USB Flash Drive: No Media Detected; Format gets: exit code 1: cannot open /dev/sdb:
I'm trying to troubleshoot a 8gb USB flash drive which linux (ubuntu narwhal) recognizes but is unable to properly mount or format.
In disk utility, it shows as FLASH Drive SM_USB20 Firmware 1100 Capacity No Media Detected Serial No (this is present and valid) Device /dev/sdb SMART Status Not Supported When I try to format the drive, i get several optiobns intlucing Master Boot Record, GUID table, none, and Apple. Doesn't matter which option I pick, I get the same error for all of them: "An error occurred while performin an operation on "FLASH Drive SM_USB20" (FLASH Drive SM_USB20): the operation failed" with a drop-down details box which says: "Error creating partition table: helper exited with exit code 1: cannot open /dev/sdb: No medium found" I did search the site and found a similar thread however it did not address the no medium found issue and also the op's issue was not resolved. When I stick this thumb drive into a macintosh computer it does not ever recognize that there's a new drive. in a windows machine, it mounts, unmounts, mounts, unmounts in a vicious cycle. I was hoping that with linux (ubuntu) I would be able to figure out the issue or format the drive. Is there any hope? the drive has a status indicator light which is solid and stable with the ubuntu machine. Would appreciate any help you could provide. this is an old Dell Dimension 2400 desktop running Ubuntu Natty Narwhal. |
You most likely tried to format the software section of device.
You should go to the manufacturer & download the repair software & it will return to fat32 |
Could you post the output of
Code:
fdisk -l |
Quote:
|
I think it's the initialization software.
http://www.samsungpleomax.com/servic...&oidOnedepth=2 |
Quote:
I also tried the "PUB S90/100 Utility Program" and it basically wont even run on my computer. Just lots of error messages and scripts that won't run and the like. My post regarding the results to fdisk appears not to have arrived when I posted it the day before yesterday so I will post it again next as a separate post. |
"fdisk -l" returns a user prompt (no results)
Quote:
Here's what I tried and the results: sisterd@ubuntu-vastdeep:~$ fdisk -l sisterd@ubuntu-vastdeep:~$ sisterd@ubuntu-vastdeep:~$ fdisk -l /dev/sda Cannot open /dev/sda sisterd@ubuntu-vastdeep:~$ sisterd@ubuntu-vastdeep:~$ fdisk -l /dev/sdb Cannot open /dev/sdb sisterd@ubuntu-vastdeep:~$ In Disk Utility, /dev/sda is my hard drive, which is listed as healthy, and/dev/sdb is the usb flash drive, which is listed as mounted but is not formatable, no media found. gparted seems only to scan or recognize /dev/sda and its partitions. I have not figured out if there is a way to tell it to scan for /dev/sdb. the drop-down menu at the top right for selecting disks does not have any other options that /dev/sda. hope that helps. |
you got this result because you did not run the command as super user (my bad, forgot to mention it.
please try: Code:
sudo fdisk -l Code:
df -Th |
Quote:
sisterd@ubuntu-vastdeep:~$ sudo fdisk -l Quote:
Although the thumb drive is in one of the USB ports and its red light is stable, it does not show up anywhere in any of the above results. The /dev/sda and variations are all the hard drive, and the /dev/sdc is an external hard drive directly connected to the computer. The expected /dev/sdb or /dev/sdd or later is not present in any of these results. not sure what to do about that. The information in my original post about it being visible in linux's Disk Utility is still valid. I can still see it and get the same results/issues trying to format it as originally posted.sisterd@ubuntu-vastdeep:~$ df -Th Thanks for your help... still such a noob I didn't even think to use the sudo command in front of fdisk.... SisterD |
well, seems we need to know what gets logged when the usb key is plugged in.
Please do the following in a terminal: Code:
sudo tail -c 0 -f /var/log/syslog copy the result and post it here. |
Not sure what to do with these results....
