[Nut-upsuser] Problems with Powerware 5115 on Patsburge USB

[Charles Lepple]

On Sunday, June 24, 2012, Rich Wrenn wrote:

> I am seeing some problems when using the Powerware 5115 UPS when connected
> to the Patsburg USB controller and would like to know if anyone has a
> solution.****
>
> ** **
>
> The symptom is that PING messages sent to the bcmxcp_usb driver take as
> long as 25 seconds to complete.****
>
> ** **
>
> The configuration is a Romley patform (a.k.a., Sandy Bridge + Patsburg)
> running Debian 6 with 2.6.39 kernel with NUT 2.6.4 in which the Powerware
> is connected via USB 2.0 to the Patsburg.****
>
> ** **
>
> Of note is that the following messages are logged in syslog frequently.***
> *
>
> 2012-06-21T09:03:10.754413+00:00 (none) kernel: [ 8659.067243] usb 2-1.4:
> usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd bcmxcp_usb rqt 66 rq 13 len 4 ret -110*
> ***
>
> I believe that these indicate that the USB driver is timing out USB
> messages to the UPS.
>
> ****
>
That sounds about right. Unfortunately, the root cause could conceivably be
anything from bad silicon to dropped interrupts to a flaky cable or jack.

> The identical setup running on a Westmere + Tylersburg + ICH10R works fine
> but on that platform the USB connection is USB 1.1.****
>
> ** **
>
When you say that it is USB 1.1 here, is the other system connecting at a
higher speed? Even with USB 2.0 controllers, most HID products (keyboard,
mouse, UPS) will generally only connect at 1.5 Mbit/sec, since the
device-side circuitry for that is much simpler. The kernel messages from
when the UPS is plugged in should mention the speed.

I know it sounds like snake oil, but try swapping the USB cable for a known
good one. If not, it might be a kernel driver issue. Sorry it's a vague
answer, but a more detailed analysis would probably need to be done by the
engineers who built the UPS.


-- 
- Charles Lepple
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