I have a Cdwriter that used to work well before. Then after some months it stopped mounting Data files. I presently use Vector Linux 3.2

Can I just change/reinstall those packages that relate to the CDWRITER in my Linux ?
Something made me feel, this is a great forum to seek help in regards to my cdwriter problem as LFS does everything from the basics. I am still able to play music CDs, so I assume that my CDWRITER Hardware is OK.

Thanks.

Vijay

I posed this problem on another forum here in the past. ALso posted the same problem on the Vector Linux board. The solutions presented were not helpful. Hence, posting this problem here now.

Vijay

More Information Needed.

1) Has a new piece of hardware (any) been added/changed
2) what does ls -l /dev/cdrom or ls -l /dev/cdrecorder or ls -l /dev/cdwriter print out?
3) Do you have a spare cdrom drive? (or just another one that is already connected?)
4) How many hard drives do you have? floppy drives? zip drives?
5) what does cat /etc/fstab print out?
----------------

When Cd-Drives go bad, they are not noticed as going bad until it gets severe. That is to say, when you stop being able to access anything you place into the drive. If you have a second cd-rom drive of any type (even borrow one..), you can test for this by unplugging your current cd-drive and plugging in the test drive with the same exact cables.

And that reminds me, do you have spare IDE cables in case that is the problem..however unlikely..

Another rare posibility is that part of your motherboard has gone bad. And seeing as you haven't gotten much help yet, perhaps your in the rare area. Try moving the IDE cable that connects to the cd-drive to a different IDE-slot on the motherboard.

----------------
P.S. I currently have an Old Cd-Rom drive, and other than the fact that it doesn't work, there is nothing wrong with it (Computer can't tell anythings wrong: boots-up, responds to cdrom add/removal, spinsup/down)

No new hardware added. Have an older spare CD Drive. Just one HD and one CDwriter.


bash-2.05b$ ls -l /dev/cdrom
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Jul 17 08:19 /dev/cdrom -> /dev/scd0
bash-2.05b$ ls -l /dev/cdwriter
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8 Oct 11 2003 /dev/cdwriter -> /dev/sr0

bash-2.05b$ cat /etc/fstab
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# The following is an example. Please see fstab(5) for further details.
# Please refer to mount(1) for a complete description of mount options.
#
# Format:
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
#
# dump(8) uses the <dump> field to determine which file systems need
# to be dumped. fsck(8) uses the <pass> column to determine which file
# systems need to be checked--the root file system should have a 1 in
# this field, other file systems a 2, and any file systems that should
# not be checked (such as MS-initrd/mnt or NFS file systems) a 0.

# This is a root linux ext2 partition:
/dev/hdc6 / ext2 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1

# This is a linux ext2 partition:
#/dev/hda2 /mnt/linux ext2 defaults 0 2

# The 'noauto' option indicates that the file system should not be mounted
# with 'mount -a' 'user' indicates that normal users are allowed to mount
# the file system.
/dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom iso9660 defaults,noauto,ro,user 0 0
/dev/cdwriter /mnt/cdwriter iso9660 defaults,noauto,ro,user 0 0
/dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto defaults,noauto,user 0 0
#/dev/fd1 /mnt/floppy auto defaults,noauto,user 0 0

# If you have a ls-120 floppy drive, it could be on /dev/hda b c d etc.
#/dev/hdd /mnt/ls120 auto defaults,noauto,user 0 0

# NFS file systems:
#linux01.gwdg.de:/suse/6.3/i386.de /mnt/nfs nfs defaults 0 0

# proc file system:
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0

# Unix98 devpts filesystem:
none /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=666 0 0

# Shared memory filesystem:
#none /var/shm shm defaults 0 0
# Basic USB filesystem
none /proc/bus/usb usbdevfs defaults 0 0

# For dos partition use type 'msdos'.
# For win95/98 fat16 or FAT32 partition use type 'vfat'.

# The 'sw' option indicates that the swap partition is to be activated
# with 'swapon -a'.
/dev/hdc7 none swap sw 0 0

# Swap file:
#/swap none swap sw 0 0

bash-2.05b$

My CDWRITER also boots using a Knoppix Live CD.

