USB stick does not work in Linux Mint 17.10

dancing monkey · 01-24-2015, 02:02 PM

I'm new to Linux Mint and have spent days researching and reading posts from users who were having problems with finding and mounting USB sticks in Linux. I'm about worn out trying to solve the problem and still can't do this. Is there a solution that I've missed that can provide success in recognizing and mounting and mount a USB?

ferrari · 01-24-2015, 02:26 PM

You've given us no information to work with. We're not in front of your computer, so can only guess...

Plug in the device and observe the kernel output from a terminal

Code:

dmesg|tail

Check what is reported by the following too

Code:

/sbin/fdisk -l

Code:

mount

ferrari · 01-24-2015, 02:35 PM

BTW, if you've just upgraded to Linux Mint 17, then your problem may be related to the chnage from using udisks to udisks2. Check the advice given in this LXF thread.

yancek · 01-24-2015, 04:42 PM

If you have a formatted usb disk, when you plug it in, it should show under /media/user. Substitute your actual user name for "user".

dancing monkey · 01-24-2015, 04:57 PM

Hello Ferrari,

I took three screen shots showing the outputs of the terminal commands you suggested and have (I think), attached them. Is there something in the returned info that is useful? Thanks for your interest and support.

ferrari · 01-24-2015, 05:11 PM

For future reference, next time just copy/paste the output and post here. If the output is verbose, then you can always upload to pastebin, and post the link to it here. Unfortunately, nothing is returned from the dmesg output. That could be because you executed dmesg too long after the device was plugged in. The 'fdisk -l' output suggests that the device is not recognized or working, since at the very least a block device should have been listed there. Does this usb stick work in any other environment you can test with?

The device should be reported here, along with any other devices connected to the USB subsystem

Code:

lsusb

Code:

usb-devices

dancing monkey · 01-25-2015, 12:00 PM

Hello again,

My USB sticks work perfectly on another PC using Windows 7. I have uploaded the output from command usb-devices to pastebin. It shows two of my other working usb devices, a wireless adapter and the mouse. I went to the pastebin link you provided and after submitting the job I don't know where to find the link you need to get to it. This is the first time I've used the Pastebin utility.

dancing monkey · 01-25-2015, 04:52 PM

T: Bus=01 Lev=00 Prnt=00 Port=00 Cnt=00 Dev#= 1 Spd=480 MxCh= 8
D: Ver= 2.00 Cls=09(hub ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS=64 #Cfgs= 1
P: Vendor=1d6b ProdID=0002 Rev=03.13
S: Manufacturer=Linux 3.13.0-37-generic ehci_hcd
S: Product=EHCI Host Controller
S: SerialNumber=0000:00:1d.7
C: #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=e0 MxPwr=0mA
I: If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 1 Cls=09(hub ) Sub=00 Prot=00 Driver=hub

T: Bus=01 Lev=01 Prnt=01 Port=00 Cnt=01 Dev#= 2 Spd=480 MxCh= 0
D: Ver= 2.00 Cls=00(>ifc ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS=64 #Cfgs= 1
P: Vendor=0bda ProdID=8178 Rev=02.00
S: Manufacturer=Realtek
S: Product=802.11n WLAN Adapter
S: SerialNumber=00e04c000001
C: #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=80 MxPwr=500mA
I: If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 4 Cls=ff(vend.) Sub=ff Prot=ff Driver=rtl8192cu

T: Bus=02 Lev=00 Prnt=00 Port=00 Cnt=00 Dev#= 1 Spd=12 MxCh= 2
D: Ver= 1.10 Cls=09(hub ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS=64 #Cfgs= 1
P: Vendor=1d6b ProdID=0001 Rev=03.13
S: Manufacturer=Linux 3.13.0-37-generic uhci_hcd
S: Product=UHCI Host Controller
S: SerialNumber=0000:00:1d.0
C: #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=e0 MxPwr=0mA
I: If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 1 Cls=09(hub ) Sub=00 Prot=00 Driver=hub

T: Bus=03 Lev=00 Prnt=00 Port=00 Cnt=00 Dev#= 1 Spd=12 MxCh= 2
D: Ver= 1.10 Cls=09(hub ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS=64 #Cfgs= 1
P: Vendor=1d6b ProdID=0001 Rev=03.13
S: Manufacturer=Linux 3.13.0-37-generic uhci_hcd
S: Product=UHCI Host Controller
S: SerialNumber=0000:00:1d.1
C: #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=e0 MxPwr=0mA
I: If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 1 Cls=09(hub ) Sub=00 Prot=00 Driver=hub

T: Bus=03 Lev=01 Prnt=01 Port=00 Cnt=01 Dev#= 2 Spd=1.5 MxCh= 0
D: Ver= 2.00 Cls=00(>ifc ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS= 8 #Cfgs= 1
P: Vendor=04b3 ProdID=310c Rev=02.00
S: Product=USB Optical Mouse
C: #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=a0 MxPwr=100mA
I: If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 1 Cls=03(HID ) Sub=01 Prot=02 Driver=usbhid

T: Bus=04 Lev=00 Prnt=00 Port=00 Cnt=00 Dev#= 1 Spd=12 MxCh= 2
D: Ver= 1.10 Cls=09(hub ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS=64 #Cfgs= 1
P: Vendor=1d6b ProdID=0001 Rev=03.13
S: Manufacturer=Linux 3.13.0-37-generic uhci_hcd
S: Product=UHCI Host Controller
S: SerialNumber=0000:00:1d.2
C: #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=e0 MxPwr=0mA
I: If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 1 Cls=09(hub ) Sub=00 Prot=00 Driver=hub

