USB drive werdness with my t-41 running kubuntu

If I plug a USB mouse into my T41 laptop (running kubuntu 7.10), it works fine.

I have a couple of USB memory drive units that work fine on fedora desktops, I plug them in, magic happens and the drive gets mounted, but they don't seem to talk to the t41.

Also, if I plug one of them in on the desktop, there is a blue LED that comes on, that does not happen on the laptop.

I tried rebooting the machine, that didn't work.

A couple of weeks ago, it was working with another USB SD card reader, but would flake out after a while.

Am I likely looking at a hardware problem? Why would the USB mouse work, but not the memory drives?

edit: I found the answer to be:
sudo modprobe -r ehci_hcd

by googling an error message which led me to:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=234095


It is interesting to note that on the fedora desktop there is a slight delay between the device being inserted and the led coming on. On the laptop dmesg gives:

[ 175.272000] usb 4-3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 33
[ 176.136000] usb 4-3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 37
[ 176.396000] ehci_hcd 0000:00:1d.7: port 3 reset error -110
[ 176.396000] hub 4-0:1.0: hub_port_status failed (err = -32)
[ 180.808000] usb 4-3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 58
[ 182.424000] usb 4-3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 66
[ 182.724000] usb 4-3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 67
[ 183.400000] usb 4-3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 70
[ 183.700000] usb 4-3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 71
[ 187.948000] usb 4-3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 93
[ 188.436000] usb 4-3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 95
[ 189.676000] usb 4-3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 101
[ 189.976000] usb 4-3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 102
[ 190.840000] usb 4-3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 106
[ 192.268000] usb 4-3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 113
[ 194.448000] usb 4-3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 124
[ 195.500000] usb 4-3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 3
[ 198.528000] usb 4-4: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 9
[ 200.144000] usb 4-4: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 17
[ 201.008000] usb 4-4: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 21
[ 201.872000] usb 4-4: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 25
[ 347.740000] usb 4-4: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 44
[ 348.040000] usb 4-4: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 45
[ 348.300000] ehci_hcd 0000:00:1d.7: port 4 reset error -110
[ 348.300000] hub 4-0:1.0: hub_port_status failed (err = -32)

On the desktop I get:
usb 5-1: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 10
usb 5-1: unable to read config index 0 descriptor/all
usb 5-1: can't read configurations, error -71
usb 5-1: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 11
usb 5-1: unable to read config index 0 descriptor/all
usb 5-1: can't read configurations, error -71
usb 5-1: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 12
usb 5-1: unable to read config index 0 descriptor/all
usb 5-1: can't read configurations, error -71
usb 5-1: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 13
usb 5-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
scsi5 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
usb-storage: device found at 13
usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
scsi 5:0:0:0: Direct-Access Multi Flash Reader 1.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0
SCSI device sdc: 1984000 512-byte hdwr sectors (1016 MB)
sdc: Write Protect is off
sdc: Mode Sense: 03 00 00 00
sdc: assuming drive cache: write through
SCSI device sdc: 1984000 512-byte hdwr sectors (1016 MB)
sdc: Write Protect is off
sdc: Mode Sense: 03 00 00 00
sdc: assuming drive cache: write through
sdc: sdc1
sd 5:0:0:0: Attached scsi removable disk sdc
sd 5:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 0
usb-storage: device scan complete