Nut upsuser - Jun 2012 - Problems with Powerware 5115 on Patsburge USB

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.

The identical setup running on a Westmere + Tylersburg + ICH10R works fine but
on that platform the USB connection is USB 1.1.

Thanks,
Rich Wrenn
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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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