T: Bus=05 Lev=00 Prnt=00 Port=00 Cnt=00 Dev#= 1 Spd=12 MxCh= 2
D: Ver= 1.10 Cls=09(hub ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS=64 #Cfgs= 1
P: Vendor=1d6b ProdID=0001 Rev=03.13
S: Manufacturer=Linux 3.13.0-37-generic uhci_hcd
S: Product=UHCI Host Controller
S: SerialNumber=0000:00:1d.3
C: #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=e0 MxPwr=0mA
I: If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 1 Cls=09(hub ) Sub=00 Prot=00 Driver=hub
chuck@pcserialnumberlkhmn2r ~ $

ferrari · 01-25-2015, 06:14 PM

Assuming that you copy/pasted the entire 'usb-devices' output (with usb memory stick plugged in), then the storage device is not reported at all. The chipset details should be enumerated at the very least even if no device driver is bound to it.

ferrari · 01-25-2015, 06:19 PM

Can you please provide make/model of device? Is it a USB 3 device? If 'lsusb' doesn't show the device chipset, then the USB host port is not powering up (or correctly communicating) with the device I would say. You could try alternative ports, or perhaps via a powered USB hub.

dancing monkey · 01-26-2015, 06:31 PM

chuck@pcserialnumberlkhmn2r ~ $ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0bda:8178 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8192CU 802.11n WLAN Adapter
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 04b3:310c IBM Corp. Wheel Mouse
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
chu

The above shows that I have a total of 7 USB ports on my desktop. Two are in use and working, the wirelass LAN adapter, and the IBM mouse. I decided to check to see if my USB ports were operational by changing my hard drive containing Linux for one with the Windows XP OS on it. I went to the Device Manager in Windows and found that all 7 USB ports were recognized. I then put a USB stick in two of the open 5 ports and was able to oen files on that stick. I conclude I do not have a hardware problem, but that something is not set up properly in Linux. At one point, while in linux a small window opened up that was labeled USB Devices, but the window did not contain anything. I have a directory caledd /media/ where I was going to mount the stick but obviously can't do so until I get the drive ports to be recognzed. So, back to the drawing board to learn about terminal commands to find the ports.

ferrari · 01-26-2015, 08:12 PM

You didn't answer my questions about your usb device (refer my previous post). If the device does not show up in 'lsusb' output, then the device is not only not being recognised, but the device descriptor is not being read, so not even the chipset reported. That has to happen, even before a device driver is bound to the device.

For reference, my 16GB flash drive is reported like this

Code:

Bus 002 Device 004: ID 090c:1000 Silicon Motion, Inc. - Taiwan (formerly Feiya Technology Corp.) Flash Drive

Code:

T:  Bus=02 Lev=01 Prnt=01 Port=02 Cnt=01 Dev#=  4 Spd=480 MxCh= 0
D:  Ver= 2.00 Cls=00(>ifc ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS=64 #Cfgs=  1
P:  Vendor=090c ProdID=1000 Rev=11.00
S:  Manufacturer=UFD 2.0
S:  Product=Silicon-Power
S:  SerialNumber=1401715503700133
C:  #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=80 MxPwr=500mA
I:  If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 2 Cls=08(stor.) Sub=06 Prot=50 Driver=usb-storage

and 'dmesg' output

Code:

40012.583090] usb 2-3: new high-speed USB device number 6 using ehci-pci
[40012.699694] usb 2-3: New USB device found, idVendor=090c, idProduct=1000
[40012.699703] usb 2-3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[40012.699711] usb 2-3: Product: Silicon-Power
[40012.699717] usb 2-3: Manufacturer: UFD 2.0
[40012.699723] usb 2-3: SerialNumber: 1401715503700133
[40012.700410] usb-storage 2-3:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[40012.702504] scsi5 : usb-storage 2-3:1.0
[40014.178583] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 43 00 00 00
[40014.179484] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] No Caching mode page found
[40014.179486] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[40014.182856] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] No Caching mode page found
[40014.182859] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[40014.184646]  sdb: sdb1
[40014.187717] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] No Caching mode page found
[40014.187720] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[40014.187723] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk

dancing monkey · 01-26-2015, 09:27 PM

Sorry,

I've been using a Kingston 4 GB USB 2 stick and just tried a San Disk USB 32 GB stick. The Kingston stick is now connected via a powered Belkin Hi-Speed USB 2.04 Port Ultra-Mini Hub-Silver F5U407 at the moment but I'm not seeing anythin new with lsusb. The output is the same list of 7 USB ports in the message just before your latest one.

ferrari · 01-27-2015, 02:42 AM

Wondering if root privileges are required here...Does the following commands show the storage device registered on the USB subsystem?

Code:

sudo lsusb

Code:

sudo usb-devices

If not, something is up with your installed kernel IMHO.

Higgsboson · 01-27-2015, 02:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dancing monkey

I'm new to Linux Mint and have spent days researching and reading posts from users who were having problems with finding and mounting USB sticks in Linux. I'm about worn out trying to solve the problem and still can't do this. Is there a solution that I've missed that can provide success in recognizing and mounting and mount a USB?

Ok, so what program are you using to put Linux Mint onto your USB?
Is it Unetbootin, Yumi, pendrivelinux or something like that?

It's good to know you have a linux operating system.
This should mean you can put Linux Mint onto your USB with fewer problems than if you were using Win7.

What linux OS are you using?
If you say Ubuntu or Debian etc, then more people who have the same OS will probably understand your problem.

I have a 32gb sandisk USB too. I have live debian with gnome desktop installed on it.
But your Kingston USB also is perfectly fine for installing a linux OS onto it.

Please say how you're putting Linux Mint onto your USB and what's stopping you from doing that.