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 Post subject: SD card reader not working on Acer Aspire V5
Site Admin

Joined: 20 Mar 2012, 13:32
Posts: 116
I have an Acer Aspire V5 with NX0.5 (AUG-2013). The laptop has an SD card reader but refuses to recognize any SD card I put in the slot. The reader worked OK under Windows so I assume it's not a hardware problem.

Running lspci gives me this info:
Code:
04:00.1 SD Host controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM57765 Memory Card Reader (rev 10)

dmesg immediately after boot with no SD card in the slot results in:
Code:
[    1.893538] sdhci-pci 0000:04:00.1: SDHCI controller found [14e4:16bc] (rev 10)
[    1.928577] mmc0: SDHCI controller on PCI [0000:04:00.1] using ADMA
[    3.452944] ata1.00: ATA-8: ST500LT012-9WS142, 0001SDM1, max UDMA/133

Subsequent insertion of an SD card will not trigger any reaction from the computer.

If I boot with an SD card inserted I get an additional line to the dmesg output above:
Code:
[   57.315483] mmc0: error -110 whilst initialising SD card

If some one has any idea where to look or has any experience with this issue let me know please. Otherwise it's not important/urgent enough for any one to spend much time and energy on this.

Thanks in any case,
Markus


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 Post subject: Re: SD card reader not working on Acer Aspire V5
Site Admin

Joined: 20 Mar 2012, 13:32
Posts: 116
Forgot to mention: The same SD card is recognized by an older Acer laptop running NX0.5 (JUL-2013). On that computer the SD card is a USB rather than PCI device.


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 Post subject: Re: SD card reader not working on Acer Aspire V5

Joined: 04 Nov 2010, 20:51
Posts: 1062
Markus, there appears to be a general bug effecting this reader (14e4:16bc) in multiple distributions. I'll look for a work around.


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 Post subject: Re: SD card reader not working on Acer Aspire V5

Joined: 04 Nov 2010, 20:51
Posts: 1062
Word on the street is it doesn't play well with the tg3 module.

Unfortunately tg3 is a networking module and shouldn't be involved.

...then another opinion is that they 'share' a chip...apparently, with the ethernet interface on machines with this card reader and therefore have more than a mystical connection.

So, as you see, thus far I'm still sifting through the chatter and false steps.

However, a quick and easy, but possibly fruitless suggestion was to unplug the module and plug it back in....also unfortunately, I'm serious.

sudo rmmod tg3 and a refreshing sudo modprobe tg3

In the mean time I'll look for something that makes more sense.


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 Post subject: Re: SD card reader not working on Acer Aspire V5

Joined: 04 Nov 2010, 20:51
Posts: 1062
Yep, most everything points to the tg3 module.

Navigatrix uses version 3.128 ( modifo tg3 |grep version ).

Broadcom just released version 3.129. I was hoping this might contain the fix, but...
Broadcom README wrote:
The tg3 driver from the Broadcom package is almost identical to the
tg3 driver in the latest 3.x upstream Linux kernel. It includes some
additional kernel compatible code to allow it to compile on older 2.6
and some 2.4 kernels. The version number is also similar but generally
has a one letter suffix at the end, (e.g. 3.55b) to distinguish it from
the in-kernel tg3 driver.


...but nothing about fixing a wonky SD reader.


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 Post subject: Re: SD card reader not working on Acer Aspire V5

Joined: 04 Nov 2010, 20:51
Posts: 1062
Markus, this is the best I can come up with.
Quote:
The key difference between the card reader working and not working: wired ethernet connected. With no ethernet connected, the card reader fails with the "timeout waiting for interrupt" message. With an ethernet cable connected, I am able to read all tested cards (all of which are Class 6, Class 4, or unmarked) except for a SanDisk SDHC I Class 10 UHS-I 16 GB card, which fails with the 1.8v signalling message:

[ 528.756952] sdhci: Switching to 1.8V signalling voltage failed, retrying with S18R set to 0
[ 650.352628] eth1: no IPv6 routers present
[ 676.708436] mmc0: Card removed during transfer!
[ 676.708446] mmc0: Resetting controller.
[ 676.719317] mmc0: error -123 whilst initialising SD card

This correlates with other reports I found of adding or removing the tg3 module having an effect on SD card reader functionality. The ethernet cable was a crossover connected to another computer for this test, which is presumably enough to light up the ethernet section of the Broadcom device and load a module if necessary.

Inserting a previously-working card (with ethernet disconnected) then running "rmmod tg3; modprobe tg3" as root results in the card being read and automounted. It doesn't seem to allow the UHS-I card to be read. dmesg from reloading the tg3 module:
If the unplug/plug works than a script in rc.local might be the fix.


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 Post subject: Re: SD card reader not working on Acer Aspire V5
Site Admin

Joined: 20 Mar 2012, 13:32
Posts: 116
Many thanks, Moe - removing and reinstalling tg3 already does the trick! It has to be done after each boot, but with a little alias that"s fine (only need the card reader for camera cards, so it's not a frequent issue).

If tg3 is strictly wired Ethernet I"m just thinking I can leave the tg3 removed (probably won't connect to a wired connection again for another year or so...) and just add a line to my .bashrc...

Many thanks in any case!

PS: Uninstalling and re-installing....where does someone come up with this stuff (I thought this was Microsoft's perogative...)??? If my little laptop alreday shows complex system behaviour like this - I'm glad I'm on a sailboat and not a modern commercial aircraft ...


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 Post subject: Re: SD card reader not working on Acer Aspire V5

Joined: 04 Nov 2010, 20:51
Posts: 1062
Markus wrote:
PS: Uninstalling and re-installing....where does someone come up with this stuff (I thought this was Microsoft's perogative...)???
Like most things MS didn't invent it...just claim it.

It is one of the most useful, but mysterious, tools in my box of tricks. I can't count how many times; from washing machines to pocket calculators; open it up..poked around...shrug the shoulders...put the cover back on and the dang thing works.

When machines don't hate us outright they'll play with our minds.

I've forgotten where the GRIB janitor is located (It removes grib files older than 30 days). If it's still around.

You could either:
Code:
echo "rmmod tg3; modprobe tg3" >> ~/.config/autostart.sh && chmod +x ~/.config/autostart.sh
or add it to /etc/rc.local.
Code:
sudo medit /etc/rc.local
Add rmmod tg3; modprobe tg3 before Exit 0
Code:
sudo chmod +x /etc/rc.local
I'm not sure what would be better.


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 Post subject: Re: SD card reader not working on Acer Aspire V5
Site Admin

Joined: 05 Nov 2010, 01:00
Posts: 185
The GRIb Janitor is now in /usr/local/bin/zyGrib


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 Post subject: Re: SD card reader not working on Acer Aspire V5

Joined: 04 Nov 2010, 20:51
Posts: 1062
I thought it was in autostart.sh. That explains why I couldn't find it. Thanks.


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 Post subject: Re: SD card reader not working on Acer Aspire V5
Site Admin

Joined: 20 Mar 2012, 13:32
Posts: 116
Thanks Moe. Interestingly, putting it in ~/.config/autostart.sh and making it executabe doesn't have any effect. /etc/.rc.local works like a charm though :D

Greetings from the sunnier part of la patrie,
Markus


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 Post subject: Re: SD card reader not working on Acer Aspire V5

Joined: 04 Nov 2010, 20:51
Posts: 1062
There might be a script upstream that says execute ~/.config/autostart.sh. I don't know. I don't use it. It use to be home for the GRIB Janitor in nx0.4 before it found more suitable digs.


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