OrangePi 3 seems to lose connection to SSD on USB Port

Creating a bug report/issue

I have searched the existing open and closed issues

Required Information

  • DietPi version | G_DIETPI_VERSION_CORE=9
    G_DIETPI_VERSION_SUB=15
    G_DIETPI_VERSION_RC=-1
    G_GITBRANCH=‘orangepi3’
    G_GITOWNER=‘MichaIng’

  • Distro version | bookworm

  • Kernel version | Linux OrangePi3 6.12.23-current-sunxi64 #1 SMP Thu Apr 10 12:39:41 UTC 2025 aarch64 GNU/Linux

  • Architecture | arm64

  • SBC model | Orange Pi 3 (aarch64)

  • Power supply used | 5V 3A (round connector used)

  • SD card used | SanDisk ultra

Additional Information (if applicable)

  • Software title | docker / Nextcloud AIO
  • Was the software title installed freshly or updated/migrated?
    has been installed as main software on this device directly after having the device ready for test with DietPi.
  • Can this issue be replicated on a fresh installation of DietPi?
    I do not think, that Docker or Nextcloud should be the reason.

← If you sent a “dietpi-bugreport”, please paste the ID here →

  • Bug report ID | ab3152c9-dae3-4d9f-b9ec-552cb50369b6

Steps to reproduce

The problem occurs randomly (but much too often to ignore it for production) without warning from the system or special actions from user site.
Soft reboot sometimes is not enough and I need a hard reboot to get back access to the SSD.

Expected behaviour

The SSD should stay in access

Actual behaviour

At some point Nextcloud no longer has access to the initially mounted device (e.g. /dev/sda1), which is a Samsung EVO 2 GB SATA drive.
After that occurs, looking at lsblk the device is no longer available but the mount is showing up active. I assume, that there could be either a hardware problem with the SSD, that is occuring after a specific request or some software / driver issues with USB port or maybe even the USB cable to the SSD (which I have exchanged already, but that did not help). I do not think, that the main reason is in the SSD itself.
Do you have ay idea, how to investigate here?
I could not find any logs (maybe I’m looking at the wrong places or could set some different log level somewhere?)

Extra details

you can check for kernel error messages as soon as the problem occurs

dmesg -l 0,1,2,3

I guess it will show I/O errors at this point

Do you use a dedicated case/PSU for the SSD? Or just simply attached to the USB port? You could try using a powered USB hub to see how it goes.

Thanks for that. I have included a powered USB3 hub in my setting now and it seems to work more stable now at least.

in the meantime i have used a different device for my ‘production environment’ (storage for my family and friends). Anyhow I came back to this device to investigate in the root reason for that behaviour.

Actual status with Trixie installed:

Details:

  • Date | 2025-08-25 13:03:51
  • DietPi version | v9.16.3 (MichaIng/master)
  • Distro version | trixie (ID=8)
  • Kernel version | Linux DietPi 6.12.23-current-sunxi64 #1 SMP Thu Apr 10 12:39:41 UTC 2025 aarch64 GNU/Linux
  • Architecture | arm64
  • Hardware model | Orange Pi 3 (aarch64) (ID=99)
  • Power supply | (5V 3A)
  • SD card | (no SD, using internal EMMC 8G)

Steps to reproduce:

  • If I have the USB device (USB 3.0 pen drive) connected while booting things seems to be working OK.
  • if I plug in the same USB pen drive after booting *IN MOST CASES* the device is not shown by lsusb or lsblk (and no error is showing up, so it seems not to be found at all)
  • with another device (2.5 inch SSD via additionally powered USB hub) things are even worse and only in some cases the device shows up after booting - never when I do hotplugging.

This is the output from lsusb with the hub plugged in:

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 05e3:0610 Genesys Logic, Inc. Hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 05e3:0610 Genesys Logic, Inc. Hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

… and this without the additional hub:

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 05e3:0610 Genesys Logic, Inc. Hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

is not showing anything.

when I unplug and re-plug the USB hub ‘dmesg’ shows:

[11775.073743] usb 1-1.1: USB disconnect, device number 3
[12339.537274] usb 1-1.1: new high-speed USB device number 4 using xhci-hcd
[12339.651845] usb 1-1.1: New USB device found, idVendor=05e3, idProduct=0610, bcdDevice= 6.63
[12339.651896] usb 1-1.1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[12339.651918] usb 1-1.1: Product: USB2.1 Hub
[12339.651936] usb 1-1.1: Manufacturer: GenesysLogic
[12339.685656] hub 1-1.1:1.0: USB hub found
[12339.685968] hub 1-1.1:1.0: 4 ports detected

in the cases where USB pen drive works, ‘dmesg’ gives:

[12482.233497] usb 1-1.1: reset high-speed USB device number 4 using xhci-hcd
[12482.918535] usb 1-1.1: USB disconnect, device number 4
[12491.165439] usb 1-1.1: new high-speed USB device number 6 using xhci-hcd
[12491.278458] usb 1-1.1: New USB device found, idVendor=0781, idProduct=5581, bcdDevice= 1.00
[12491.278508] usb 1-1.1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[12491.278530] usb 1-1.1: Product:  SanDisk 3.2Gen1
[12491.278548] usb 1-1.1: Manufacturer:  USB
[12491.278565] usb 1-1.1: SerialNumber: 050138ea887aee6b5e580d4148213d92278e417b688d84460e05143522ce9abfc30400000000000000000000ad9a2a7b009f0e1081558107cb2ac8e0
[12491.280225] usb-storage 1-1.1:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[12491.284905] scsi host0: usb-storage 1-1.1:1.0
[12492.292719] scsi 0:0:0:0: Direct-Access      USB      SanDisk 3.2Gen1 1.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 6
[12492.293751] sd 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0
[12492.306082] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 240353280 512-byte logical blocks: (123 GB/115 GiB)
[12492.307546] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
[12492.307567] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 43 00 00 00
[12492.308171] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: disabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[12492.362775]  sda: sda1
[12492.363269] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI removable disk
 

but nothing similar happens here, when I plug in the SSD.

Do you have any more ideas to investigate?

Hello, I have a similar issue I think with OrangePi 5. SSD disks “hang” for no reason. I’m investigating whether it’s the SSD that is the issue when I found this thread.

I’m already using a powered USB hub, and just tried to a different USB port.

Did you check anything else?