External hard drive not detected sometimes

[kaypoush]

Hi,

Sometimes my external hard drive is not detected by the system. Nothing shows up in dmesg or lsusb when it happens. I need to shutdown the system, remove any cable, wait for a minute and then restart to fix temporarily the issue (and it's not working all the time so maybe it's not even a fix..). The disk is in NTFS so ntfs-3g is installed. It's also supported by the kernel (usb-storage driver). The cable seems to have no issue. The only thing I read that may be the cause is not having enough power to fully power up the disk but I don't see why sometimes it works and other times it doesn't. I mean if it doesn't have enough power why it works sometimes anyway? Or if it's related to MrChromeBox firmware? I have no clue. Hope you can help me out.

Here are a bunch of infos on my system and the actual disk. If you need something else, just tell me. Thanks.

My system:

Asus Chromebook 11 (CB3-131) (Gnawty)
Intel Baytrail
MrChromebox-4.12 (06/04/2020) Full ROM / UEFI / WP disabled
GalliumOS 3.1 x64 / 5.7.1-050701-generic (had the same issue with the galliumos kernel btw)

My external disk (when it's detected):

Bus 002 Device 002: ID 1058:0820 Western Digital Technologies, Inc. My Passport Ultra (WDBMWV, WDBZFP)

T:  Bus=02 Lev=01 Prnt=01 Port=00 Cnt=01 Dev#=  2 Spd=5000 MxCh= 0
D:  Ver= 3.00 Cls=00(>ifc ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS= 9 #Cfgs=  1
P:  Vendor=1058 ProdID=0820 Rev=10.12
S:  Manufacturer=Western Digital
S:  Product=My Passport 0820
S:  SerialNumber=57584331413135374C4B414A
C:  #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=80 MxPwr=896mA
I:  If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 2 Cls=08(stor.) Sub=06 Prot=50 Driver=usb-storage

Disque /dev/sda : 931,5 GiB, 1000170586112 octets, 1953458176 secteurs
Unités : secteur de 1 × 512 = 512 octets
Taille de secteur (logique / physique) : 512 octets / 512 octets
taille d'E/S (minimale / optimale) : 512 octets / 512 octets
Type d'étiquette de disque : dos
Identifiant de disque : 0x1e69f7bb

Périphérique Amorçage Début        Fin   Secteurs Taille Id Type
/dev/sda1              2048 1953454079 1953452032 931,5G  7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

/dev/sda1: LABEL="HANDISK" UUID="6D7773604CA7E9CD" TYPE="ntfs" PARTUUID="1e69f7bb-01"

[   64.832328] usb 2-1: new SuperSpeed Gen 1 USB device number 2 using xhci_hcd
[   64.855204] usb 2-1: New USB device found, idVendor=1058, idProduct=0820, bcdDevice=10.12
[   64.855220] usb 2-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=5
[   64.855232] usb 2-1: Product: My Passport 0820
[   64.855242] usb 2-1: Manufacturer: Western Digital
[   64.855252] usb 2-1: SerialNumber: 57584331413135374C4B414A
[   65.462602] usb-storage 2-1:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[   65.467217] scsi host0: usb-storage 2-1:1.0
[   65.467580] usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage
[   65.473802] usbcore: registered new interface driver uas
[   66.468609] scsi 0:0:0:0: Direct-Access     WD       My Passport 0820 1012 PQ: 0 ANSI: 6
[   66.468829] scsi 0:0:0:1: Enclosure         WD       SES Device       1012 PQ: 0 ANSI: 6
[   66.472050] sd 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0
[   66.474524] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Spinning up disk...
[   66.476705] scsi 0:0:0:1: Attached scsi generic sg1 type 13
[   67.491995] .
[   70.763304] scsi 0:0:0:1: Wrong diagnostic page; asked for 1 got 8
[   70.763331] scsi 0:0:0:1: Failed to get diagnostic page 0x1
[   70.763351] scsi 0:0:0:1: Failed to bind enclosure -19
[   70.764498] ready
[   70.764862] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 1953458176 512-byte logical blocks: (1.00 TB/931 GiB)
[   70.765342] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
[   70.765359] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 47 00 10 08
[   70.765829] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] No Caching mode page found
[   70.765852] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through
[   70.787132]  sda: sda1
[   70.788870] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI disk
[   70.789158] ses 0:0:0:1: Attached Enclosure device

[reynhout]

This is a common failure mode for the problem you describe (inadequate power from USB port). The intermittence is not surprising. Verify with a USB hub. There's no other likely cause except hardware failure, unfortunately.

[kaypoush]

I will buy a usb hub and see if the problem persists. Thank you for your answer.

[kaypoush]

I'm late but just to inform you that it was not a problem with gallium os so I'm closing this issue.