== PROBLEM SOLVED TO ME ==

Hi friends,

I was having the same problem. My external hard drive stopped work after try to copy a lot of file to it. I got this message in “dmesg”:

“rejecting I/O to dead device”

I am able to copy a couple of large files (like DVD images) without problems. The problem just happens when I try to copy a lot of files (small or large ones).

I am using a Compaq Presario V2000 laptop with Ubuntu Feisty Fawn (7.04) and one Iomega External HD (320GB). In the first time, I removed the ehci_hcd using the followed command as commented before:

modprobe -r ehci_hcd

This kernel module is the responsible for the USB 2.0 support. After ran this command, I was able to copy a lot of files to my external hard drive and it was not suddenly dead anymore. But, as I removed the USB 2.0 support the transfer was running in a very low rate and it was not a definitive solution because I wanted to copy more than 120GB in one time.

Then, I loaded the ehci_module again and tried to change the value included in the max_sectors from 240 (default) to 128, 64 and 32. In my desktop (a IBM Think Centre with Ubuntu Fesity Fawn) this solution worked perfectly! But, in my laptop the problem stays happening. Then, I tried to change the file system from VFAT to EXT3, but the problem was not solved.

Finally, on last sunday night, I recompiled my kernel following these steps:

1) I installed the 2.6.20 kernel souce code using apt-get:

     # apt-get install linux-source-2.6.20 

2) I loaded the more recent kernel configuration copying the /boot/config-2.6.20-15-generic file to kernel source directory naming the file as “.config” and process this file to select the options marked in my running kernel:

     # cp /boot/config-2.6.20-15-generic /usr/src/linux-source-2.6.20/.config      # cd /usr/src/linux-source-2.6.20/.config      # make oldconfig 

3) I ran the menuconfig and I enabled and disabled some options as showed after:

    # cd /usr/src/linux-source-2.6.20/.config     # make menuconfig     3.1) Disabled features (Device Drivers --> USB Support):             * FULL speed ISO transactions (USB_EHCI_SPLIT_ISO)            * Root Hub Transaction Translators (USB_EHCI_ROOT_HUB_IT)            * Improved Transaction Translator schedulling (USB_EHCI_TT_NEWSCHED)     3.2) Enabled features (Device Drivers --> USB Support):             * USB verbose debug messages (USB_DEBUG)            * Enforce USB bandwith allocation (USB_BANDWITH) 

After recompile the kernel and rebot my system, I connected my external Iomega external drive and everything is working fine and I was finally able to go to bed rest for some hours! :-)

I don’t know with this solution will work for others people… But here is the solution I found to me. I will be happy to know with these steps help you to solve the problem as well!