• Messages when (re)booting

    From Monsieur@Monsieur@notreal.invalid to alt.os.linux.mint on Sat Jan 10 11:30:41 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

    I've been using my new Dell Optiplex mini-pc for a few months now, and
    it works fine, but when (re)booting Mint the pc takes about 2 minutes to
    go through these messages:

    https://i.postimg.cc/c135HzPM/boot.png

    Anyone knows what it all means and what could be the cause? I suspect it
    might have something to do with my external 10-port usb-hub (which does
    have some quirks), but I'm not sure.
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From RonB@ronb02NOSPAM@gmail.com to alt.os.linux.mint on Sat Jan 10 11:00:04 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

    On 2026-01-10, Monsieur <Monsieur@notreal.invalid> wrote:
    I've been using my new Dell Optiplex mini-pc for a few months now, and
    it works fine, but when (re)booting Mint the pc takes about 2 minutes to
    go through these messages:

    https://i.postimg.cc/c135HzPM/boot.png

    Anyone knows what it all means and what could be the cause? I suspect it might have something to do with my external 10-port usb-hub (which does
    have some quirks), but I'm not sure.

    Have you tried unplugging the USB hub and booting without it? The errors definitely seem to be USB related.
    --
    "Not just stupid... Trump stupid."
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From David B.@BD@hotmail.co.uk to alt.os.linux.mint on Sat Jan 10 13:33:46 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

    On 10/01/2026 10:30, Monsieur wrote:
    I've been using my new Dell Optiplex mini-pc for a few months now, and
    it works fine, but when (re)booting Mint the pc takes about 2 minutes to
    go through these messages:

    https://i.postimg.cc/c135HzPM/boot.png

    Anyone knows what it all means and what could be the cause? I suspect it might have something to do with my external 10-port usb-hub (which does
    have some quirks), but I'm not sure.

    *Common Causes for these specific errors*

    (Provided by Gemini AI)

    Based on the exact error codes (-110 and -62) shown in your image:

    Power Insufficiency: Error -110 is very frequently caused by a device
    (like an external hard drive or a USB wifi dongle) drawing more power
    than the port can provide.

    Hardware Damage: The logs could indicate a physically damaged USB port
    or a failing cable.

    Faulty USB Hub: Since the error is on "port 8.1," it often points to a
    device plugged into an internal or external USB Hub rather than directly
    into the motherboard.
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Paul@nospam@needed.invalid to alt.os.linux.mint on Sat Jan 10 09:37:14 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

    On Sat, 1/10/2026 8:33 AM, David B. wrote:
    On 10/01/2026 10:30, Monsieur wrote:
    I've been using my new Dell Optiplex mini-pc for a few months now, and it works fine, but when (re)booting Mint the pc takes about 2 minutes to go through these messages:

    https://i.postimg.cc/c135HzPM/boot.png

    Anyone knows what it all means and what could be the cause? I suspect it might have something to do with my external 10-port usb-hub (which does have some quirks), but I'm not sure.

    *Common Causes for these specific errors*

    (Provided by Gemini AI)

    Based on the exact error codes (-110 and -62) shown in your image:

    Power Insufficiency: Error -110 is very frequently caused by a device (like an external hard drive or a USB wifi dongle) drawing more power than the port can provide.

    Hardware Damage: The logs could indicate a physically damaged USB port or a failing cable.

    Faulty USB Hub: Since the error is on "port 8.1," it often points to a device plugged into an internal or external USB Hub rather than directly into the motherboard.

    ********** CoPilot Question **********

    Using a Dell Optiplex Mini with external USB ten port hub,
    the following errors are noted in Linux DMESG output. What is the
    most likely root cause of the messages appearing, and especially
    so late after the system is started ?

    [ 3150.961207] usb 1-8.1: device descriptor read/64, error -110
    [ 3166.833196] usb 1-8.1: device descriptor read/64, error -110
    [ 3182.785122] usb 1-8.1: device descriptor read/64, error -110
    [ 3188.757114] xhci_hcd 0000:00:14.0: Timeout while waiting for setup device command
    [ 3194.389097] xhci_hcd 0000:00:14.0: Timeout while waiting for setup device command
    [ 3194.597039] usb 1-8.1: device not accepting address 26, error -62
    [ 3194.597383] usb 1-8.1: WARN: invalid context state for evaluate context command.
    [ 3200.021096] xhci_hcd 000e:00:14.0: Timeout while waiting for setup device comnand
    [ 3205.653061] xhci_hcd 60ee:00:14.0: Timeout while waiting for setup device command
    [ 3205.861001] usb 1-8.1: device not accepting address 27, error -62
    [ 3285.861386] usb 1-8.1: WARN: invalid context state for evaluate context command.
    [ 3205.861560] usb 1-8-port1: unable to enumerate USB device

