TLP Power Management disables USB devices in my ASUS UX305 ultrabook. Needs restart!

Question

I recently had Elementary OS (Loki) installed in my Asus UX305 (Dual Boot option). Out of the box, the notebook came with windows 10 home. I took some body's help in the installation as it was not straight forward for me. Iam new to Linux. Post installation, it has been a mixed experience. The positives noted in many reviews are definitely there.

However, when I plug in a USB device, it is not recognized. Neither the 'Files' side bar nor 'Disks' show the device being connected. 'sudo fdisk -l' command too does not reveal the USB device. To detect the device, I have to do either of the folowing: a) suspend the system and wake it up (b) turn off the computer and restart. This issue is observed whether I use the USB-3 or USB-2 ports.

output of sudo lsusb Before And After device insertion (when device is not seen):

Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub

Bus 001 Device 003: ID 8087:0a2a Intel Corp.

Bus 001 Device 002: ID 04f2:b56b Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

Has any one of you faced this issue? Please help...I am even thinking of shifting to Ubuntu from this beautiful OS!!

Answer 1

Check TLP Settings:

All TLP settings are stored in the config file /etc/default/tlp

USB

USB_AUTOSUSPEND=1

Set autosuspend mode for all USB devices upon system start or a change of power source. Input devices like mice and keyboards are exluded by default (see USB_DRIVER_BLACKLIST below). Possible values:

1 – enable 0 – disable

Note: TLP activates USB autosuspend independent of the power source, i.e. on battery and AC.

USB_BLACKLIST="1111:2222 3333:4444"

Exclude USB device IDs from autosuspend mode. Useful for devices having difficulties in waking up from autosuspend. Use tlp-stat -u to determine IDs. Multiple IDs are separated with blanks.

Hint: all input devices (driver "usbhid") get excluded by default. It's therefore unnecessary to put them on the USB_BLACKLIST. To circumvent the default for certain devices enter the IDs into USB_WHITELIST.

Note: because of conflicts with udevd v221 (and higher) the parameter USB_DRIVER_BLACKLIST had to be removed with TLP version 0.8. Enter the device IDs to be excluded into USB_BLACKLIST instead.

USB_BLACKLIST_WWAN=1

Exclude builtin WWAN devices from autosuspend mode:

0 – do not exclude 1 – exclude

Note: this feature is implemented by an internal blacklist currently matching cards from Qualcomm, Ericsson and Sierra. To re-enable autosuspend mode for WWAN, enter the ID into USB_WHITELIST.

USB_WHITELIST="5555:6666 7777:8888"

Re-enable autosuspend mode for USB device IDs already excluded by any of the lists above (whitelist always wins). Use tlp-stat -u to determine IDs. Multiple IDs are separated with blanks.

USB_AUTOSUSPEND_DISABLE_ON_SHUTDOWN=1

Disables USB autosuspend mode upon system shutdown. This is intended as a workaround if suspended USB devices disturb the shutdown process.

Extract from: http://linrunner.de/en/tlp/docs/tlp-configuration.html

Note: It's advisable to read the full article.

Answer 2

Disabling USB autosuspend completely – as described in the previous answer – will increase power consumption considerably.

I finer approach would be to isolate the offending USB device by blacklisting the devices one by one:

USB_BLACKLIST="1111:2222"

and apply the new setting by:

sudo tlp usb

Refer to TLP Troubleshooting for background on the subject.