I have a Redhat Linux 2.4 server. I can't mount /dev/cdrom using this command: mount -t iso9660 /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom

I get a "not a block device" error. I have substituted everything from hda-c, sda-c, sr0-3, scd etc.. as device names and still no luck.

fstab file looks like:
/dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom iso9660 noauto,owner,ro 0 0

I type : ls -l /dev/cdrom and it is a symbolic link to /dev/hda but using /dev/hda doesn't work either.


What am I missing - Thanks

For the cdroms and floppy drive I just use the second part...

mount /mnt/cdrom
mount /mnt/cdrom1
mount /mnt/floppy

umount /mnt/cdrom
umount /mnt/cdrom1
umount /mnt/floppy

Is this a new install?
Used to work but now it doesn't?
Changed anything lately?

Check the output of dmesg. Look for any messages relating to the CD drive.

are you trying to mount this as root or user???
change fstab line to read..........

have a look at /proc/devices, particularly the lines below "Block devices:".
the first column is the major number, the second is the device group.
For example, my system has two IDE block devices, so i see:
...
Block devices:
3 ide0
22 ide1

the major number helps you find the right device to use to access your devices.
for example, if i do ls -l /dev/hd?, i get:
...
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 3, 0 2002-03-15 06:51 /dev/hda
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 3, 64 2002-03-15 06:51 /dev/hdb
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 22, 0 2002-03-15 06:51 /dev/hdc
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 22, 64 2002-03-15 06:51 /dev/hdd
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 33, 0 2002-03-15 06:54 /dev/hde
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 33, 64 2002-03-15 06:54 /dev/hdf
...
here, the number in the 5th column (after "disk") indicates the major number, from which it is clear that i need to use either /dev/hda or /dev/hdb for the first IDE drive, and either /dev/hdc or /dev/hdd for the second IDE drive.