[ltp] High Speed USB problems

[Jeffrey L. Taylor]

My system recently started endlessly spewing the follow error in
/var/log/messages:

Jul 17 16:44:01 odysseus kernel: [ 2445.088449] hub 1-0:1.0: unable to enumerate USB device on port 4

Googling, all I find is a kernel bug from several years ago.  "rmmod ehci-hcd"
stops the error messages and stops high speed USB devices like an external
hard disk from working.  The USB mouse and printer work.  But no hard disk for
backups is not a happy, long term solution.

OpenSuSE 11.3, IBM Thinkpad T41.

IIRC, the system was not updated nor any apparently relevant changes made at
or immediately before the error messages started.  I think the laptop was
sitting at home while I was running errands.

Any thoughts, suggestions, etc.
  Jeffrey