USB flash reader not recognised

bondsac · 01-31-2006, 08:23 AM

I've suddenly run into an odd hardware problem with my flash card reader.

I have a Sony Ericsson k750i
SanDisk 1GB Memory stick pro duo
MobyMemory memory stick flash reader
Fedora Core 4 (2.6.11-1)

I've been using the flash reader for some time when it simply stopped working in both Linux and Windows. The odd thing is, the card is recognised no problem in my phone, and i can mount easily using the phone's USB cable.

However when I slip the card in the reader, /dev/sda1 isn't created, I'm left with /dev/sda where "no medium is found" when trying to use any tools to access the card (dd/fdisk/parted..etc)

i did a mkfs.vfat /dev/sda1 while the card was plugged into my phone, it formatted fine, but made no difference when using the reader.

I'm pretty sure it's not the reader, because it still mounts fine with a different 64mb card.

The card isn't dead because it works fine hooked up via my phone

my messages file gives a hint, however this has only appeared twice.

(i need to use the reader as it is 10x faster at transferring)

--/var/log/messages---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jan 31 20:46:08 bondsac kernel: sda:<6>scsi: Device offlined - not ready after error recovery: host 5 channel 0 id 0 lun 0
Jan 31 20:46:08 bondsac kernel: SCSI error : <5 0 0 0> return code = 0x50000
Jan 31 20:46:08 bondsac kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 0
Jan 31 20:46:08 bondsac kernel: printk: 1 messages suppressed.
Jan 31 20:46:08 bondsac kernel: Buffer I/O error on device sda, logical block 0
Jan 31 20:46:08 bondsac kernel: scsi5 (0:0): rejecting I/O to offline device
Jan 31 20:46:08 bondsac kernel: Buffer I/O error on device sda, logical block 0
Jan 31 20:46:08 bondsac kernel: scsi5 (0:0): rejecting I/O to offline device
Jan 31 20:46:08 bondsac kernel: Buffer I/O error on device sda, logical block 0
Jan 31 20:46:08 bondsac kernel: unable to read partition table
Jan 31 20:46:08 bondsac kernel: Attached scsi removable disk sda at scsi5, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
Jan 31 20:46:24 bondsac su(pam_unix)[18224]: session opened for user root by (uid=500)
Jan 31 20:46:32 bondsac kernel: usb 2-2: USB disconnect, address 5
....
....
Jan 31 21:04:32 bondsac kernel: sda : READ CAPACITY failed.
Jan 31 21:04:32 bondsac kernel: sda : status=0, message=00, host=7, driver=00
Jan 31 21:04:32 bondsac kernel: sda : sense not available.
Jan 31 21:04:32 bondsac kernel: sda: Write Protect is off
Jan 31 21:04:32 bondsac kernel: sda: assuming drive cache: write through
Jan 31 21:04:32 bondsac kernel: sda : READ CAPACITY failed.
Jan 31 21:04:32 bondsac kernel: sda : status=0, message=00, host=7, driver=00
Jan 31 21:04:32 bondsac kernel: sda : sense not available.
Jan 31 21:04:32 bondsac kernel: sda: Write Protect is off
Jan 31 21:04:32 bondsac kernel: sda: assuming drive cache: write through
Jan 31 21:04:32 bondsac kernel: sda:<3>Buffer I/O error on device sda, logical block 0
Jan 31 21:04:32 bondsac kernel: Buffer I/O error on device sda, logical block 0
Jan 31 21:04:32 bondsac kernel: Buffer I/O error on device sda, logical block 0
Jan 31 21:04:32 bondsac kernel: unable to read partition table
Jan 31 21:04:32 bondsac kernel: usb 1-2: USB disconnect, address 11
Jan 31 21:05:46 bondsac kernel: usb 1-2: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 12
Jan 31 21:05:46 bondsac kernel: scsi8 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
Jan 31 21:05:51 bondsac kernel: Vendor: Multi Model: Flash Reader Rev: 1.00
Jan 31 21:05:51 bondsac kernel: Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 00
Jan 31 21:05:52 bondsac kernel: Attached scsi removable disk sda at scsi8, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
Jan 31 21:05:52 bondsac scsi.agent[18808]: disk at /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.2/usb1/1-2/1-2:1.0/host8/target8:0:0/8:0:0:0
Jan 31 21:25:33 bondsac smartd[2156]: Device: /dev/hda, 8 Currently unreadable (pending) sectors
Jan 31 21:25:33 bondsac smartd[2156]: Device: /dev/hda, 5 Offline uncorrectable sectors
Jan 31 21:35:51 bondsac kernel: usb 1-2: USB disconnect, address 12
Jan 31 21:42:13 bondsac kernel: usb 1-2: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 13
Jan 31 21:42:13 bondsac kernel: scsi9 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
Jan 31 21:42:18 bondsac kernel: Vendor: Multi Model: Flash Reader Rev: 1.00
Jan 31 21:42:18 bondsac kernel: Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 00

----dmesg---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Attached scsi removable disk sda at scsi13, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
usb-storage: device scan complete
usb 1-2: USB disconnect, address 17
usb 1-2: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 18
scsi14 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
usb-storage: device found at 18
usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
Vendor: Multi Model: Flash Reader Rev: 1.00
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 00
Attached scsi removable disk sda at scsi14, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
usb-storage: device scan complete
usb 1-2: USB disconnect, address 18
usb 1-1: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 19
scsi15 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
usb-storage: device found at 19
usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
Vendor: Multi Model: Flash Reader Rev: 1.00
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 00
Attached scsi removable disk sda at scsi15, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
usb-storage: device scan complete

GrueMaster · 02-01-2006, 05:08 PM

You need to reformat the drive. Unfortunately, Linux isn't so good at this (yet). There is a format utility available from HP that will work, though. It is mainly for their memory cards for their cameras, but I use it all the time to make my Sandisk memory cards bootable (both USB thumb drives and CF & SD memory cards). You can get it here.