I have no problems with USB devices attached to openSUSE 12.1, stable version; i could not reproduce this. Could you provide some feedback on this?

I have a similar issue:
openSuSE 12.1 x86_64 Final + Updates/KDE:
When plug-in an SD card formated with ext3/ext4 in my card reader, I got nothing: the device is not even listed with fdisk -l.
But if, instead mounting that very same card directly in my card reader, I pluged in an USB SD/MMC Card Reader that resembles an USB Key, the card then is recognized and handled properly (and it is listed with fdisk -l).
SD cards formated with FAT are recognized and handled properly.
_______________________________
PC HWinfo's Internal Cards Reader:

34: SCSI 00.0: 10600 Disk
  [Created at block.256]
  Unique ID: Uc5H.++jZnDs0fc4
  Parent ID: ruGf.5BH4zj8i8tC
  SysFS ID: /class/block/sda
  SysFS BusID: 0:0:0:0
  SysFS Device Link: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.1/usb1/1-4/1-4:1.0/host0/target0:0:0/0:0:0:0
  Hardware Class: disk
  Model: "Generic USB SD Reader"
  Vendor: usb 0x058f "Generic"
  Device: usb 0x6362 "USB SD Reader"
  Revision: "1.00"
  Serial ID: "058F312D8Ac"
  Driver: "usb-storage", "sd"
  Driver Modules: "usb_storage"
  Device File: /dev/sda (/dev/sg1)
  Device Files: /dev/sda, /dev/disk/by-id/usb-Generic_USB_SD_Reader_058F312D8Ac-0:0, /dev/disk/by-path/pci-0000:00:02.1-usb-0:4:1.0-scsi-0:0:0:0
  Device Number: block 8:0-8:15 (char 21:1)
  Geometry (Logical): CHS 1024/0/62
  Speed: 480 Mbps
  Module Alias: "usb:v058Fp6362d0126dc00dsc00dp00ic08isc06ip50"
  Driver Info #0:
    Driver Status: uas is not active
    Driver Activation Cmd: "modprobe uas"
  Drive status: no medium
  Config Status: cfg=yes, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown
  Attached to: #16 (USB Controller)

35: SCSI 00.1: 10600 Disk
  [Created at block.256]
  Unique ID: uI_Q.ESrhO6fmky3
  Parent ID: ruGf.5BH4zj8i8tC
  SysFS ID: /class/block/sdb
  SysFS BusID: 0:0:0:1
  SysFS Device Link: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.1/usb1/1-4/1-4:1.0/host0/target0:0:0/0:0:0:1
  Hardware Class: disk
  Model: "Generic USB CF Reader"
  Vendor: usb 0x058f "Generic"
  Device: usb 0x6362 "USB CF Reader"
  Revision: "1.01"
  Driver: "usb-storage", "sd"
  Driver Modules: "usb_storage"
  Device File: /dev/sdb (/dev/sg2)
  Device Files: /dev/sdb, /dev/disk/by-id/usb-Generic_USB_CF_Reader_058F312D8Ac-0:1, /dev/disk/by-path/pci-0000:00:02.1-usb-0:4:1.0-scsi-0:0:0:1
  Device Number: block 8:16-8:31 (char 21:2)
  Geometry (Logical): CHS 1024/0/62
  Drive status: no medium
  Config Status: cfg=no, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown
  Attached to: #16 (USB Controller)

36: SCSI 00.2: 10600 Disk
  [Created at block.256]
  Unique ID: LUEV.ESrhO6fmky3
  Parent ID: ruGf.5BH4zj8i8tC
  SysFS ID: /class/block/sdc
  SysFS BusID: 0:0:0:2
  SysFS Device Link: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.1/usb1/1-4/1-4:1.0/host0/target0:0:0/0:0:0:2
  Hardware Class: disk
  Model: "Generic USB SM Reader"
  Vendor: usb 0x058f "Generic"
  Device: usb 0x6362 "USB SM Reader"
  Revision: "1.02"
  Driver: "usb-storage", "sd"
  Driver Modules: "usb_storage"
  Device File: /dev/sdc (/dev/sg3)
  Device Files: /dev/sdc, /dev/disk/by-id/usb-Generic_USB_SM_Reader_058F312D8Ac-0:2, /dev/disk/by-path/pci-0000:00:02.1-usb-0:4:1.0-scsi-0:0:0:2
  Device Number: block 8:32-8:47 (char 21:3)
  Geometry (Logical): CHS 1024/0/62
  Drive status: no medium
  Config Status: cfg=no, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown
  Attached to: #16 (USB Controller)

