[mythtv-users] MCE IR receiver hangs computer, bad hardware?

[Kevin Ross]

  I've been plagued with random system freezes on one frontend over the 
last few months.  The system would freeze sometimes in the middle of the 
night while idle, or sometimes while watching a show.  Sometimes it 
would go days without freezing, sometimes it would freeze several times 
a day.

When it would freeze, I couldn't switch to the text console to see any 
kernel messages, and the logs were clean on reboot.  So I finally got 
around to setting up netconsole (and also NMI watchdog to automatically 
reboot when the system freezes) to try to capture something.  And I 
caught a freeze, and it appears to be the MCE IR receiver:

Aug 17 00:40:02 bedroom [207645.931122] usb 3-1: USB disconnect, address 7
Aug 17 00:40:02 bedroom [207645.931407] lirc_mceusb2[7]: usb remote 
disconnected
Aug 17 00:40:07 bedroom [207649.108618] BUG: NMI Watchdog detected LOCKUP

Backtracking through my logs, it appears the mceusb receiver disconnects 
and reconnects at random times, like this:

Aug 16 17:11:08 bedroom [180713.991304] usb 3-1: USB disconnect, address 5
Aug 16 17:11:08 bedroom [180713.991736] lirc_mceusb2[5]: usb remote 
disconnected
Aug 16 17:11:09 bedroom [180715.400031] usb 3-1: new full speed USB 
device using ohci_hcd and address 6
Aug 16 17:11:09 bedroom [180715.612386] usb 3-1: config 1 interface 0 
altsetting 0 endpoint 0x1 has an invalid bInterval 0, changing to 32
Aug 16 17:11:09 bedroom [180715.612408] usb 3-1: config 1 interface 0 
altsetting 0 endpoint 0x82 has an invalid bInterval 0, changing to 32
Aug 16 17:11:09 bedroom [180715.624388] usb 3-1: New USB device found, 
idVendor=1784, idProduct=0008
Aug 16 17:11:09 bedroom [180715.624405] usb 3-1: New USB device strings: 
Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
Aug 16 17:11:09 bedroom [180715.624424] usb 3-1: Product: eHome Infrared 
Transceiver
Aug 16 17:11:09 bedroom [180715.624431] usb 3-1: Manufacturer: Topseed 
Technology Corp.
Aug 16 17:11:09 bedroom [180715.624445] usb 3-1: SerialNumber: TS000EUd
Aug 16 17:11:09 bedroom [180715.624680] usb 3-1: configuration #1 chosen 
from 1 choice
Aug 16 17:11:09 bedroom [180715.792036] usb 3-1: reset full speed USB 
device using ohci_hcd and address 6
Aug 16 17:11:10 bedroom [180715.998364] lirc_dev: lirc_register_plugin: 
sample_rate: 0
Aug 16 17:11:10 bedroom [180716.004364] lirc_mceusb2[6]: Topseed 
Technology Corp. eHome Infrared Transceiver on usb3:6


Aug 16 18:01:43 bedroom [183749.221823] usb 3-1: USB disconnect, address 6
Aug 16 18:01:43 bedroom [183749.222509] lirc_mceusb2[6]: usb remote 
disconnected
Aug 16 18:01:44 bedroom [183749.980033] usb 3-1: new full speed USB 
device using ohci_hcd and address 7
Aug 16 18:01:44 bedroom [183750.192193] usb 3-1: config 1 interface 0 
altsetting 0 endpoint 0x1 has an invalid bInterval 0, changing to 32
Aug 16 18:01:44 bedroom [183750.192223] usb 3-1: config 1 interface 0 
altsetting 0 endpoint 0x82 has an invalid bInterval 0, changing to 32
Aug 16 18:01:44 bedroom [183750.204185] usb 3-1: New USB device found, 
idVendor=1784, idProduct=0008
Aug 16 18:01:44 bedroom [183750.204203] usb 3-1: New USB device strings: 
Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
Aug 16 18:01:44 bedroom [183750.204223] usb 3-1: Product: eHome Infrared 
Transceiver
Aug 16 18:01:44 bedroom [183750.204231] usb 3-1: Manufacturer: Topseed 
Technology Corp.
Aug 16 18:01:44 bedroom [183750.204244] usb 3-1: SerialNumber: TS000EUd
Aug 16 18:01:44 bedroom [183750.204475] usb 3-1: configuration #1 chosen 
from 1 choice
Aug 16 18:01:44 bedroom [183750.384036] usb 3-1: reset full speed USB 
device using ohci_hcd and address 7
Aug 16 18:01:44 bedroom [183750.590171] lirc_dev: lirc_register_plugin: 
sample_rate: 0
Aug 16 18:01:44 bedroom [183750.596164] lirc_mceusb2[7]: Topseed 
Technology Corp. eHome Infrared Transceiver on usb3:7


Anyone seen anything like this?  I don't think it's a bad USB 
controller, because I was getting the same type of random freezes on 
another computer (using the same MCE USB receiver, which I moved to this 
computer).  So this leads me to believe the problem is either the 
hardware, or the driver (no offense meant to the author).  Are these 
random disconnects/reconnects normal?  Is that indicative of flaky 
hardware (my guess is yes)?

If the consensus is yes, my IR receiver is crap, what would be a good 
reliable IR receiver to use with LIRC?

Thanks!
-- Kevin