as the title says I'm having problems detecting my USB ports, i've tried making a dir, and mounting them and recognizing them but its not working. I should also go ahead nad ask about this, everytime i start KDE i get a message that says
Sound server informational message.
Error while intializing the sound driver:
device /dev/dsp can't be opened (no such device)
The sound server will continue, using the null output device

Now i tried working on that but it tell mes that /dev/dsp isnt even a directory and im not sure what i should do.

do a "dmesg" after plugging ur usb/flash drive

see the device assigned by the kernel (may b /dev/sda1)
then mount it by mount command(mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 /mnt/usb)
if it is working then edit the fstab for permenent setup
waht kernel ur using?

the kernal im using is just the default from the install ,bare.i. when i tried mounting it using that command i got:
mount: /dev/sda1 is not a valid block device.

as for when i run dmesg now all i get is a bunch of I/O errors

Sounds like you got two separate things going on here...sound server problems with artsd and/or alsa

Here is info on google about artsd/alsa

http://www.arts-project.org/doc/mcop-doc/artsd-faq.html

Can you post your modules being used by your kernel?

If USB is in your kernel, you should see something called

And just like what the others on this thread have said

-make an entry under /etc/fstab
-make a dir under /mnt for the usb device

Your USB question fails to provide key information.
1) Do/have these USB ports worked with other devices under linux?
2) What kind of drive are you plugging into USB ports (ie: flash drive or external hard drive, etc)?
3) Have you tried at least two different devices/drives on the USB ports?

Is this a brand new drive, or have you used it on other computer?
If this is an external hard drive, be sure to flip the power switch on the back of the drive (commonly overlooked by users).

I suggest you make sure the 'hotplug' system is running. To see if it's currently enabled/running, check for the existence of the /var/lock/subsys/hotplug file with the following command (and post the output here):
To enable hotplug, make it's startup script executable and reboot, as follows:
If after doing so, you still cannot mount and access your USB drive, display all the partitions which are visible to linux with these commands:
or
Be sure to post the output of those commands here so we can further help you.

Also, be so kind as to post 'exactly' all the commands you are using to try and mount your USB drives, and manipulate them, etc (also include any output, error messages, that sort of thing).

If any of these resolve your issue, please post details so others may benefit as well.

ok i've fixed the sound that workin great now, as for the usb it rocognizes it and ive set it up to mount when it boots but when i start windowsX i dont see an icon under storage media any help on that one?

u dont need to reboot (not windows), just type as root /etc/rc.d/rc.hotplug start
u may be discribing this related to kde(from where this storage media came)

anyway i hope u need to enter the entry in fstab for that
/dev/sda1 /mnt/usb vfat noauto,user 0 0 --> think so i dont have a usb

first is device--for this u check the dmesg output
second mount point --for this u have to create a dir in /mnt or where ever u want it to

then u can mount the device by typing
mount /mnt/usb
then u can c the device poping in desktop as u c for cddrives

Alright everybody thanks for the help I've gotten everything up and running the way it should.

Ok, new questions im trying to add it into fstab where it will automatically detect my flash drive but when i try it tell mes permission denied, how do i fix that?

I have a simular problem getting it to let me see a external hard drive which it referenced to in the install so i know it knows it is there but when I ran the dmesg command I got this

isapnp: Scanning for PnP cards...
isapnp: No Plug & Play device found
isapnp: Scanning for PnP cards...
isapnp: No Plug & Play device found
uhci.c: 3c00: host controller halted. very bad
usb.c: USB disconnect on device 00:1d.3-1 address 2
hub.c: new USB device 00:1d.7-7, assigned address 2
usb.c: USB device 2 (vend/prod 0xc0b/0x2bcf) is not claimed by any active driver.
Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...
usb.c: registered new driver usb-storage
scsi2 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
Vendor: WDC WD80 Model: 0JB-00JJC0 Rev: 0000
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Attached scsi disk sda at scsi2, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
SCSI device sda: 156301488 512-byte hdwr sectors (80026 MB)
sda:<6>hub.c: new USB device 00:1d.3-2, assigned address 3
input0: Microsoft Microsoft Wheel Mouse Optical® on usb5:3.0
sda1
WARNING: USB Mass Storage data integrity not assured
USB Mass Storage device found at 2
USB Mass Storage support registered.
usb.c: USB disconnect on device 00:1d.7-7 address 2
hub.c: new USB device 00:1d.7-7, assigned address 3
WARNING: USB Mass Storage data integrity not assured
USB Mass Storage device found at 3

Not sure what to do with this I have that hotplug thingy running too and the usb ports are working also if it is helpful i named the drive ntfs c during the install because it mentioned it so I could look at it