    ********** CoPilot Answer **********

    [ The cites provided are OK, but not very strong... ]

    https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=245671

    https://access.redhat.com/solutions/30436 <=== paywall

    https://askubuntu.com/questions/1535782/usb-boot-error-device-descriptor-read-64-error-110

    ### Direct answer

    The most likely root cause is **a marginal USB link on port `1-8.1` of your external hub** -
    either a failing device, a bad cable, or more commonly in your setup,

    **insufficient/unstable power on the 10rCaport USB hub**

    - causing repeated USB enumeration timeouts and addressrCaset failures. The messages appear late
    because the problematic device/port only starts failing or getting rerCaenumerated some time
    after boot (due to hotplug, movement, or power fluctuation), so the kernel logs these errors
    when that happens, not at startup.

    ********** End CoPilot Answer **********

    You would check the hub box for an external barrel power input.
    There is a limit to how much power the wall adapters provide for this
    purpose, and 5V @ 3A or 5V @ 4A might be as generous as they
    will drive through the barrel plug. When they make a product
    and include the adapter in the box, usually there is not enough
    power to give each and every port 950mA (on a USB3 hub). Once
    you start hanging 2.5" HDD (like a Passport) off the hub, there
    just isn't enough power for everything else. Spinup can draw 1 ampere
    on a Passport 2.5" HDD. The power draw drops as the Passport settles
    to idle power and remains spinning. If you were to run several Passports
    off the hub, eventually the wall adapter would shut down on overload.

    In the old days, connecting power to an external hub, could cause back-flow
    up the cable when the PC shuts down. This could influence the RESET circuit
    and cause the PC to "not boot" on the next attempt to boot. Unplugging the
    USB connector from the back of the PC would break the backflow and allow
    the PC to start. But there haven't been any reports of this for years, so
    my assumption is, they've placed Schottky diodes or used a small relay,
    to isolate the PC VCC on the USB cable leaving the PC, from the adapter
    +5V, and then there are no more refusals to boot.

    While the USB config information could be improperly formatted for the job, that's unlikely to be it. There are a few hardware devices, that have
    "missing ports" and their config space may claim "I have 16 ports" when
    the physical hardware only has 5 ports. Then, if you have a detailed
    log, you are entertained by 11 attempts to communicate with the missing ones. But hubs like this, they chain silicon chips, and each device in the chain, only
    declares its own characteristics as a chip and does not speak for the
    other chips that work as a team. This is perfectly OK and the BIOS and
    OS can traverse the chip tree with no problem.

    Paul
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.os.linux.mint on Sat Jan 10 20:56:36 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

    On Sat, 10 Jan 2026 11:30:41 +0100, Monsieur wrote:

    I've been using my new Dell Optiplex mini-pc for a few months now,
    and it works fine, but when (re)booting Mint the pc takes about 2
    minutes to go through these messages:

    https://i.postimg.cc/c135HzPM/boot.png

    But the timestamps on those messages are about 50 minutes *after* the
    kernel has started. Presumably your system doesnrCOt take that long to
    boot? In which case these messages have nothing to do with your
    booting process, slow or otherwise.
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Monsieur@Monsieur@notreal.invalid to alt.os.linux.mint on Sun Jan 11 09:57:29 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

    Paul wrote:
    ### Direct answer

    The most likely root cause is **a marginal USB link on port `1-8.1` of your external hub** -
    either a failing device, a bad cable, or more commonly in your setup,

    **insufficient/unstable power on the 10rCaport USB hub**



    - causing repeated USB enumeration timeouts and addressrCaset failures. The messages appear late
    because the problematic device/port only starts failing or getting rerCaenumerated some time
    after boot (due to hotplug, movement, or power fluctuation), so the kernel logs these errors
    when that happens, not at startup.

    ********** End CoPilot Answer **********

    You would check the hub box for an external barrel power input.
    There is a limit to how much power the wall adapters provide for this purpose, and 5V @ 3A or 5V @ 4A might be as generous as they
    will drive through the barrel plug. When they make a product
    and include the adapter in the box, usually there is not enough
    power to give each and every port 950mA (on a USB3 hub). Once
    you start hanging 2.5" HDD (like a Passport) off the hub, there
    just isn't enough power for everything else. Spinup can draw 1 ampere
    on a Passport 2.5" HDD. The power draw drops as the Passport settles
    to idle power and remains spinning. If you were to run several Passports
    off the hub, eventually the wall adapter would shut down on overload.


    I bought this 32re4 hub especially for this mini-pc so that it doesn't
    have to provide too much power to my peripheral devices. The hub is a
    rather heavy metal brick and has a power adapter of 65W which should be sufficient rCo or so I was told, I don't know much about electric stuff.

