R51e - slowing down USB ports

[lukee]

Hi everyone,
My ThinkPad R51e (mint condition, barely used) has exhibited this USB quirk for years, but recent heavy use of its ports brought it back into focus. The laptop runs flawlessly for hours/days—even 3D games under Linux—without issues. However, copying large files to/from USB sticks reliably stalls.
Symptoms:
• Progress bar freezes (e.g., ~60% on a recent test with three Linux ISO files; first two succeeded, third hung).
• Estimated time remaining climbs indefinitely.
• Impacts related tasks: Brasero burning halted mid-process during the same transfer.
• USB mouse on the same ports continues working fine; system remains fully responsive—no freezes or crashes.
Setup:
• BIOS: Latest (1.61)
• OS: Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy Heron)
• Hardware: ~20-year-old R51e (ATI chipset, distinct from T4x/R5x southbridge USB issues)
It works perfectly otherwise, but large USB transfers are unreliable. Has anyone encountered/fixed this? Kernel params, udev rules, or USB power tweaks?
Thanks!

[RealBlackStuff]

Maybe try a PC-Card to USB adapter such as this?

[axur-delmeria]

Are you transferring data from the laptop's hard drive to the USB port (and vice-versa)?

[lukee]

RealBlackStuff - Thanks, I will probably give it a try if the same issue reproduces with PCMCIA adapter too (these are cheap).
axur-delmeria - Yes, usually to and from an USB stick. It must be affecting only mass storage transfers because devices like mouse continue to work normally. I will try other devices like Bluetooth adapters. I have also changed IRQ settings for PCI bus in BIOS from IRQ11 to automatic, maybe this has something to do with a bus interrupts

[axur-delmeria]

Try copying from RAM to USB flash drive and vice-versa. Copy big file from HDD to /dev/shm, then from /dev/shm to USB . Note that the maximum size of /dev/shm is slightly less than half the system RAM.