nvidia hell, verse 2.6.38.8-pclos3.pae.bfs

[Almost-retired]

I have had a considerable hassle getting a printer that is 3 hubs away from my machine to be reliably recognized at boot time, often having to unplug and replug the data cable to the parent hub of that branch of my usb tree, followed by a restart of the cups system when it is finally recognized.  Its good then till the next reboot, or power failure since the hub on the far end of an extension hub cable is not ups protected.

Posing the question on linux-usb's mailing list, I was asked to set CONFIG_USB_DEBUG, rebuild and re-install the kernel, which I did by retrieving the config for 2.5.38.8-pclos.pae.bfs from the /boot partition, doing a make xconfig in the installed src tree after renaming the src tree to that exact version because my build/install script cd's in and out of it, which in turn requires that the Makefile, my script $VER variable and the src directory all match.

Making sure all the links in /boot were set correctly, I rebooted.  But on the reboot, dkms-nvidia-current when executed, claims the nvida driver is already installed.  But my script moves the old /lib/modules/$ver out of the way so I can recover (if everything else is ok that is) by renaming it, the vmlinuz and inintrd back to the original names.

But by then the damage is done as X then reverts to trying to run the newvoo(sp?) driver, which because other libs are nvidia's, fails, leaving me with a single high res text screen.

I was able to extract the logs of the miss-behaving usb stuff and post them, and am now rebooted to the previous 2.6.38.8-pclos2.pae.bfs kernel, fixed /etc/X11/xorg.conf, and X is running but poorly, the cursor disappears in kmails composer for 5 to 10 seconds every time I hit the return key.

I have removed 'completely' the dkms-nvidia-current, and the kernel-2.6.38.8-pclos3.pae.bfs packages, then re-installed them both, but the reboot gets me a messsage 'already installed on this kernel' from dkms-nvida-current, and X then plays hell with my xorg.conf trying to make it run newvoo or whatever the heck its called.

What do I need to do to revert to the latest kernel package AND use the nvidia-current driver?  I checked the dkms man page and there does not seem to be a 'force' option.

Thanks, & Cheers, Gene

[Almost-retired]

Ping?

And this afternoon the wife asked me to scan & copy the senior citizens menu for the month, and that disclosed that I no longer have a scanner!

Its built into an Epson NX515, but despite 2 reboots and moving its data cable to 3 or 4 different ports, the scanner is not found.  I do see this when the data cable is removed and plugged in again:

\Oct 17 13:55:26 coyote klogd: usblp2: removed
Oct 17 13:55:26 coyote klogd: usb 1-5.2: USB disconnect, address 50
Oct 17 13:55:26 coyote udev-configure-printer: Disabled printer ipp://localhost:631/printers/Epson_Stylus_NX515 as the corresponding device was unplugged or turned off
Oct 17 13:55:31 coyote klogd: usb 1-5.4.3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 51
Oct 17 13:55:31 coyote klogd: usb 1-5.4.3: New USB device found, idVendor=04b8, idProduct=0856
Oct 17 13:55:31 coyote klogd: usb 1-5.4.3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
Oct 17 13:55:31 coyote klogd: usb 1-5.4.3: Product: USB2.0 MFP(Hi-Speed)
Oct 17 13:55:31 coyote klogd: usb 1-5.4.3: Manufacturer: EPSON
Oct 17 13:55:31 coyote klogd: usb 1-5.4.3: SerialNumber: 4C454C593037313524
Oct 17 13:55:31 coyote klogd: usblp2: USB Bidirectional printer dev 51 if 1 alt 0 proto 2 vid 0x04B8 pid 0x0856
Oct 17 13:55:31 coyote klogd: scsi15 : usb-storage 1-5.4.3:1.2
Oct 17 13:55:31 coyote udev-configure-printer: invalid or missing IEEE 1284 Device ID
Oct 17 13:55:32 coyote klogd: scsi 15:0:0:0: Direct-Access     EPSON    Storage          1.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
Oct 17 13:55:32 coyote klogd: sd 15:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg5 type 0
Oct 17 13:55:32 coyote klogd: sd 15:0:0:0: [sde] Attached SCSI removable disk
Oct 17 13:55:32 coyote klogd: usb 1-5.4.3: usbfs: interface 1 claimed by usblp while 'usb' sets config #1
Oct 17 13:55:34 coyote udev-configure-printer: Re-enabled printer ipp://localhost:631/printers/Epson_Stylus_NX515

