[21.10] iStorage USB device locks down after 3 minutes... All USB ports are not treated equally?

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I am not sure if here is the proper place to share this but I will give it a shot as it is likely somebody will face something similar in the future (Or has in the past) and there does not seem to be a lot of KBs about this.

I recently purchased an iStorage USB storage device and started using it on MATE 21.10.

By "using it" I mean:

  1. I wiped all partitions;
  2. I created a luks partition;
  3. I started a rsync over this newly created partition.

The problem is: the device kept falling back into lock mode after exactly a 3 minutes period of usage.

So I rsync a queue that would last 20 minutes but every 3 minutes it just locks.

After contacting their support they suggested that I should maybe try using another USB port. Silly I thought.

But that fixed it.

Literally: if I plug this device into the USB port of my keyboard it locks after 3 minutes but if I plug it into a front USB port of my chassis then the process will complete successfully.

So my assumption is: not all USB ports are managed equally and that sounds weird.

But of course, this doesn't seem to be an Ubuntu MATE issue but perhaps a kernel issue? My other problem is that I have no idea on how to troubleshoot this nor supply any technical information for people to look at this.

So here I am posting this thread in this forum.

Have anybody ever noticed some different behaviours when using different USB ports?

Where would be a good place to open a "bug" for this?

Because am such an alien, I have sensed other problems in the past and have opened this: Bug #1927878 “USB hubs priority (is there even such thing??) AKA...” : Bugs : Ubuntu MATE
but of course now this is different yet both issues affect the... same... USB port. Physically speaking.

Coincidence or am I on something?

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"All USB-ports are equal,
but some USB-ports are more equal than others"
George Orwell

As a matter of fact, yes, not all USB ports behave the same. Different USB-hardware (chip-level) can have different average speeds, timeouts, powerhandling etc. but nothing out of the ordinary.

if you do:
lsusb
you want to see both the keyboard listed and its build-in hub.

But of course, this doesn't seem to be an Ubuntu MATE issue but perhaps a kernel issue?

Yes, this is low-level stuff.
It could be a kernel-driver, it could be the hardware.

Also use "powertop" to see if you have any USB related powermode settings

Have anybody ever noticed some different behaviours when using different USB ports?

Yes, some can throw a fit when the powerconsumption of a USB-client (i.e. a portable 2.5" HD) exceeds the expected use which could initiate unexpected behaviour of the chip. Some can do weird stuff on powermode changes even in normal circumstances. And that is just hardware/firmware.

Where would be a good place to open a "bug" for this?

Most likely the manufacturer of your keyboard

If you want to be sure, test:

If you have the same problem with other operating systems:
(i.e. BSD, OpenSolaris, Illumos, Dragonfly, OSX or Windows)
---> The manufacturer of your keyboard

If you have the problem only on Linux:
---> The linux kernel

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Personally, I have a strong hunch that the root problem is that the keyboard is switching into a low-power mode after 3 minutes, and that switches the keyboard's USB ports into a low-power mode too. Try pressing a few keys on the keyboard right before the 3 minute mark, and see if the storage device still goes into lock mode. Also take @tkn's troubleshooting advice above.

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