USB-C adapter freezes my laptop

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1

I have one of those 8 in 1 USB-C adapter(in my case it is a Aukey CB-C55) you usually buy to get some extra ports on your laptop.

I’m facing a singular issue: every time I connect this adapter, my laptop completely freezes.
The only way to get the laptop working is forcing a reboot using the power button.

Now you will think that the adapter is broken or not compatible, however I believe this is actually not true because when I turn on my laptop and the USB-C adapter is already connected, everything works just fine. :exploding_head:
The issue arises only when I connect the adapter while the laptop is already turned on.

It’s quite annoying I have to remember to connect the adapter before turning on the PC.
I don’t have a valid explanation for this issue, perhaps I should simply get a different adapter.
Is that possible this is a kernel bug?

I’ve noticed some messages on dmesg just before the laptop crashes, one in particular captured my attention:

PME: Spurious native interrupt!

IMG_0099
IMG_00991920×2560 1010 KB

I’m not sure what does that mean and if it is somehow relevant.

Do you have any idea?

2

Posting images means others with similar problems may not find your post with web searches. Please post excerpts from text logs as pre-formatted text (use the </> button from the top line of the text entry panel).

If the device is connected before booting, the device should be enabled before the kernel is loaded. Connecting devices to a running kernel is more complex. Your adapter may trigger loading kernel modules that were not designed to support hot-plugging.

Please show use the output from running inxi -Fzxxin a terminal after booting with the adapter connected (as pre-formatted text).

Have you installed current firmware updates from aukey? Which ports on the adapter are you using? It may be possible to block loading of modules you won’t use.

3

Also check to make sure your laptop’s firmware is also up to date. Search around with others that have similar messages when using USB or Thunderbolt hubs seems to show that disabling “XHCI HAND-OFF” in your BIOS could be a workaround.

Maybe the device does something a little janky trying to bring up the USB controller or the Ethernet controller and inserting it when the laptop is booted into Fedora is causing to not be happy.

1 Like
4

Should the above recommendations not solve the issue, you could consider it a kernel bug indeed, as such messages have been reported (and accepted) against the kernel.

EDIT: wanted to reply to the OP.

5

This is the output of inxi -Fzxx command(the adapter is connected):

