Empty virtual USB drives - Servers

Resolving The Problem

Source

RETAIN Tip:H194772

Symptom

By default the Integrated Management Module (IMM) presents empty virtual drives on its USB interface to the server. These devices are part of a composite USB device that includes the IMM virtual keyboard and mouse and are used with the IMM remote presence functionality. If the USB device representing the virtual drive is reset, instead of resetting the entire USB composite device, the drive may appear as a new device to Windows operating systems and be enumerated as an additional drive and the original virtual drive will be inaccessible.

Affected configurations

The system may be any of the following IBM servers:

• iDataPlex dx360 M2 Server, type 7321, any model
• BladeCenter HS22, type 7870, any model
• System x3550 M2, type 7946, any model
• System x3650 M2, type 7947, any model

This tip is not software specific.

This tip is not option specific.

Solution

This behavior will be corrected in a future release if the IMM firmware. The IMM behavior will be changed to not present empty virtual drives by default. The virtual drives will only be presented to the server when a client is running the IMM remote presence function and has mounted and mapped media on the remote client. The target date for this release is scheduled for Second Quarter 2009. The file will be available from the IBM System x Support web site at the following URL:

• IBM Systems Support

Workaround

Ignore the 2 empty virtual drives on the server. If you wish to reset the USB interface to the virtual drives, reset the higher level USB composite device that also includes the virtual keyboard and mouse. This can be accomplished using Windows Device Manager:

1. Locate the "Universal Serial Bus controllers" item and expand it, in Device Manager.
2. Locate the "USB Composite Device" whose "Details" property tab indicates "USB\VID_04B3&PID_4012" for the Device Instance ID. This is the composite device associated with the virtual drives.
3. Select this USB Composite Device and select the menu action to uninstall it.
4. Select the "Universal Serial Bus controllers" item and select the menu action to Scan for hardware changes, to re-enable the composite device.

Additional Information

Resetting the higher level USB composite device is the proper way to reset because it causes the USB bus between the server and the IMM to be reset and all of the endpoints get re-enumerated from.