What do these messages in syslog mean (stops my trackball working)?

[Colin Law]

On 11 October 2013 11:32, Chris Green <cl at isbd.net> wrote:
> I have a Logitech wireless trackball that I use with my Acer Aspire
> netbook running Xubuntu 12.10.  It works for quite a while (random
> amounts of time) and then stops, the following messages appear in syslog
> when it stops:-
>
>     Oct 11 11:24:06 acer-aspire kernel: [ 7812.377726] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.1: >host controller process error, something bad happened!
>     Oct 11 11:24:06 acer-aspire kernel: [ 7812.377751] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.1: >host controller halted, very bad!
>     Oct 11 11:24:06 acer-aspire kernel: [ 7812.377781] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.1: >HC died; cleaning up
>     Oct 11 11:24:06 acer-aspire kernel: [ 7812.378030] usb 3-1: >USB disconnect, device number 2
>
> An identical Logical trackball works perfectly with Xubuntu 12.10 on my
> desktop machine.

I would initially suspect a hardware fault.  Swap the trackballs
between the machines (including the receivers).  That will tell you
whether it is the machine or the trackball that is faulty.  Also try
different USB ports to see if it is a fault with one of the ports.

Colin