Hi,

I'm running Slackware 10.2

When I installed, I had my USB external hard drive turned on. Slackware recognized it and all went well. The only thing I had to do was"mount /dev/sda1" and I could read and write to it.

Now, Slackware has decided that it no longer wants to work with the external HD. When I "mount /dev/sda1", I get:

root@localhost:~# mount /dev/sda1
mount: /dev/sda1 is not a valid block device
root@localhost:~#

It was a valid block device, but now Slackware has decided that it isn't. I've changed nothing.

Thanks,
-Joe

Probably it has been assigned another name. Have you used a usbstick at the same time?
Anyway, unplug the disk, plug it again and give us the output of `dmesg | tail -n 40`.

Hi uselpa!

No, I haven't connected or disconnected anything since installation.I did set up the printer, but the external HD was working after that. I had a hardware problem with the eMachine W3502 I was using, so I returned it and traded up to this eMachine W3503 that has Slackware 10.2. This install is only several days old.

Here's the output:

joegumbo@localhost:~$ dmesg | tail -n 40
sda: test WP failed, assume Write Enabled
sda: I/O error: dev 08:00, sector 0
I/O error: dev 08:00, sector 0
unable to read partition table
usb.c: USB disconnect on device 00:13.2-1 address 2
hub.c: new USB device 00:13.2-1, assigned address 3
WARNING: USB Mass Storage data integrity not assured
USB Mass Storage device found at 3
sda: Unit Not Ready, sense:
Info fld=0x0, Current 00:00: sns = f0 2
ASC=3a ASCQ= 0
Raw sense data:0xf0 0x00 0x02 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x0a 0x00 0xaa 0x55 0x40 0x3a 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00
sda : READ CAPACITY failed.
sda : status = 1, message = 00, host = 0, driver = 08
Info fld=0x0, Current sd00:00: sns = f0 2
ASC=3a ASCQ= 0
Raw sense data:0xf0 0x00 0x02 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x0a 0x00 0xaa 0x55 0x40 0x3a 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00
sda : block size assumed to be 512 bytes, disk size 1GB.
sda: test WP failed, assume Write Enabled
sda: I/O error: dev 08:00, sector 0
I/O error: dev 08:00, sector 0
unable to read partition table
sda: Unit Not Ready, sense:
Info fld=0x0, Current 00:00: sns = f0 2
ASC=3a ASCQ= 0
Raw sense data:0xf0 0x00 0x02 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x0a 0x00 0xaa 0x55 0x40 0x3a 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00
sda : READ CAPACITY failed.
sda : status = 1, message = 00, host = 0, driver = 08
Info fld=0x0, Current sd00:00: sns = f0 2
ASC=3a ASCQ= 0
Raw sense data:0xf0 0x00 0x02 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x0a 0x00 0xaa 0x55 0x40 0x3a 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00
sda : block size assumed to be 512 bytes, disk size 1GB.
sda: test WP failed, assume Write Enabled
sda: I/O error: dev 08:00, sector 0
I/O error: dev 08:00, sector 0
unable to read partition table
usb.c: USB disconnect on device 00:13.2-1 address 3
hub.c: new USB device 00:13.2-1, assigned address 4
WARNING: USB Mass Storage data integrity not assured
USB Mass Storage device found at 4
joegumbo@localhost:~$

btw, I see a line that says:

sda : block size assumed to be 512 bytes, disk size 1GB.


This is an 80GB HD.

Thank you,
-Joe

"unable to read partition table" doesn't look good.
What does `fdisk -l /dev/sda?` say?

joegumbo@localhost:~$ fdisk -l /dev/sda?
-bash: fdisk: command not found
joegumbo@localhost:~$

Btw, this is formatted in FAT32.

thanks,
-Joe

You need to be root, or use /sbin/fdisk instead of fdisk.

-su: /dev/sda: Permission denied
root@localhost:~# /sbin/fdisk -l/dev/sda?
/sbin/fdisk: invalid option -- /

Usage: fdisk [-b SSZ] [-u] DISK Change partition table
fdisk -l [-b SSZ] [-u] DISK List partition table(s)
fdisk -s PARTITION Give partition size(s) in blocks
fdisk -v Give fdisk version
Here DISK is something like /dev/hdb or /dev/sda
and PARTITION is something like /dev/hda7
-u: give Start and End in sector (instead of cylinder) units
-b 2048: (for certain MO disks) use 2048-byte sectors
root@localhost:~#
root@localhost:~# /sbin/fdisk -l /dev/sda
root@localhost:~# mount /dev/sda
mount: can't find /dev/sda in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab
root@localhost:~# /mount /dev/sda1
-su: /mount: No such file or directory
root@localhost:~#

You need to add a space between -l and /dev/sda.

(sorry about that.)

I did, and I get no feedback:

root@localhost:~# /sbin/fdisk -l /dev/sda
root@localhost:~#

root@localhost:~# /sbin/fdisk -l /dev/sda?
root@localhost:~#

More info...

i decided to just try /sbin/fdisk -l and this is the output. My external HD now appears to be designated /dev/sdb or /dev/sdb1. When I try to "mount" either, I still cannot mount.

root@localhost:~# /sbin/fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sdb: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 1 9729 78148161 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)

Disk /dev/hda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 524 8543 64420650 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda2 1 523 4200966 b W95 FAT32
/dev/hda3 8544 19457 87666705 5 Extended
/dev/hda5 8544 8608 522081 82 Linux swap
/dev/hda6 8609 19457 87144561 83 Linux

Partition table entries are not in disk order
root@localhost:~# mount /dev/sdb
mount: can't find /dev/sdb in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab
root@localhost:~# mount /dev/sdb1
mount: can't find /dev/sdb1 in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab
root@localhost:~#

I'm not plugging or unplugging anyhting, but the address for the external HD seems to be volatile. Even if I did make and entry in fstab, if the address keeps moving, it's still a problem.

Thanks,
-Joe

specify a mount point, be sure to be user root: `mount /dev/sdb1 <mount point>`.

This is in /etc/fstab:

/dev/hda5 swap swap defaults 0 0
/dev/hda6 / reiserfs defaults 1 1
/dev/hda1 /C ntfs ro 1 0
/dev/hda2 /D vfat defaults 1 0
/dev/sda1 /E vfat defaults 1 0
/dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom auto noauto,owner,ro 0 0
/dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto noauto,owner 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620 0 0
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0


This is in /etc/mtab:
/dev/hda6 / reiserfs rw 0 0
proc /proc proc rw 0 0
/dev/hda1 /C ntfs ro 0 0
/dev/hda2 /D vfat rw 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts rw,gid=5,mode=620 0 0
usbfs /proc/bus/usb usbfs rw 0 0

try `mount /dev/sdb1 /E`

I am root and I did specify a mount point in the above code. i tried again and received the same response. The problem is that sdb1 and sdb aren't in either ftsab or mtab. If you check my fstab, you'll se that there is an entry for sda1, but not for sdb1. The problem is that the address changed. I need to figure out how to change it back. I could just edit the fstab entry for sda1 to sdb1 and that would probably fix the problem for now, but the next time I boot, i'm afraid that sdb1 will be changed to something else again.

-Joe

Thank you.. It worked.


It's mounted,but I cannot browse it. I just tried through Konqueror, but it's listed there as sda1.


I tried manually entering "media: /sdb1" in Konqueror's address bar, but the response I receive is:

An error occurred while loading media:/sdb1:
The file or folder media:/sdb1 does not exist.