[PlanetCCRMA] USB audio interface kills uhci_hcd module

[Len]

--- On Fri, 8/21/09, Luis Garrido <luisgarrido at users.sourceforge.net> wrote:

> From: Luis Garrido <luisgarrido at users.sourceforge.net>
> Subject: [PlanetCCRMA] USB audio interface kills uhci_hcd module
> To: "Planet_CCRMA" <planetccrma at ccrma.Stanford.EDU>
> Date: Friday, August 21, 2009, 9:33 AM
> Hi!
> 
> I've been running the 2.6.26.8-1.rt16.1.fc10.ccrma.i686 rt
> kernel for
> a while without any complaints. Only recently I had the
> need to use my
> USB audio interface Edirol UA-25 for a recording and found
> a strange
> bug.
> 
> A few seconds after pluging it in the uhci subsystem drops
> dead,
> taking the whole USB stack down with it:
> 
> Aug 20 13:50:35 membrillo kernel: uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.3:
> host
> controller process error, something bad happened!
> Aug 20 13:50:35 membrillo kernel: uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.3:
> host
> controller halted, very bad!
> Aug 20 13:50:35 membrillo kernel: uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.3: HC
> died; cleaning up
> Aug 20 13:50:35 membrillo kernel: usb 5-1: USB disconnect,
> address 2
> 
> For all the vaunted Linux rock solid stability, if I happen
> to have
> jackd running attached to it the effect will be the same
> than if I
> unplug the USB module: the system will freeze beyond any
> soft
> resetting. Boo! }:-)
> 
> This won't happen with other USB devices like a pendrive or
> a Bluetooth dongle.
> 
> Other kernels like the Fedora stock one
> 2.6.27.29-170.2.79.fc10.i686
> or the Planet experimental
> 2.6.29-0.1.rt3.1.rc6.fc10.ccrma.i686
> exhibit the exact same behaviour.
> 
> In the end I was hard pressed for time and had to use
> another laptop
> which was running a Ubuntu standard kernel. I configured a
> somehow
> conservative latency (64 ms) and was able to record 90
> minutes of
> 48kHz stereo with only one single xrun (and it happened
> when I first
> launched Ardour, so it doesn't count), it is nice to
> confirm that
> stock kernels nowadays are reliable enough from some
> undemanding audio
> tasks.
> 
> After the session I googled around and found a possible
> workaround:
> removing the ehci_hcd driver.
> 
> rmmod ehci_hcd
> 
> This disables high speed USB, but since the UA-25 is a USB
> 1.1 device
> anyway I can live with that while working with audio.
> 
> I have tried it and it does seem to improve things, but
> after a couple
> of hours the module will die anyway:
> 
> Aug 21 13:22:10 membrillo kernel: ehci_hcd 0000:00:1d.7:
> remove, state 4
> Aug 21 13:22:10 membrillo kernel: usb usb1: USB disconnect,
> address 1
> Aug 21 13:22:10 membrillo kernel: ehci_hcd 0000:00:1d.7:
> USB bus 1 deregistered
> Aug 21 13:22:10 membrillo kernel: ACPI: PCI interrupt for
> device
> 0000:00:1d.7 disabled
> Aug 21 13:22:23 membrillo kernel: usb 2-2: new full speed
> USB device
> using uhci_hcd and address 2
> Aug 21 13:22:23 membrillo kernel: usb 2-2: configuration #1
> chosen from 1 choice
> Aug 21 13:22:23 membrillo kernel: usb 2-2: New USB device
> found,
> idVendor=0582, idProduct=0074
> Aug 21 13:22:23 membrillo kernel: usb 2-2: New USB device
> strings:
> Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
> Aug 21 13:22:23 membrillo kernel: usb 2-2: Product: EDIROL
> UA-25
> Aug 21 13:22:23 membrillo kernel: usb 2-2: Manufacturer:
> Roland
> Aug 21 13:22:24 membrillo kernel: usbcore: registered new
> interface
> driver snd-usb-audio
> Aug 21 13:26:09 membrillo kernel: [drm:i915_getparam]
> *ERROR* Unknown
> parameter 5
> Aug 21 15:16:23 membrillo kernel: uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.0:
> host
> controller process error, something bad ha
> ppened!
> Aug 21 15:16:23 membrillo kernel: uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.0:
> host
> controller halted, very bad!
> Aug 21 15:16:23 membrillo kernel: uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.0: HC
> died; cleaning up
> Aug 21 15:16:23 membrillo kernel: usb 2-2: USB disconnect,
> address 2
> 
> I don't entirely rule out possible hardware failure, I have
> read that
> after some inevitable motherboard flexing it is not
> entirely uncommon
> that laptop's connections with external ports suffer and
> may exhibit
> connection problems, I had already to replace this laptop's
> mobo
> shortly after purchasing it because of freezes and problems
> with the
> USB ports. BUT... it seems to only happen with this
> particular device
> and only since I upgraded from FC7 to FC10. I'll try some
> other live
> distros and see.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Luis
>

For what it's worth, I've had problems with USB as well.  In order to do serious audio, I have to disable USB in the BIOS.  Otherwise, jack eventually throws sync errors and stops working.  Fortunately, I'm using a PCI audio interface, so I can live without the USB while recording/editing.  

I was mainly using kernel-rt-2.6.29.6-1.rt23.2.fc10.ccrma.i686, but it didn't seem to be specific to any particular kernel, stock or real-time.

More fun:  I recently upgraded my system to use SATA hard disks instead of PATA (same mobo, just upgraded disks).  Now I get lots of SATA disk errors (Failed to IDENTIFY) until all the disks go down and the system locks up.  Nice.  Fix one thing, break another.  I'm hoping that it's just that they are new disks and the linux kernel hasn't caught up to them yet.

Len