System:
  Kernel: 6.11.7-300.fc41.x86_64 arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc
    v: 2.43.1-2.fc41
  Desktop: GNOME v: 47.1 tk: GTK v: 3.24.43 wm: gnome-shell dm: GDM
    Distro: Fedora Linux 41 (Workstation Edition)
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Dell product: XPS 13 7390 v: N/A
    serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 10 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Dell model: 0G2D0W v: A00 serial: <superuser required> part-nu: 0962
    UEFI: Dell v: 1.26.0 date: 07/05/2024
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 14.3 Wh (100.0%) condition: 14.3/52.0 Wh (27.6%)
    volts: 8.3 min: 7.6 model: SMP DELL G8VCF6C serial: <filter> status: full
CPU:
  Info: quad core model: Intel Core i7-10510U bits: 64 type: MT MCP
    arch: Comet/Whiskey Lake note: check rev: C cache: L1: 256 KiB L2: 1024 KiB
    L3: 8 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 4439 min/max: 400/4900 cores: 1: 4439 2: 4439 3: 4439
    4: 4439 5: 4439 6: 4439 7: 4439 8: 4439 bogomips: 36799
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel CometLake-U GT2 [UHD Graphics] vendor: Dell driver: i915
    v: kernel arch: Gen-9.5 ports: active: DP-1,DP-2,eDP-1 empty: DP-3
    bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:9b41
  Device-2: Microdia Integrated_Webcam_HD driver: uvcvideo type: USB
    rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 1-5:3 chip-ID: 0c45:6723
  Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.14 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.4
    compositor: gnome-shell driver: gpu: i915 display-ID: 0
  Monitor-1: DP-1 model: Lenovo LEN T27h-2L res: 2560x1440 dpi: 109
    diag: 685mm (27")
  Monitor-2: DP-2 model: Lenovo LEN T27h-2L res: 2560x1440 dpi: 109
    diag: 685mm (27")
  Monitor-3: eDP-1 model: AU Optronics 0x5b2d res: 1920x1080 dpi: 166
    diag: 335mm (13.2")
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 vendor: intel mesa v: 24.2.6 glx-v: 1.4 es-v: 3.2
    direct-render: yes renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics (CML GT2)
    device-ID: 8086:9b41 display-ID: :0.0
  API: EGL Message: EGL data requires eglinfo. Check --recommends.
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Comet Lake PCH-LP cAVS vendor: Dell driver: snd_hda_intel
    v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:02c8
  API: ALSA v: k6.11.7-300.fc41.x86_64 status: kernel-api
  Server-1: JACK v: 1.9.22 status: off
  Server-2: PipeWire v: 1.2.6 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
    status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 vendor: Rivet Networks driver: iwlwifi
    v: kernel pcie: speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:2723
  IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8153 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter driver: r8152 type: USB
    rev: 3.0 speed: 5 Gb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 4-1.2:4 chip-ID: 0bda:8153
  IF: enp59s0u1u2 state: down mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-1: ztt6jtuq3w state: unknown speed: 10000 Mbps duplex: full
    mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel AX200 Bluetooth driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 2.0
    speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 1-7:5 chip-ID: 8087:0029
  Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 5.2
    lmp-v: 11
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 476.94 GiB used: 62.73 GiB (13.2%)
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Micron model: 2200S NVMe 512GB size: 476.94 GiB
    speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 serial: <filter> temp: 40.9 C
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 475.34 GiB used: 62.38 GiB (13.1%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/dm-0
    mapped: luks-a92012cd-e558-49f0-9c46-136c8f39285c
  ID-2: /boot size: 973.4 MiB used: 314.4 MiB (32.3%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
  ID-3: /boot/efi size: 598.8 MiB used: 41.5 MiB (6.9%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1
  ID-4: /home size: 475.34 GiB used: 62.38 GiB (13.1%) fs: btrfs
    dev: /dev/dm-0 mapped: luks-a92012cd-e558-49f0-9c46-136c8f39285c
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 8 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 100
    dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 59.0 C pch: 55.0 C mobo: 41.0 C
  Fan Speeds (rpm): cpu: 0 fan-2: 0
Info:
  Memory: total: 16 GiB note: est. available: 15.31 GiB used: 4.09 GiB (26.7%)
  Processes: 355 Power: uptime: 5m wakeups: 0 Init: systemd v: 256
    target: graphical (5) default: graphical
  Packages: pm: rpm pkgs: N/A note: see --rpm pm: flatpak pkgs: 28
    Compilers: gcc: 14.2.1 Shell: Bash v: 5.2.32 running-in: gnome-terminal
    inxi: 3.3.36

As far as I can see, there is no firmware update for this adapter available on Aukey website. It’s a “dumb” device, I’m not surprised at all
I normally use just the two USB-A ports

Regarding the laptop’s firmware, it is already up to date.

6

In that case try disabling ethernet, which is using Fedora’s r8152 module (driver):

Network:
  Device-1: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 vendor: Rivet Networks driver: iwlwifi
    v: kernel pcie: speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:2723
  IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8153 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter driver: r8152 type: USB
    rev: 3.0 speed: 5 Gb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 4-1.2:4 chip-ID: 0bda:8153
  IF: enp59s0u1u2 state: down mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-1: ztt6jtuq3w state: unknown speed: 10000 Mbps duplex: full
    mac: <filter>

You can try removing the r8152 module after hot-plugging the adapter with sudo modprobe --remove r8152, or a method that doesn’t involve extra steps in the future – block the ethernet module from loading, using RHEL’s How do I prevent a kernel module from loading automatically?.

If you find you need ethernet at some future time, there are “unofficial” drivers such as sbwml r8152 that provide udev rules which may make hot plugging more robust.

1 Like
7

Unfortunately, removing the r8152 module with sudo modprobe --remove r8152does not help. The issue still occurs
I didn’t notice any relevant difference in dmesg output.