# Can't get usb working :(

## BradB

Hi all - I've had a look through the forums & can't find anybody with quite my problem.

I do have USB and the USB file sys compiled into my kernel, but there is no /proc/bus/usb directory, so usb programs don't work  :Sad: 

I've recompiled my kernel & modules several times, but nothing fixes me up.  Do I need to re-run grub/lilo after a compile, or just rename my bzImage?

Cheers

Brad

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## delta407

You need to have UHCI or OHCI (depending on your chipset) support enabled in the kernel.

Also, to install a new kernel, you don't need to re-run GRUB, you just need to copy the new bzImage in (but be sure /boot is mounted first).

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## BradB

I'm 99% sure I have UHCI (I run a VIA board) enabled.  Good to hear I don't need to re-run GRUB, thought that may have been my problem.

I guess I'll have a play with kernel options some more - at the moment I compile as modules.  Oh, also when I lsmod, usbcore is loaded.

Brad

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## delta407

usbcore is loaded, good, but is usb-uhci?

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## BradB

hmm, not sure - I'll have to check when I get home.  Thanks for the help Delta - much appreciated.  Usb for my digi cam is about the last thing I need to get going before I can ditch Mandrake.  

Cheers

Brad

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## pjp

Someone else had a USB problem while loading something as a module.  Try compiling it into the kernel.

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## BradB

Hmm, I use Lilo as a boot manager & I just read somewhere that it does need to be re-run, is this true - or does the "replace bzImage" way still work OK?

Cheers

Brad

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## delta407

I haven't used LILO, but AFAIK you can replace the bzImage without re-running it.

But, you might as well re-run it just for good measure.  :Wink: 

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## fghellar

lilo needs to be re-run, grub doesn't.

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## BradB

OK, I've got GRUB as my boot loader now - so no more running Lilo (which came from my Mandrake distro)

Anyhow, I've noew got usbcore loading as a module, but usb-uhci doesn't load at boot (I have to modprobe it) - is this normal and should I add usb-uhci into the modules.autoload file?  Next thing, when I do modprobe usb-uhci the program usbview shows my camera (Canon A20) in the tree, and gtkam can detect it - but it cannot initialise it.

Any more suggestions would be great.

Cheers

Brad

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## pjp

Have you tried compiling USB options into the kernel?

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## MacMasta

looking at my kernel config I see several camera drivers listed.

Question: it's not clear whether or not you still have Mandrake installed.

If you do, could you post the output of lsmod?

If nothing in there looks good, look around in the Mandrake kernel config under usb and see how much it differs from yours - maybe one of those drivers is necessary.

~Mac~

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## BonezTheGoon

 *BradB wrote:*   

> Anyhow, I've noew got usbcore loading as a module, but usb-uhci doesn't load at boot (I have to modprobe it) - is this normal and should I add usb-uhci into the modules.autoload file?

 

The difference is that you have USBCORE compiled into the kernel and you have USB-UHCI setup to be a module.  As long as adding USB-UHCI to the modules.autoload works I'd leave it at that.  If you don't want to have to add it to the modules.autoload you could try compiling the support directly into your kernel.  There are many cases though (like USB mice for example) where loading the module will work much more easily than having the support direct in the kernel [I'm no kernel author so I don't know what is going on that causes that, I am just relaying learned information from experience and other threads on USB Mice].  If you do a search on USB Mice in the forums there are a few VERY GOOD Linux USB (general USB) help-type guides available that might shed some light on where your challenge is.  

((Edit: Here is one such thread that provides various USB Linux info and links ----> https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=79))

Hope that helps!!

Regards,

BonezTheGoon

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## retinaburn

Sounds like you almost got the problem solved, I ran into this again last night so I will share what I did.

I ran these two commands:

/sbin/modprobe hid

/sbin/modprobe mousedev 

Then modified my XF86Config file changing the /dev/mouse to /dev/usbmouse (of course ensuring that the device link was actually there).

Once I saw it worked I added hid and mousedev to /etc/modules.autoload as someone above mentioned.

I keep my other mouse still attached to my computer in case this kinda thing happens again, you never know  :Wink: 

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## BonezTheGoon

BradB did you get this all figured out?  What's going on, how did it go?  Please post your results and what you had to do so that others can learn from your hard work!!

Thanks,

BonezTheGoon

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## BradB

Sorry I've gone quiet - I haven't used my home PC for ages as I've been insanely busy at work & really didn't want to look at a PC after  :Smile: 

I'll post what happens when I get this stuff worked out  :Smile: 

Later

Brad

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## BonezTheGoon

 *BradB wrote:*   

> I'll post what happens when I get this stuff worked out

 

Cool man, no pressure!  I understand life sometimes takes priority over Linux, just sometimes.  I just wanted to make sure we kept up to date.  If the jury is still out, then thats the way it is!!   :Smile:   Thanks for getting back to us!

Regards,

BonezTheGoon

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## BradB

Hey guys.  I can detect USB devices (tablet and camera).  I load usb-uhci as a module, as well as usbcore - usbcore automagically appears and I have to modprobe usb-uhci.

usbview shows devices correctly, and gtkam2 detects my Canon A20 Powershot, but complains about not being able to initialise it.  I might have to grab a known working USB device to determine where my problem is, but this is as far as I have got.  Any more ideas would be great.

Cheers

Brad

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## Guest

OK, I've got my camera working when I'm root, so I'm guessing it's a permissions thing.  I'm scanning around now - but any quick fixes would be great.

Cheers

Brad

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## grj

Brad,

I am working to get my Kodak DC290 working. I have the usbcore, usb-uhci and dc2xx modules loaded but cannot get the camera going even under root.

What did you do after getting the modules loaded to get yours working?

Thanks,

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## BradB

I verified that the camera was being detected by using USBview (or you can cat /proc/bus/usb/devices).  As normal users have read permissions I can detect the camera & gtkam2 can pick it up, but since I don't have write permission I can't initiate a transfer command.

To get my modules going I had to manually

modprobe usb-uhci

usbcore was already loaded.

So, make sure you have the mount point /proc/bus/usb and that lsmod shows your 3 modules are loaded, other than that I don't know  :Sad: 

Brad

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