Also, I just booted using Windows, Loaded a Data CD. It read it very well.

Hence, it is clear that this is a Linux problem.

Please assist. Thanks.

Vijay

in the file /etc/fstab. you might need to edit it.

Find:
More specifically:
/dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom iso9660 defaults,noauto,ro,user 0 0
/dev/cdwriter /mnt/cdwriter iso9660 defaults,noauto,ro,user 0 0

This should work as it is, but perhaps setting it to this and trying it might help.
/dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom auto defaults,noauto,ro,user 0 0
/dev/cdwriter /mnt/cdwriter auto defaults,noauto,ro,user 0 0

and you might want to back up the original line in case something is forgotten in the future.
Just one step at a time when tryin g to solve problems. This probably won't help. The next step is to try the other cd-rom drive.

next step is to try this:
then edit /et/fstab again to the following:
Once this is done try mounting both /mnt/cdrom and /mnt/cdwriter. Any Luck? What happens?

If this too fails, return the /etc/fstab file to its original state. and try swapping the cd-drive with the older one, then try swapping IDE cable if any is available, and finally try plugging the IDE cable of the cd-drive into a different IDE slot on the motherboard.

Also, remove the /dev/cdromtest1 and /dev/cdromtest2 files. heres a quick way:

WOWWWWWW !!!!!!!!

Just changing the iso9660 to auto in those two lines worked. My CDWRITER is able to read Data Files again !!!! So that was all there was to it then !!!!

I have one or two threads here and another in the Vector Linux message board. Even developers tried this problem and failed. You succeeded !!!

Thank You. What a great start to a NEW YEAR. Proof follows at the end.

Vijay ))


bash-2.05b$ ls -l /mnt/cdrom
total 56
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 219 May 29 2003 CHANGES.txt
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 39249 May 7 2003 COPYING.txt
dr-xr-xr-x 6 root root 2048 Mar 6 2003 Install
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 3288 May 29 2003 README.txt
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 37 Mar 10 2003 SOT Linux 2003 R1 Desktop
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 831 Feb 20 2002 SOT-PGP-KEY
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 79 Jan 10 2001 autorun.inf
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 2048 Jun 3 2003 boot.cat
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 3450 May 21 2003 index.htm
dr-xr-xr-x 7 root root 2048 Jun 3 2003 manuals
dr-xr-xr-x 4 root root 2048 May 13 2003 software
bash-2.05b$

Glad I decided to post my problem here again. LFS users rule !!!! One more reason for me to try LFS. This is a good lesson/proof for me.

(Still need to check and see if record functions work well with this though)

Vijay )

I tried the record function. It worked out very well.

The only thing is that the CDWRITER doesn't seem to mount blank and music CDs.

Vijay

Yeah, LFS users usually know how to fix many solutions outside of LFS but in the future, if your question is not related to LFS, post it in a more appropiate forum. This question and thread had nothing to do with LFS so its being moved to a more suitable forum, like hardware since it was more of a hardware related issue, getting it to work, etc.

My CDWRITER is also unable to read multisession CDs. Please assist.

Thanks.

Vijay

There are no mountable filesystems on blank or audio CDs. Even though you think you are mounting the device in Linux what you are actually mounting is the filesystem ON the device. You don't have to mount the CDWRITER in order to write to a blank CD, nor do you have to mount it in order to listen to audio CD's.

HTH,
MMYoung

How can I make a copy of an Audio CD then ?

Thanks.

Vijay

Most WM/DE come with some kind of CD ripper to convert the audio files on an audio CD to .mp3, .ogg, etc. and then copy them to you HD. I use Slackware and Dropline GNOME and it has CD Ripper for that function.

If you just want to make a copy of an audio CD then most CD Burning software will do that for you. K3b for KDE will do that and I use GnomeBaker in GNOME. You can also do it from the command line using cdrecord.

Later,
MMYoung