[RESPONDED] Can't turn on external hdd

Framework Laptop 13 Linux
1

Hello there,

I recently purchased a Framework Laptop 13 and installed Debian 12 Bookworm. I tried connecting an external HDD, but unfortunately, it won’t power on. When I plug it in and press the button, nothing happens. I don’t believe it’s a Debian issue since I have another laptop with Debian 12 that successfully turns on the HDD. The USB-A port works fine with a USB flash drive and my phone. I’ve tried both USB-A and USB-C. Could it be a BIOS option limiting the external port?

My HDD comes from an old laptop. It’s a 2.5", 1TB drive that requires 700mA and 5V (5400rpm), possibly a little more with the hard drive enclosure (FE2013).

I have a Framework Laptop 13 DIY Edition (13th Gen Intel Core).

2

Hi Exlias, welcome to the community.

I personally have a 750GB 2.5" mechanical disk in an IceBox 2.5" caddy, which is USB-C, but no issues with it on my Framework 13 intel. You mention pushing a button to turn it on, I presume this is a button on the caddy?

With the drive connected, can you provide the output of the following 3 commands:
lsusb
sudo dmesg | grep USB
df -lh

The first one lists connected devices. The second command will output USB related events for dmesg, and the last command will list available storage dives and partitions/mounts.

I probably won’t be able to help much but the info might help others point you in the right direction.

1 Like
3

Yes, it’s a button on the hdd enclosure. It’s the inateck FE2013.

$ lsusb
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 27c6:609c Shenzhen Goodix Technology Co.,Ltd. Goodix USB2.0 MISC
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 32ac:0002 Framework HDMI Expansion Card
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 8087:0032 Intel Corp. AX210 Bluetooth
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

$ sudo dmesg | grep USB
[    0.195246] ACPI: USB4 _OSC: OS supports USB3+ DisplayPort+ PCIe+ XDomain+
[    0.195247] ACPI: USB4 _OSC: OS controls USB3+ DisplayPort+ PCIe+ XDomain+
[    1.525855] ACPI: bus type USB registered
[    1.566452] xhci_hcd 0000:00:14.0: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
[    1.568164] xhci_hcd 0000:00:14.0: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 2
[    1.568166] xhci_hcd 0000:00:14.0: Host supports USB 3.1 Enhanced SuperSpeed
[    1.568196] usb usb1: New USB device found, idVendor=1d6b, idProduct=0002, bcdDevice= 6.01
[    1.568198] usb usb1: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=1
[    1.568290] hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found
[    1.571353] usb usb2: New USB device found, idVendor=1d6b, idProduct=0003, bcdDevice= 6.01
[    1.571357] usb usb2: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=1
[    1.571784] hub 2-0:1.0: USB hub found
[    1.823484] usb 1-3: new full-speed USB device number 2 using xhci_hcd
[    1.823911] xhci_hcd 0000:00:0d.0: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 3
[    1.825153] xhci_hcd 0000:00:0d.0: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 4
[    1.825154] xhci_hcd 0000:00:0d.0: Host supports USB 3.2 Enhanced SuperSpeed
[    1.825408] usb usb3: New USB device found, idVendor=1d6b, idProduct=0002, bcdDevice= 6.01
[    1.825412] usb usb3: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=1
[    1.825634] hub 3-0:1.0: USB hub found
[    1.825885] usb usb4: New USB device found, idVendor=1d6b, idProduct=0003, bcdDevice= 6.01
[    1.825888] usb usb4: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=1
[    1.825978] hub 4-0:1.0: USB hub found
[    2.053006] usb 1-3: New USB device found, idVendor=32ac, idProduct=0002, bcdDevice= 0.00
[    2.053020] usb 1-3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[    2.075213] hid-generic 0003:32AC:0002.0003: hiddev0,hidraw2: USB HID v1.11 Device [Framework HDMI Expansion Card] on usb-0000:00:14.0-3/input1
[    2.075261] usbhid: USB HID core driver
[    2.187553] usb 1-9: new full-speed USB device number 3 using xhci_hcd
[    2.337914] usb 1-9: New USB device found, idVendor=27c6, idProduct=609c, bcdDevice= 1.00
[    2.337944] usb 1-9: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[    2.337946] usb 1-9: Product: Goodix USB2.0 MISC
[    2.467875] usb 1-10: new full-speed USB device number 4 using xhci_hcd
[    2.619169] usb 1-10: New USB device found, idVendor=8087, idProduct=0032, bcdDevice= 0.00
[    2.619176] usb 1-10: New USB device strings: Mfr=0, Product=0, SerialNumber=0
[    5.908694] usb 1-10: USB disconnect, device number 4
[    6.343578] usb 1-10: new full-speed USB device number 5 using xhci_hcd
[    6.493046] usb 1-10: New USB device found, idVendor=8087, idProduct=0032, bcdDevice= 0.00
[    6.493051] usb 1-10: New USB device strings: Mfr=0, Product=0, SerialNumber=0
[   10.187849] usb 1-9: reset full-speed USB device number 3 using xhci_hcd
[   12.188093] usb 1-9: reset full-speed USB device number 3 using xhci_hcd
[ 2432.973260] usb 1-9: reset full-speed USB device number 3 using xhci_hcd
[ 2433.317266] usb 1-9: reset full-speed USB device number 3 using xhci_hcd
[ 5765.140240] usb 1-4: new high-speed USB device number 6 using xhci_hcd
[ 5765.359409] usb 1-4: New USB device found, idVendor=8564, idProduct=1000, bcdDevice=11.00
[ 5765.359421] usb 1-4: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[ 5765.420535] usb-storage 1-4:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[ 8816.986979] usb 1-9: reset full-speed USB device number 3 using xhci_hcd
[ 8817.310982] usb 1-9: reset full-speed USB device number 3 using xhci_hcd
[ 8904.348215] usb 1-4: USB disconnect, device number 6
[16256.038973] usb 1-9: reset full-speed USB device number 3 using xhci_hcd
[16256.358081] usb 1-9: reset full-speed USB device number 3 using xhci_hcd
[16594.796495] usb 1-9: reset full-speed USB device number 3 using xhci_hcd
[16595.092376] usb 1-9: reset full-speed USB device number 3 using xhci_hcd

