Help Ubuntu blindness!

April 23, 2011 9:05 AM

How do I get Ubuntu Linux to recognize my plugin USB DVD/RW drive?

Per suggestions from mefites in a previous question, I upgraded my old Thinkpad T30 to 1Gb ram and installed Ubuntu 10.10 alonside the native Windows 2000 Pro. Windows can see the USB DVD/RW drive I use when I need to write a disk, but Ubuntu cannot. Ubuntu can see, and seamlessly integrated my USB WiFi dongle. How do I clue Ubuntu in to my USB DVD/RW?

posted by ackptui to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)

We'd probably need to know a bit more about the model of the USB optical drive, and how Ubuntu is responding when you plug it in -- try tail -f /var/log/messages from a terminal when plugging it in, and see what it says.

In the meantime, perhaps try the instructions here to blacklist the floppy module and update the initramfs?
posted by holgate at 9:17 AM on April 23, 2011

after you've plugged it in, try typing "lsusb" at a command shell prompt; see if the drive is listed at all.
posted by jenkinsEar at 1:17 PM on April 23, 2011

Weird. I'm pretty sure plugging in my USB DVD/CDRW drive just works with my Thinkpad X60s running Ubuntu 10.something or other. Will check and report back.
posted by pharm at 3:10 PM on April 23, 2011

Linux's usb stack can be a bit less tolerant than Windows of out-of-spec USB devices (which are all too common), and more aggressive about power management, which can foul up many devices. If your drive came with an "optional" power adapter, try using it. Adding "usbcore.autosuspend=-1" to the kernel's command line arguments in grub.conf may be worth a shot, too.
posted by scatter gather at 2:37 PM on May 15, 2011