I've got a USB pendrive that used to automount when connected but that has suddenly started to 'misbehave. After inserting it it doesn't mount and if I try to mount it manually I get the following error message:

# mount /mnt/usb/
mount: special device /dev/sda1 does not exist

my fstab entry:
/dev/sda1 /mnt/usb auto rw,user,noauto 0 0

What might be going wrong?

What was the last thing that you did - leave it in when booting up windows (it has a nasty habit of fiddeling with drives at startup), or plug some other USB device into the same port, or something else...?

Cheers,

mj

Which Distro?
Which kernel?
Have you done a kernel upgrade?

Brian1
" Google the Linux way @ http://www.google.com/linux "

FC3, kernel 2.6.9, no kernel upgrade .
Haven't rebooted n a week, but maybe I should (?) to find out if it changes anything.

I remembered I configured gthumb to recognise a digital camera (through USB). How does the system deal with different hardware using the same USB port or the same hardware using a diffrent USB port? (My motherboard comes with 8 USB ports). After reboot (with the USB drive plugged in) everything appears to be back to normal.

However I managed to recreate the error to a certain extent.
Here's what I did:

I logged out but didn't shut down the system. Then I unplugged the USB memory drive, plugged it back in and logged in again: The USB drive no longer appeared on the desktop.

From a console, as normal user I did
$ mount /mnt/usb
and the USB drive reappearedon the desktop, only this time with a different icon (normal disk unit, not USB) and with the name "usb (2)"

It might be that I didn't use the exact same USB port because I have 2 frontal USB ports.

Sounds like there is really no problem, just a minor bug. I current hve fc3 on my system but don't run any of the autodetect hardware for it. Previous Redhat and FC* didn't work to well. So I can't help on this. Sounds like it is getting better. Most issues for USB seems to be in the kernel releases. One kernel release will work with some devices then the next release my not understand them. I kerenl is compiled the same from version to version. So far 2.6.10-rc2 does real well. FC3 RPM of 2.6.10 is not very good. I would stay away from it. Other than that, I would say your system is very well configured.

Have fun
Brian1
" Google the Linux way @ http://www.google.com/linux "

Have to agree with Brian1 there - the autodetect/hotplug bits for USB can be a bit rough with different pieces of hardware alternatively being plugged into the same port.

Cheers,

mj

something to work on for the developers then. Usb is really important for a lot of people. Maybe I should look out for an auxiliar app to do the mount/unmount fo me?

Hi.

Try this:
HowTo Setup Linux AutoFS
http://freespace.sourceforge.net/gui...to/autofs.html

USB automount is still quite a problem, I test (new) hardware and write about it. Terrible.
I think autofs works best, give it a try. Cheers.

Looks like I have some reading to do. Looks good. Will try!