# Intermittent USB optical-drive errors (-71) and DVD read failures on Pop!_OS 24.04

Operating Systems & Open Source Linux
1

Intermittent USB optical-drive errors (-71) and DVD read failures on Pop!_OS 24.04

I’m investigating recurring problems with USB and internal SATA optical drives on a Digital Storm gaming PC running Pop!_OS 24.04.

Hardware

  • Motherboard: ASUS PRIME B760M-A AX6
  • CPU: Intel i7-14700KF
  • GPU: NVIDIA RTX 4070 SUPER
  • BIOS: ASUS 1836 (April 16, 2026)
  • Kernel: 7.2.6-76070206-generic
  • USB controller: Intel Raptor Lake xHCI (8086:7a60)
  • SATA controller: Intel AHCI (8086:7a62)
  • USB driver: xhci_hcd
  • USB autosuspend: disabled (usbcore.autosuspend=-1)

Connected optical drives

  • HP SH-216BB — internal SATA
  • LG GSA-5163D — external USB, through hub
  • LG GCC-T20N — external USB, direct connection
  • Lenovo Slim USB Burner — external USB, direct connection

I’ve experienced problems with multiple internal SATA drives and external USB drives, including after changing cables and ports.

USB errors

Kernel logs have recorded repeated enumeration and connection errors:

usb 1-3: device descriptor read/64, error -71
usb 1-3: device not accepting address 18, error -71
usb 1-3: device not accepting address 19, error -71

There have also been USB disconnects and resets on different ports.

Error -71 corresponds to EPROTO, suggesting a USB communication problem rather than an unreadable DVD.

DVD read failures

The LG GSA-5163D failed while encoding The Rundown at approximately 75%.

Kernel logs included:

Sense Key : Medium Error [current]
critical medium error, dev sr2, sector 8223104
Buffer I/O error on dev sr2, logical block 2055776

Another drive scanning Shooter produced libdvdread errors and a HandBrakeCLI crash.

After rebooting, Shooter also generated:

Sense Key : Illegal Request [current]
Add. Sense: Read of scrambled sector without authentication

I understand these authentication errors may be unrelated to the USB hardware problem.

Troubleshooting completed

  • Tried multiple optical drives
  • Changed USB ports and SATA connections
  • Tested direct motherboard USB connections and a USB hub
  • Disabled default USB autosuspend
  • Reviewed kernel logs across multiple boots
  • Checked USB topology and device identities
  • Switched from KDE Plasma to COSMIC Wayland

COSMIC results

After rebooting into COSMIC with the same kernel:

  • All four optical drives were detected.
  • All three USB drives enumerated correctly.
  • No USB disconnects or protocol errors were recorded during initial idle testing.
  • Sustained read testing is still pending.

Because the USB controller was reset during reboot, I cannot yet attribute the clean initial results to COSMIC.

Questions

  1. Are there known xHCI or USB issues with Intel Raptor Lake chipsets under Pop!_OS?
  2. Could BIOS settings, PCIe/chipset power management, or power delivery be involved?
  3. What diagnostics would help distinguish controller faults from individual drive or media problems?
  4. Has anyone experienced similar issues on ASUS B760 motherboards?
  5. What would be the best way to reproduce and isolate the USB protocol errors?

I’d appreciate any suggestions for diagnosing the underlying issue before replacing additional hardware.

2

Can you try a modern distro in live mode and see if it works there? This would exclude any hardware issues.

Has this worked before and just now started having issues?

Try the DVD drive in a completely different PC (preferably windows or totally different and modern distro).

Not sure how old that DVD drive is. I don’t recall, was DVD before or after fax devices? :slight_smile: But assuming it is old, it can have failed (capacitors worn etc.) and has some bad signals etc.