2 x USB Joysticks doing strange things in Fedora

[stumajestic]

Hi there,

I'm having a bit of a weird issue on FC14 (Kernel 2.6.35.6-48.fc14.i686) and hoping someone here might be able to help!

Basically I have a PC which boots into Linux then runs a game called Stepmania. I have two dance pads connected via USB - now my problem comes here - when one is connected it works just fine, however when two are connected (they are exactly the same make and model), on some occasions (maybe 1/10 times) the 2nd pad isn't recognized. Well it is recognized, but not by what it should be, it looks like it just registers as a generic USB HID. Here is an excerpt from my dmesg:

Nov 15 12:02:34 localhost kernel: [    1.634045] usb 2-4: new low speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 2
Nov 15 12:02:34 localhost kernel: [    1.914144] usb 2-4: New USB device found, idVendor=048e, idProduct=0285
Nov 15 12:02:34 localhost kernel: [    1.914147] usb 2-4: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
Nov 15 12:02:34 localhost kernel: [    1.914149] usb 2-4: Product: DDR
Nov 15 12:02:34 localhost kernel: [    1.914151] usb 2-4: Manufacturer: DDR
Nov 15 12:02:34 localhost kernel: [    1.914152] usb 2-4: SerialNumber: DDR
Nov 15 12:02:34 localhost kernel: [    1.920357] ata3: SATA link down (SStatus 0 SControl 300)
Nov 15 12:02:34 localhost kernel: [    1.993237] input: DDR DDR as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/usb2/2-4/2-4:1.0/input/input2
Nov 15 12:02:34 localhost kernel: [    1.993306] generic-usb 0003:048E:0285.0001: input,hidraw0: USB HID v1.00 Joystick [DDR DDR] on usb-0000:00:02.0-4/input0
Nov 15 12:02:34 localhost kernel: [    2.043057] ata1: SATA link up 3.0 Gbps (SStatus 123 SControl 300)
Nov 15 12:02:34 localhost kernel: [    2.046436] ata1.00: ATA-8: ST3250312AS, JC4B, max UDMA/133
Nov 15 12:02:34 localhost kernel: [    2.046439] ata1.00: 488397168 sectors, multi 16: LBA48 NCQ (depth 0/32)
Nov 15 12:02:34 localhost kernel: [    2.052377] ata1.00: configured for UDMA/133
Nov 15 12:02:34 localhost kernel: [    2.052552] scsi 0:0:0:0: Direct-Access     ATA      ST3250312AS      JC4B PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
Nov 15 12:02:34 localhost kernel: [    2.052711] sd 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0
Nov 15 12:02:34 localhost kernel: [    2.052794] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 488397168 512-byte logical blocks: (250 GB/232 GiB)
Nov 15 12:02:34 localhost kernel: [    2.052874] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
Nov 15 12:02:34 localhost kernel: [    2.052901] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
Nov 15 12:02:34 localhost kernel: [    2.053082]  sda: sda1 sda2
Nov 15 12:02:34 localhost kernel: [    2.062947] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI disk
Nov 15 12:02:34 localhost kernel: [    2.254099] usb 2-5: new low speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 3
Nov 15 12:02:34 localhost kernel: [    2.365407] ata2: SATA link down (SStatus 0 SControl 300)
Nov 15 12:02:34 localhost kernel: [    2.495183] usb 2-5: string descriptor 0 read error: -62
Nov 15 12:02:34 localhost kernel: [    2.495188] usb 2-5: New USB device found, idVendor=048e, idProduct=0285
Nov 15 12:02:34 localhost kernel: [    2.495190] usb 2-5: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
Nov 15 12:02:34 localhost kernel: [    2.524170] usb 2-5: ctrl urb status -62 received
Nov 15 12:02:34 localhost kernel: [    2.524258] input: HID 048e:0285 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/usb2/2-5/2-5:1.0/input/input3
Nov 15 12:02:34 localhost kernel: [    2.524326] generic-usb 0003:048E:0285.0002: input,hidraw1: USB HID v1.00 Joystick [HID 048e:0285] on usb-0000:00:02.0-5/input0

So they have the same product & manufacturer codes, and should both be identified as DDR DDR but on some occasions they aren't.

I have tried with different boxes so I don't think its a hardware issue (unless there was a really dodgy batch or something).

Thanks in advance for your help.

Stuart

[Roxoff]

Seems very odd. I wouldn't think that your configuration would be used very often, and might not have been tried by the USB driver developers - so you might have found a genuine bug.

If I were you I'd try to repeat this on the latest version of Fedora (16) by booting from a LiveCD image to see if the problem still exists, and raise a bug if necessary through the official Fedora site.

[stumajestic]

Thanks for getting back to me, yes I agree that I don't think it's a very common problem!

I've grabbed the latest copy of fedora and ubuntu and will keep testing to see if the issue re-occurs.

One idea I did have to get this going quickly if the problem persists with the latest versions is to write a small script that checks how many joysticks are connected, if it is less than two then reset the USB. I have tried to google how to do this and have found one way that is to use modprobe on ehci_hcd however in fedora and ubuntu ehci is built in, I found how to stop ehci by doing:

echo -n "0000:00:xx.x" > /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ehci_hcd/unbind

Where xx.x corresponds to the results of

lspci|grep -i ehci

But I am not sure how to get it back up and running again.

I guess I am going a little off topic on my original question so may be worth posting this seperately, but any ideas as to how to get this done ?

Many thanks

[stumajestic]

Ok i've asked the question in a separate topic under "Restart USB (ehci) in Fedora 14" (can't link yet!) - so thanks for your help with this question Roxoff