    I have now attached a simple 4-port hub that I had lying around with no external power adapter. With this the error messages went away. Booting
    is still slow however. There are some usb-sticks connected to the ports,
    and an external 8TB hard drive. Each port has its own on/off button.

    The biggest annoyance I experience with these hubs (both the 4-port and
    the 10-port) is that Mint doesn't see the drive until I activate more
    than one port on the hub OR if I wait about 20 minutes. I know this
    sounds strange, but if I activate only the port with the hard drive the
    light goes on, the drive spins up and then... nothing. Then after about
    15-20 minutes (really!) Mint suddenly sees the drive and opens Nemo to
    show the contents. I can avoid this by activating the other buttons too,
    then Mint sees the drive immediately.

    All in all it's not a big problem, just a bit of an annoyance. I've been thinking about switching back to a desktop, don't know yet.






    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Monsieur@Monsieur@notreal.invalid to alt.os.linux.mint on Sun Jan 11 09:57:55 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

    Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:
    On Sat, 10 Jan 2026 11:30:41 +0100, Monsieur wrote:

    I've been using my new Dell Optiplex mini-pc for a few months now,
    and it works fine, but when (re)booting Mint the pc takes about 2
    minutes to go through these messages:

    https://i.postimg.cc/c135HzPM/boot.png

    But the timestamps on those messages are about 50 minutes *after* the
    kernel has started. Presumably your system doesnrCOt take that long to
    boot? In which case these messages have nothing to do with your
    booting process, slow or otherwise.

    That's probably when I rebooted...


    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Paul@nospam@needed.invalid to alt.os.linux.mint on Sun Jan 11 07:42:41 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

    On Sun, 1/11/2026 3:57 AM, Monsieur wrote:
    Paul wrote:
    ### Direct answer

    The most likely root cause is **a marginal USB link on port `1-8.1` of your external hub** -
    either a failing device, a bad cable, or more commonly in your setup,

    -a-a-a **insufficient/unstable power on the 10rCaport USB hub**



    - causing repeated USB enumeration timeouts and addressrCaset failures. The messages appear late
    because the problematic device/port only starts failing or getting rerCaenumerated some time
    after boot (due to hotplug, movement, or power fluctuation), so the kernel logs these errors
    when that happens, not at startup.

    ********** End CoPilot Answer **********

    You would check the hub box for an external barrel power input.
    There is a limit to how much power the wall adapters provide for this
    purpose, and 5V @ 3A or 5V @ 4A might be as generous as they
    will drive through the barrel plug. When they make a product
    and include the adapter in the box, usually there is not enough
    power to give each and every port 950mA (on a USB3 hub). Once
    you start hanging 2.5" HDD (like a Passport) off the hub, there
    just isn't enough power for everything else. Spinup can draw 1 ampere
    on a Passport 2.5" HDD. The power draw drops as the Passport settles
    to idle power and remains spinning. If you were to run several Passports
    off the hub, eventually the wall adapter would shut down on overload.


    I bought this 32re4 hub especially for this mini-pc so that it doesn't have to provide too much power to my peripheral devices. The hub is a rather heavy metal brick and has a power adapter of 65W which should be sufficient rCo or so I was told, I don't know much about electric stuff.

    I have now attached a simple 4-port hub that I had lying around with no external power adapter. With this the error messages went away. Booting is still slow however. There are some usb-sticks connected to the ports, and an external 8TB hard drive. Each port has its own on/off button.

    The biggest annoyance I experience with these hubs (both the 4-port and the 10-port) is that Mint doesn't see the drive until I activate more than one port on the hub OR if I wait about 20 minutes. I know this sounds strange, but if I activate only the port with the hard drive the light goes on, the drive spins up and then... nothing. Then after about 15-20 minutes (really!) Mint suddenly sees the drive and opens Nemo to show the contents. I can avoid this by activating the other buttons too, then Mint sees the drive immediately.

    All in all it's not a big problem, just a bit of an annoyance. I've been thinking about switching back to a desktop, don't know yet.

    Does the external 8TB disk have its own power supply ?
    Normally, 8TB would be a 3.5" hard drive and it would need
    a 12V 2A wall adapter for power. By using a wall adapter for
    a large drive, that reduces the current needed from USB bus power.

    The USB flash sticks draw power too, and based on the feeling of heat
    near the connector, that's probably about 0.2 amps.

    If a hub is bus-powered, then the only power is the power provided
    by the USB3 connector (5V with nominal 0.950 amps, fuse limited to around 2.2 amps).
    There is a USBPD version 3 spec for power, that allows powering devices,
    but I don't know what is possible in your case. The newer USB ways of
    doing things, make it harder for me to offer advice.

