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USB drive not working

I am using Debian 3.1 and it won't recognise my USB drive. I probably need to edit my fstab file, but how? I tried /dev/sda1, and /dev/sb1 but nothing happened. Using MEPIS or Kubuntu it automatically detected and mounted it. When I look in my /dev/ folder, there is no sda1 or sb1 device. The USB drive works fine with other distributions, and under Windows, but only in Debian does nothing happen.

Here is how my fstab entry is set up for my flash drive:

Code:

/dev/sda1 /mnt/sda1 vfat noauto,users,owner,exec,umask=000 0 0

I can mount the drive as a normal user from the command line using the command:

Code:

mount /mnt/sda1

after plugging in the drive.

You can check to see if the drive is recognized using the command "dmesg" after plugging it in. Sometimes I have to wait ~20 seconds or so before my drive is recognized.

Thanks, but it still doesn't work.
I added the line exactly as above to fstab, but

When I try:

Code:

bp@localhost:/$ mount /mnt/sda1

I get:

Code:

mount: special device /dev/sda1 does not exist

When I go to /dev/ there is nothing (no device or file of any type) called sda1 in it.

Plug in the drive, then wait a few seconds and run "dmesg". In my case, dmesg output gives:

Code:

sda: assuming Write Enabled

sda: assuming drive cache: write through

SCSI device sda: 1023488 512-byte hdwr sectors (524 MB)

sda: assuming Write Enabled

sda: assuming drive cache: write through

SCSI device sda: 1023488 512-byte hdwr sectors (524 MB)

sda: assuming Write Enabled

sda: assuming drive cache: write through

 /dev/scsi/host0/bus0/target0/lun0: p1

Attached scsi removable disk sda at scsi0, channel 0, id 0, lun 0

Perhaps in your case, it is a different device directory.

When I run dmesg, I get:

Code:

usbcore: registered new driver usbfs

usbcore: registered new driver hub

USB Universal Host Controller Interface driver v2.2

ACPI: PCI interrupt 0000:00:10.0[A] -> GSI 11 (level, low) -> IRQ 11

uhci_hcd 0000:00:10.0: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller

PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:00:10.0 to 64

uhci_hcd 0000:00:10.0: irq 11, io base 00001020

uhci_hcd 0000:00:10.0: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1

hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found

hub 1-0:1.0: 2 ports detected

ACPI: PCI interrupt 0000:00:10.1[B] -> GSI 9 (level, low) -> IRQ 9

uhci_hcd 0000:00:10.1: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller

(#2)

PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:00:10.1 to 64

uhci_hcd 0000:00:10.1: irq 9, io base 00001040

uhci_hcd 0000:00:10.1: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 2

hub 2-0:1.0: USB hub found

hub 2-0:1.0: 2 ports detected

ACPI: PCI interrupt 0000:00:10.2[C] -> GSI 11 (level, low) -> IRQ 11

uhci_hcd 0000:00:10.2: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller

(#3)

PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:00:10.2 to 64

uhci_hcd 0000:00:10.2: irq 11, io base 00001060

uhci_hcd 0000:00:10.2: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 3

hub 3-0:1.0: USB hub found

hub 3-0:1.0: 2 ports detected

PCI: Enabling device 0000:00:10.3 (0010 -> 0012)

ACPI: PCI interrupt 0000:00:10.3[D] -> GSI 9 (level, low) -> IRQ 9

ehci_hcd 0000:00:10.3: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0

PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:00:10.3 to 64

ehci_hcd 0000:00:10.3: irq 9, pci mem e0b1c400

ehci_hcd 0000:00:10.3: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 4

ehci_hcd 0000:00:10.3: USB 2.0 enabled, EHCI 1.00, driver 2004-May-10

hub 4-0:1.0: USB hub found

hub 4-0:1.0: 6 ports detected

...

usb 4-1: new high speed USB device using address 2

usb 4-1: control timeout on ep0out

ehci_hcd 0000:00:10.3: Unlink after no-IRQ?  Different ACPI or APIC settings may help.

usb 4-1: control timeout on ep0out

usb 4-1: device not accepting address 2, error -110

usb 4-1: new high speed USB device using address 3

usb 4-1: control timeout on ep0out

usb 4-1: control timeout on ep0out

usb 4-1: device not accepting address 3, error -110

usb 4-1: new high speed USB device using address 4

I don't know how much is useful to fix the problem, but I can't find something more similar to the output of your dmesg.

Anyone?
Where could the USB device be located? In '/proc/bus/usb'? When I search for all block devices in konqueror, all I get is my hard drive partitions, cd drive, some shortucts to the other devices and a whole bunch of memory devices. If there is no sda1, can I create one? If so, how?
Thanks

This is how usb drive works for me :-

mount -t auto/msdos /dev/sda1 /mnt/pen

Just create a directory under /mnt (pen is the directory).
One thing to note is i can't use -t vfat, and i don't know why. I tried -t auto or -t msdos
works.

Hope it helps

But there is no 'sda1' in /dev/ . The only block devices there are the hard drives and a bunch of memory devices. sda1 , sda2 , sdb1 and so on don't even exist as a file. Editing fstab is not the froblem. I have to get or find the device directory, or make one, not the mount point. How do I make one (if it is possible)? Or what do I use instead?

Hi,

This is my last portion of dmesg, yours should show the same or similar

=======================================================
usb 3-5: new high speed USB device using address 3
Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...
scsi0 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
Vendor: Model: USB FLASH DRIVE Rev: 1.01
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 02
USB Mass Storage device found at 3
usbcore: registered new driver usb-storage
USB Mass Storage support registered.
SCSI device sda: 253952 512-byte hdwr sectors (130 MB)
sda: assuming Write Enabled
sda: assuming drive cache: write through
/dev/scsi/host0/bus0/target0/lun0: p1
Attached scsi removable disk sda at scsi0, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
======================================================

What i did was to su into root and type #mount -t msdos /dev/sda1 /mnt/pen

Have you tried and it doesn't work??

What i'd suggest is that you do a dmesg first, hang in there, then plug in your
pen drive, check on dmesg again to see what has been 'added'. Meaning that
you could open 2 console at the same time to see the effect .

Let us know what's the status so far.
Cheers

try /dev/sda instead of /dev/sda1
I have two flash drives. One works with /dev/sda and the other works with /dev/sda1. I don't know why.

I was having similar problems. Make sure that you are using a 2.6 kernel. The 2.4 kernel that comes with Debian 3.1 (Sarge) won't allow USB drives.
Do:
apt-get install kernel-image-2.6-386

Reboot your machine, and choose the 2.6 kernel. If that doesn't make it work, try this from DebianHelp.org:
http://www.debianhelp.org/modules.ph...ticle&sid=3529

I am using a 2.6 kernel, but it is for k7 (AMD Athlon). Should I use a 'normal' 386 kernel? Also, how do I edit/add modules to the kernel? It is a laptop and it doesn't have full APM or ACPI support. Or should I recompile the kernel? And how would I do that? In the KDE Control Center there is an item called 'linux kernel' or something like that, but I apparently I don't have the source code.

Yes, the 386 kernel is what you should be using (there may be one optimized for your processor, but the 386 should work). Did you try the link that I posted?

His kernel is fine as long as he has an amd processor no need to switch to i386.

http://www.xs4all.nl/~bsamwel/usb_st...on_debian.html

If you dont have "hotplug" installed ....install it.It will save you lots of headaches.

Thanks everybody.
I loaded the 'hotplug' and 'usb-storage' modules into the kernel, and now it works fine. I guess I thought they loaded automatically and there was a problem with /etc/fstab and /dev/. Now everything works just fine.