I dont take the lkml feed, just answer here and I will see the
answer or email me at
devel@jtholmes.com

The problem:

using mkfs on an external Usb 2.0 Drive enclosure via a
Pcmcia  NEC 2.0 Usb Card causes kernel into hard
loop and I have to power down to regain access.

Details

Nec  Pcmcia card w/two USB hubs
Generic Usb 2.0 drive enclosure
Toshiba 20G  hard drive in the enclosure

lsmod  attached
lsscsi  attached
lspci  attached

What I execute

mkfs -t ext3  /dev/sdb2

  it completes the following
Writing of Inode table
Creating Journal
gets to Writing super blocks  takes 3-5 min
and then fails with the following similar msgs
similar because I cannot capture them as they fly
by too fast

Msg1
Buffer I/O write error on  sbd2
Msg2
..... due to I/O error  (mostly unreadable)

However,

turn on scsi logging with sysctl and run

mkfs -t ext3  /dev/sdb2

and it eventually completes with lots
of errors in  dmesg and   /var/log/messages
and after the  mkfs w/scsi logging the device
appears to be useable but I dont trust integrity.

There are tons of data on this one so if J. Bottomley or
who ever would contact me I will supply and that way
they can be selective and we can keep from clogging up
the lkml.

I have included a file named snipit with a few of the
error msgs that are occuring

thanks in advance
jt