Recognizes USB devices intermittently

[unckybob]

My system recognizes USB devices intermittently. It's especially bad in my Ubuntu partition. Scott Mueller's "Upgrading and Repairing Laptops" recommends installing the proper chipset drivers, but know one answers my posts:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php? ... st11092920

Does anyone have any suggestions? Please help.

[rumbero]

My system recognizes USB devices intermittently. It's especially bad in my Ubuntu partition. Scott Mueller's "Upgrading and Repairing Laptops" recommends installing the proper chipset drivers, but know one answers my posts:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php? ... st11092920

In Linux, one usually doesn't install any driver addons, as they are supposed to be included with the Linux kernel by default.
This laptop repair book advise most probably only applies to Windows.

To be able to help, you are required to provide some information to serve as a first basis for properly analyzing your issue:

- Which exact Thinkpad model are you referring to? This model typ number should be printed on the back of your machine in the form of YYYY-XXX.
- Which exact Ubuntu release version are you running? Execute "cat /etc/lsb-release" in a terminal window and give us the results.
- Which exact kernel release version is used in your Ubuntu installation? Execute "uname -a" in a terminal window and give us the results.

It might already help to simply update your Ubuntu packages. There is possibly already a kernel update that fixes your issues.

[rkawakami]

Then again, it could be that the Southbridge chip has worked itself partially loose. It is, unfortunately, a typical problem seen on some of the T4x systems.

[unckybob]

There is a sticker on the back that says "2373-G5U".

# cat /etc/lsb-release

DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=11.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=natty
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 11.04"

# uname -a

Linux T40p-Ubuntu 2.6.38-10-generic #46-Ubuntu SMP Tue Jun 28 15:05:41 UTC 2011 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

Hope this helps.

[Neil]

I think Ray has identified the problem in his post above. FYI, below are the specs for your ThinkPad:

ThinkPad T40p (2373-G5U)
P M 1.6GHz, 512MB RAM, 60GB 7200rpm HDD, 14.1 SXGA+(1400x1050) TFT LCD, 64MB ATI Fire GL 9000, 16x10x24x/8x CD-RW/DVD(slim), Modem/Bluetooth, 1Gb Ether, 802.11b , Sec Chip, UltraNav, 9 cell Batt, WinXP Pro

[unckybob]

I put in a CardBus USB 2.0 adapter and now it works just fine. Some day I may try reflowing the motherboard.

Thanks.