    A 5TB or 6TB 2.5" drive needs around 1.0 amps to start and can take
    a moment to spin up, after which the current draw subsides. It's harder
    to power a drive like that on a USB2 port because the nominal current
    is 0.5 amps and the fuse limit is 1.1 amps and the spinup is 1.0 amps
    and the Polyfuse is getting a bit mushy during spinup. And mini-PCs
    may choose to use a silicon fuse (8 pin DIP) with a more-precise cutoff
    than a Polyfuse provides. Polyfuses re-crystallize and recover after
    tripping, which is how they can fuse-protect a load and still function
    later on. The silicon fuse uses a MOSFET to gate power when the
    measured current flow exceeds the limit programmed by the engineer.

    A drive can have a hard time starting if the fuse keeps opening.

    You can buy "USB power meter" which goes inline with a USB item
    and allows measuring the current draw. These can have USB-A in and out,
    and USB-C in and out, and you would only connect one standard at a time.

    https://www.amazon.ca/MakerHawk-Multimeter-Voltmeter-Capacity-Resistance/dp/B07DCSNHNB

    PC --- meter --- peripheral-disk-drive # If connecting peripheral-disk-drive to the PC

    The data pins still function to carry data, while the meter
    checks the flow of current. As the current flow value rises and
    falls, you can (roughly) tell what state the HDD is in (not-start,
    spinup, idle-run, read/write).

    Some of those little meters, will also identify the USBPD power standard
    being used by a device, and indicate what voltage and current standard
    is being used. But ones that sophisticated would likely be about 3x the
    price.

    I'm a guy who should own one of those, and I don't have one. Lazy :-)

    Paul
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Monsieur@Monsieur@notreal.invalid to alt.os.linux.mint on Sun Jan 11 16:55:04 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

    Paul wrote:

    Does the external 8TB disk have its own power supply ?

    Yes. It's a Seagate Backup plus hub 8TB. According to the user manual,
    the hub uses a 3rC>A power supply at 12rC>V, which corresponds to a 36rC>W adapter.

    Normally, 8TB would be a 3.5" hard drive and it would need
    a 12V 2A wall adapter for power. By using a wall adapter for
    a large drive, that reduces the current needed from USB bus power.

    The USB flash sticks draw power too, and based on the feeling of heat
    near the connector, that's probably about 0.2 amps.

    Well, the 10-port hub always feels warm, even when all the buttons are off.


    If a hub is bus-powered, then the only power is the power provided
    by the USB3 connector (5V with nominal 0.950 amps, fuse limited to around 2.2 amps).
    There is a USBPD version 3 spec for power, that allows powering devices,
    but I don't know what is possible in your case. The newer USB ways of
    doing things, make it harder for me to offer advice.

    A 5TB or 6TB 2.5" drive needs around 1.0 amps to start and can take
    a moment to spin up, after which the current draw subsides. It's harder
    to power a drive like that on a USB2 port because the nominal current
    is 0.5 amps and the fuse limit is 1.1 amps and the spinup is 1.0 amps
    and the Polyfuse is getting a bit mushy during spinup. And mini-PCs
    may choose to use a silicon fuse (8 pin DIP) with a more-precise cutoff
    than a Polyfuse provides. Polyfuses re-crystallize and recover after tripping, which is how they can fuse-protect a load and still function
    later on. The silicon fuse uses a MOSFET to gate power when the
    measured current flow exceeds the limit programmed by the engineer.

    A drive can have a hard time starting if the fuse keeps opening.

    Thank you for the information, and I hope others can benefit from it,
    but as for me I'm afraid this is all way over my head, sorry.


    You can buy "USB power meter" which goes inline with a USB item
    and allows measuring the current draw. These can have USB-A in and out,
    and USB-C in and out, and you would only connect one standard at a time.

    https://www.amazon.ca/MakerHawk-Multimeter-Voltmeter-Capacity-Resistance/dp/B07DCSNHNB

    PC --- meter --- peripheral-disk-drive # If connecting peripheral-disk-drive to the PC

    The data pins still function to carry data, while the meter
    checks the flow of current. As the current flow value rises and
    falls, you can (roughly) tell what state the HDD is in (not-start,
    spinup, idle-run, read/write).

    Some of those little meters, will also identify the USBPD power standard being used by a device, and indicate what voltage and current standard
    is being used. But ones that sophisticated would likely be about 3x the price.

    I'm a guy who should own one of those, and I don't have one. Lazy :-)

    Well, they're not exactly cheap either.

    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.os.linux.mint on Sun Jan 11 20:25:59 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

    On Sun, 11 Jan 2026 09:57:55 +0100, Monsieur wrote:

    Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

    But the timestamps on those messages are about 50 minutes *after* the
    kernel has started.

    That's probably when I rebooted...

    Did you reboot without restarting the kernel?

    What do you think rCLrebootrCY means?
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2