This Epson MFP has also been power down reset several times.  And it did work flawlessly 2 or 3 weeks ago when I last used it.  It also has slots for memory cards on the front panel which I've never used and assume are the usb-storage modules outputs.

Also, because X no longer works on the latest kernel, I am running 2.6.38.8-pclos2.pae.bfs if that means anything in re this new problem.

Can anyone help?

Thanks & Cheers, Gene

[Almost-retired]

FWIW, I plugged in an old Epson 1250u scanner, and it found it normally.

So the question then is:  Has my NX515 died?

Thanks & Cheers, Gene

[Almost-retired]

Well, its been about 6 months now with no replies.

The printer in question is an Epson NX515, with a built in scanner that did work, way back up the log.
To get a fresh discovery in messages I did a power down, and got this when I turned it back on:

Mar  1 10:50:39 coyote klogd: usb 1-5.4.3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 29
Mar  1 10:50:39 coyote klogd: usb 1-5.4.3: New USB device found, idVendor=04b8, idProduct=0856
Mar  1 10:50:39 coyote klogd: usb 1-5.4.3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
Mar  1 10:50:39 coyote klogd: usb 1-5.4.3: Product: USB2.0 MFP(Hi-Speed)
Mar  1 10:50:39 coyote klogd: usb 1-5.4.3: Manufacturer: EPSON
Mar  1 10:50:39 coyote klogd: usb 1-5.4.3: SerialNumber: 4C454C593037313524
Mar  1 10:50:39 coyote klogd: usblp2: USB Bidirectional printer dev 29 if 1 alt 0 proto 2 vid 0x04B8 pid 0x0856
Mar  1 10:50:39 coyote klogd: scsi10 : usb-storage 1-5.4.3:1.2
Mar  1 10:50:40 coyote udev-configure-printer: invalid or missing IEEE 1284 Device ID
Mar  1 10:50:40 coyote klogd: scsi 10:0:0:0: Direct-Access     EPSON    Storage          1.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
Mar  1 10:50:40 coyote klogd: sd 10:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg5 type 0
Mar  1 10:50:40 coyote klogd: sd 10:0:0:0: [sde] Attached SCSI removable disk
Mar  1 10:50:41 coyote klogd: usb 1-5.4.3: usbfs: interface 1 claimed by usblp while 'usb' sets config #1
Mar  1 10:50:43 coyote udev-configure-printer: Re-enabled printer ipp://localhost:631/printers/Epson_Stylus_NX515

I'm not at all sure what udev-configure-printer is fussing about, the device pid hasn't changed in 2+ years.  And back when it was working, its scans were obviously better than my old faithful Epson 1250u, much much less shading.
 
Has anyone else got one of these beasts, and if so, is it's scanner working for you?

Thanks, Gene

[pags]

While this is the first time I've come across this thread (sorry if you felt neglected for six months), I think the biggest issue with your post is it is trying to cover a multitude of issues at the same time, possibly discouraging or confusing anyone from helping...

If I read it correctly, your primary issue is with a USB connected multi-function device (the printer/scanner issue).  Unfortunately, your subject in no way indicates that, instead noting video driver issues, and possibly a kernel issue).

I would recommend that you make a separate post for each problem.  However, before doing that, I would also recommend that you get the latest ISO image, and try running from a LiveCD environment, and test if the problems persist.  It sounds like you made some changes that make it difficult to support you, so working from a known environment is a good starting point.