Ubuntu - USB port problem

Since I updated from Ubuntu Fiesty Fawn to Gutsy Gibbon, I was facing challenges getting my USB drive to work. The OS will not detect my camera, and either of my two flash drives. If the USB device would be detected after several minutes of silence, within a few minutes, system would throw the following error message -

"To avoid serious data loss, disable removable drives with the "Eject" option in the drive icon's context menu on the desktop, Computer place, or drive applet."

After weeks of frustration, I resorted to IRC.freenode.net at channel #Ubuntu for help.

The IRC user HardDisk suggested I do this -

sudo rmmod ehci_hcd ---> This will change USB 2.0 to USB 1.0
sudo modprobe ehci-hcd ---> This will revert the above change

Both of these commands should be used in conjunction.

Bingo! This solved the problem.

I've done a lot of updates to my OS recently. But those for later.

EDIT 11/24/2008 - Installing usbmount resolves the problem forever without slowing transfer.
EDIT 12/08/2008 - Blacklisting uhci_hcd in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist might help too.

Portland Gardens

A weekend get away to Portland, Oregon. It was a two day trip, by road, with friends.

We stopped for a coffee break here.

The car crossed the railway station of Portland.Railways are popularly called Amtrak.

Union Station, Portland

The next planned stop was the waterfront of Portland. It was a very cold day and we rushed.

Waterfront, Portland

Portland has a huge China Town which has several Chinese Restaurants, Shops and a Chinese Garden. We ate at a Chinese Bistro that night. It is one of my favorites.

Entrance to China Town, Portland

The Garden of awakening Orchids, Portland.

The layout

The Rainbow Bridge at the Chinese Garden

The beautiful floor in the Chinese Garden

The Cave at the Chinese Garden

The Japanese Garden, Portland
The Japanese Garden is divided into multiple sections.

The Temple Lantern

Sand and Stone Garden

It reveals the stark simplicity of weathered stones
rising from a sea of raked sand.

Flat Garden

The two islands in the shape of sake and sake bottle (gourd)
represent pleasure—spiritual and temporal.

And those who have seen Kill Bill,
they might remember this features during duel
between O-ren ishii and the Bride.

After returning from the Japanese garden, I had a delicious meal of sushi in an authentic Japanese Restaurant, accompanied with Japanese Fried Ice cream (yummy).

The other places that we visited were - Powell Book Store in Portland and the state capital of Washington - Olympia.

Snowfall in Seattle

Snowfall was a luxury that I had no idea how to afford. Being in Seattle gave me an opportunity to be introduced to a preliminary snowfall last year in 2006 and last weekend it had full 3 inches of snowfall.

Wow!

Here are some of the pictures that I took from and around my apartment.

Leaf in Snow

Snow settling on the branches

Snow on the cobweb

My roomie's Linux penguin on our patio

Overwhelmed with snow

Preparing for Christmas

Snow was recently ploughed off

Reflection on snow