37: SCSI 00.3: 10600 Disk
  [Created at block.256]
  Unique ID: ofUZ.ESrhO6fmky3
  Parent ID: ruGf.5BH4zj8i8tC
  SysFS ID: /class/block/sdd
  SysFS BusID: 0:0:0:3
  SysFS Device Link: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.1/usb1/1-4/1-4:1.0/host0/target0:0:0/0:0:0:3
  Hardware Class: disk
  Model: "Generic USB MS Reader"
  Vendor: usb 0x058f "Generic"
  Device: usb 0x6362 "USB MS Reader"
  Revision: "1.03"
  Driver: "usb-storage", "sd"
  Driver Modules: "usb_storage"
  Device File: /dev/sdd (/dev/sg4)
  Device Files: /dev/sdd, /dev/disk/by-id/usb-Generic_USB_MS_Reader_058F312D8Ac-0:3, /dev/disk/by-path/pci-0000:00:02.1-usb-0:4:1.0-scsi-0:0:0:3
  Device Number: block 8:48-8:63 (char 21:4)
  Geometry (Logical): CHS 1024/0/62
  Drive status: no medium
  Config Status: cfg=yes, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown
  Attached to: #16 (USB Controller)


_______________________________

USB SD/MMC Card Reader that resembles an USB Key:


46: SCSI a00.0: 10600 Disk
  [Created at block.245]
  Unique ID: POWV.a8rgf8cNM0F
  Parent ID: ruGf.5BH4zj8i8tC
  SysFS ID: /class/block/sdg
  SysFS BusID: 10:0:0:0
  SysFS Device Link: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.1/usb1/1-9/1-9:1.0/host10/target10:0:0/10:0:0:0
  Hardware Class: disk
  Model: "SD/MMC Card  Reader"
  Vendor: usb 0x058f "SD/MMC"
  Device: usb 0x6335 "Card  Reader"
  Revision: "1.00"
  Serial ID: "058F011111B1"
  Driver: "usb-storage", "sd"
  Driver Modules: "usb_storage"
  Device File: /dev/sdg (/dev/sg7)
  Device Files: /dev/sdg, /dev/disk/by-id/usb-SD_MMC_Card_Reader_058F011111B1-0:0, /dev/disk/by-path/pci-0000:00:02.1-usb-0:9:1.0-scsi-0:0:0:0, /dev/disk/by-uuid/d30657ba-9065-44bd-9a28-6817b5b86137, /dev/disk/by-label/1024HD-02
  Device Number: block 8:96-8:111 (char 21:7)
  Geometry (Logical): CHS 1019/32/61
  Size: 1989632 sectors a 512 bytes
  Capacity: 0 GB (1018691584 bytes)
  Speed: 480 Mbps
  Module Alias: "usb:v058Fp6335d0102dc00dsc00dp00ic08isc06ip50"
  Driver Info #0:
    Driver Status: uas is not active
    Driver Activation Cmd: "modprobe uas"
  Config Status: cfg=new, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown
  Attached to: #16 (USB Controller)

Not sure what info they should provide...

Please do

echo "module usbcore +p" > /sys/kernel/debug/dynamic_debug/control
echo "module ehci_hcd +p" > /sys/kernel/debug/dynamic_debug/control
echo "module ohci_hcd +p" > /sys/kernel/debug/dynamic_debug/control
echo "module uhci_hcd +p" > /sys/kernel/debug/dynamic_debug/control
echo "9" > /proc/sysrq-trigger
dmesg -c

plug in your device

dmesg > /var/tmp/for_bugzilla.txt

and attach the file

Sorry, for a lot of reasons I can't used that system anymore (in all the last year!). If I have any time, I'll try to reproduce it and provides more information, or at least if error occurs with 12.2. In other systems (12.1 as 12.2 from DVD) USB devices works fine; only when I tried the USB installation via ImageWriter (that works for the installation!) I can't use USB devices.

Thanks.