Quote:
sisterd@ubuntu-vastdeep:~$ sudo tail -c 0 -f /var/log/syslog [sudo] password for sisterd: Sep 23 14:17:01 ubuntu-vastdeep CRON[2177]: (root) CMD ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly) Sep 23 15:17:01 ubuntu-vastdeep CRON[2219]: (root) CMD ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly) Don't know what to do with that.... sisterD |
Did you open the terminal window and run
Code:
sudo tail -c 0 -f /var/log/syslog |
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
Since this thread explains my problem and it is not finished
DiskUtility: /dev/sdd No media detected fdisk skips /dev/sdd: ... Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sdc1 1 243201 1953512001 7 HPFS/NTFS Disk /dev/sde: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disk identifier: 0x8de2c65f Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sde1 * 1 121601 976760000+ c W95 FAT32 (LBA) df also skips sdd: /dev/sdb1 ext4 55G 38G 15G 72% / none devtmpfs 2.0G 332K 2.0G 1% /dev none tmpfs 2.0G 652K 2.0G 1% /dev/shm tmpfs tmpfs 2.0G 41M 1.9G 3% /tmp none tmpfs 2.0G 332K 2.0G 1% /var/run none tmpfs 2.0G 4.0K 2.0G 1% /var/lock none tmpfs 2.0G 0 2.0G 0% /lib/init/rw /dev/sr1 iso9660 29M 29M 0 100% /media/web'n'walk /dev/sde1 fuseblk 932G 379G 553G 41% /media/ARHIVA /dev/sdc1 fuseblk 1.9T 1.8T 117G 94% /media/HDDx03 tail after plugin: Nov 19 11:49:32 davidovv-home kernel: [ 574.730042] usb 1-6: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 9 Nov 19 11:49:32 davidovv-home kernel: [ 574.882928] scsi16 : usb-storage 1-6:1.0 Nov 19 11:49:32 davidovv-home kernel: [ 575.170029] usb 6-1: new low speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 14 Nov 19 11:49:33 davidovv-home kernel: [ 575.300021] usb 6-1: device descriptor read/64, error -71 Nov 19 11:49:33 davidovv-home kernel: [ 575.540060] usb 6-1: device descriptor read/64, error -71 Nov 19 11:49:33 davidovv-home kernel: [ 575.770035] usb 6-1: new low speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 15 Nov 19 11:49:33 davidovv-home kernel: [ 575.880839] scsi 16:0:0:0: Direct-Access Generic USB Flash Disk 7.76 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2 Nov 19 11:49:33 davidovv-home kernel: [ 575.883304] sd 16:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg4 type 0 Nov 19 11:49:33 davidovv-home kernel: [ 575.889193] sd 16:0:0:0: [sdd] Attached SCSI removable disk Nov 19 11:49:33 davidovv-home kernel: [ 575.900032] usb 6-1: device descriptor read/64, error -71 Nov 19 11:49:33 davidovv-home kernel: [ 576.140032] usb 6-1: device descriptor read/64, error -71 Nov 19 11:49:34 davidovv-home kernel: [ 576.370027] usb 6-1: new low speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 16 Nov 19 11:49:34 davidovv-home kernel: [ 576.790070] usb 6-1: device not accepting address 16, error -71 Nov 19 11:49:34 davidovv-home kernel: [ 576.910048] usb 6-1: new low speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 17 Nov 19 11:49:35 davidovv-home kernel: [ 577.330026] usb 6-1: device not accepting address 17, error -71 Nov 19 11:49:35 davidovv-home kernel: [ 577.330051] hub 6-0:1.0: unable to enumerate USB device on port 1 tail after plugout: Nov 19 11:57:08 davidovv-home kernel: [ 1031.124285] usb 1-6: USB disconnect, address 9 Is my flash disk usable any more? |
[solved]
Same problem. Here is how I solved it, and details below for symptoms as I was encountering the same problem.
SOLUTION: I inserted the thumb drive and waited 5 seconds for it to auto mount. Then I use a console window to manually issue the umount command: Code:
sudo umount /media/Transcend PROBLEM: I have a brand new Transcend Micro 8GB thumb drive that I want to use to put a SystemRescue ISO onto. I can insert the thumb drive and it shows up in Nautilus. There are a few files on the device and it's reported as an 8GB drive. But if I try to unmount it then it's reported as a drive with zero MB and I can't format it Disk Utility sees it, but won't let me format it because it's "busy" when it's mounted, and it's "empty" when it's unmounted. sudo fdisk -l Disk /dev/sdf: 8103 MB, 8103395328 bytes sudo tail -c 0 -f /var/log/syslog Jan 30 22:08:50 greg-laptop kernel: [692463.768973] usb 2-1: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 9 Jan 30 22:08:50 greg-laptop kernel: [692463.903429] usb 2-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice Jan 30 22:08:50 greg-laptop kernel: [692463.903878] scsi15 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices Jan 30 22:08:50 greg-laptop kernel: [692463.904256] usb-storage: device found at 9 Jan 30 22:08:50 greg-laptop kernel: [692463.904261] usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning Jan 30 22:08:55 greg-laptop kernel: [692468.905004] usb-storage: device scan complete Jan 30 22:08:55 greg-laptop kernel: [692469.260589] scsi 15:0:0:0: Direct-Access JetFlash Transcend 8GB 1100 PQ: 0 ANSI: 4 Jan 30 22:08:55 greg-laptop kernel: [692469.261903] sd 15:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg5 type 0 Jan 30 22:08:55 greg-laptop kernel: [692469.262733] sd 15:0:0:0: [sdf] 15826944 512-byte logical blocks: (8.10 GB/7.54 GiB) Jan 30 22:08:55 greg-laptop kernel: [692469.275074] sd 15:0:0:0: [sdf] Write Protect is off Jan 30 22:08:55 greg-laptop kernel: [692469.275083] sd 15:0:0:0: [sdf] Mode Sense: 43 00 00 00 Jan 30 22:08:55 greg-laptop kernel: [692469.275089] sd 15:0:0:0: [sdf] Assuming drive cache: write through Jan 30 22:08:55 greg-laptop kernel: [692469.278330] sd 15:0:0:0: [sdf] Assuming drive cache: write through Jan 30 22:08:55 greg-laptop kernel: [692469.278333] sdf: sdf1 Jan 30 22:08:55 greg-laptop kernel: [692469.282200] sd 15:0:0:0: [sdf] Assuming drive cache: write through Jan 30 22:08:55 greg-laptop kernel: [692469.282203] sd 15:0:0:0: [sdf] Attached SCSI removable disk |
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 08:07 PM. |