$ df -lh
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
udev            7,7G     0  7,7G   0% /dev
tmpfs           1,6G  2,2M  1,6G   1% /run
/dev/nvme0n1p2  456G   12G  422G   3% /
tmpfs           7,7G   30M  7,7G   1% /dev/shm
tmpfs           5,0M  8,0K  5,0M   1% /run/lock
/dev/nvme0n1p1  511M  5,9M  506M   2% /boot/efi
tmpfs           1,6G  120K  1,6G   1% /run/user/1000

Thanks for your help !

4

Which positions have you tried the USB-A module in?

Saw this, but Vendor ID and Product IDs identify it as the AX210 Bluetooth.

This device is also being disconnected from what I can make out. The ID’s make it out to be a jetflash device(?)

image
image1201×544 28 KB

Was that the USB stick you were testing the port with?

Otherwise, if it’s not the above then it appears it’s not seeing it at all. Do you have a powered hub to try with?

5

Yes, it’s my USB stick. I’m certain that my HDD is not being detected at all. I attempted to plug it in and list it, but there was no information available. Additionally, when I plug in a USB stick, it takes a while to power on, approximately 3 to 5 seconds. Perhaps the system is conducting a port test and only sends full power if it detects a device?

6

@AMoonRabbit nailed everything that would occur to me across the board. This is beginning to feel like something is up with the enclosure or how it is attached specifically.

  • This is a direct connection to the USB expansion card, not through a hub?
  • Has this enclosure been tested with another PC/laptop?

Also good advice:

7

I have another laptop with the same Debian configuration, and it works perfectly. Indeed, with a USB hub, the external hard drive works fine. The hub has an LED that lights up as soon as it’s plugged in.

8

We have seen instances where some hubs simply do not cooperate with our configuration. So another brand of laptop using non-modular config and a different overall build is not going to necessarily behave in a similar fashion.

For something like an external HD, which I use myself, I recommend using a direct connection with the appropriate expansion card (USB-C or USB-A, depending on the connection).

9

It’s being detected as mass storage… are you sure it’s not simply unmounted?

Plug in and then lsblk or fdisk -l to list unmounted partitions. df just shows filesystems (which can only be seen after mounting).

Sorry if this was already covered - I didn’t see it.

10

I apologize if my previous explanation was unclear. The issue is the opposite – the external hard drive works fine when connected to a hub but does not power on when plugged directly into the USB-A or USB-C ports. To summarize: the HDD does not power on when connected directly via USB-A or USB-C, but it powers on and works correctly when connected through a hub

11

No, it’s an HDD, not an SSD. When it runs, it makes noise that I can hear. Also, it has an LED to show if it has started or not, and the LED stays off

12

I believe the system will read unmounted drives anyway (it must know the drive is there to list it as unmounted). The logs you posted suggest linux is recognizing it as a USB mass storage device - but I don’t really know too much about how external HDD appears in /dev/…

Still, worth seeing if it appears in fdisk -l or lsblk

13

Note that the device captured in the logs is most likely their USB disk that they connected to test the port.

Other than something on 1-9, there are no other devices that appeared in the log which could be external storage.

image
image1173×253 16.1 KB

Unfortunately it’s not known and could be the actual expansion card itself. @Matt_Hartley are you able to confirm if that’s a Framework vendor ID?