
Nov 24 14:06:57 cprq-HP-Compaq-nx8220-PY518EA-ABB kernel: [29955.069492] usb 2-2: USB disconnect, device number 2
I have noticed that on most occasions only the external mouse and keyboard are affected, but not the external HDD. Or if it is, replugging it solves the problem.
I have a dual boot with WinXP: in Windows this never happens, so it is not a hardware issue
I have used Lubuntu Quantal 12.10 and the same problem happened there as well. Upgrading to that would not be a solution
On certain occasion only restarting 2 or even 3 times solved it.
Using the same PC/hardware with Linux Mint 14 (Quantal) Xfce, the problem almost disappeared(it happened once since then). I am not sure whether this 'solution' comes from using Xfce or Mint (I guess Mint 14 Nadia uses the same kernel as Lubuntu Quantal).