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Old 09-11-2007, 05:42 PM   #1
Atrav07
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Registered: Sep 2007
Location: Central Texas
Distribution: buntu
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Can't access IDE dvdrom after upgrading to Ubuntu 7.04


I cannot access my DVD drive after upgrading to Ubuntu 7.04 and when I try I get the error message:
mount: block device /dev/hdb is write-protected, mounting read-only

mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/hdb,

missing codepage or other error

in some cases useful info is found in syslog - try

dmesg | tail or so


My machine contains:
ECS 6100 AMD2 motherboard, AMD 3200 dual core processor, 2 gb memory, Plextor 708A IDE DVD/RW Cable Select, 120 GB HD IDE Master, 300 MB SATA HD
I can access this DVD drive in winxp dual boot


kernel:
2.6.20-16-generic

ls -l /dev/cdrom yields:
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 3 2007-09-10 11:02 /dev/cdrom -> hdb



output of dmesg | tail
[ 52.956000] hdb: status error: error=0x44 { AbortedCommand LastFailedSense=0x04 }
[ 52.956000] ide: failed opcode was: unknown
[ 52.956000] hdb: drive not ready for command
[ 56.832000] ppdev: user-space parallel port driver
[ 57.520000] apm: BIOS version 1.2 Flags 0x07 (Driver version 1.16ac)
[ 57.520000] apm: disabled - APM is not SMP safe.
[ 57.716000] Installing knfsd (copyright (C) 1996 okir@monad.swb.de).
[ 57.836000] NFSD: Using /var/lib/nfs/v4recovery as the NFSv4 state recovery directory
[ 57.836000] NFSD: starting 90-second grace period
[ 68.592000] eth1: no IPv6 routers present




Output of /ect/fstab:

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# -- This file has been automaticly generated by ntfs-config --
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>

proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
# Entry for /dev/hda1 :
UUID=1eb0a834-04ec-49dd-9aa4-27b6bab7727e / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
# Entry for /dev/hda5 :
UUID=0f65a8fb-c534-44e2-a161-fc9360815b07 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/hdb /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto 0 0
/dev/ /media/floppy0 auto rw,user,noauto 0 0
/dev/sda5 /media/DATA ntfs umask=222,utf8 0 0
/dev/sda1 /media/WinXP ntfs umask=222,utf8 0 0

Probably a simple solution, but I can't find it.
 
Old 09-11-2007, 06:25 PM   #2
GrapefruiTgirl
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Plextor 708A IDE DVD/RW Cable Select

If the above means you have the device set to cable-select on the jumpers on the device, you should first change it to be a master or a slave. Cable select is an imperfect idea to begin with, from what I have read about IDE devices, and the particular cable you are using may hinder the cable-select-ness as well. To be sure, set it as master or slave. Also, if using DMA on the device, try disabling that temporarily, and/or make sure you have an 80-wire IDE cable connected to it.

Now mount: block device /dev/hdb is write-protected, mounting read-only is not necessarily bad, IF the media in the drive is not writeable. If it's a DVD movie, or a music CD for example, then it will of course mount read-only, in which case the FSTAB line should have RO. If it's a blank CD or DVD, I have had mixed results 'mounting' them unless they are formatted UDF, in which case they will mount read-write using UDF packet-writing (from CDRWtools or UDFtools) but typically they still won't mount read-write simply by putting a blank disk in.. Only once ever have I mounted a fresh new disk, and never since; I can't explain why..

If you do intend to write to the disk in UDF, you ought (in my experience) to be using packet-writing, in which case the mount line in your FSTAB file should have an RO flag, and you would have a new line added to the FSTAB file for the packet-writing device, which would have the RW flag.

Make sure that as with the /dev node above, that the mount point is writeable by your user account.

Finally, having said all this, is there anything you can think of that has changed, other than simply upgrading the Ubuntu? Kinda weird for it to work on minute but not the next, however, I HAVE discovered that a dirty lens in the device will lead to ALL KINDS of weird errors and erratic performance. If theres any chance that the player needs cleaning, give that a shot, at least in as far as fixing the errors you see in the DMESG output.
Simply open the unit (provided you won't void any warranty or whatever) and gently clean the lens with a Q-tip and isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol.

If none of this helps, please post again
Best of luck!
 
Old 09-11-2007, 10:02 PM   #3
Atrav07
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Registered: Sep 2007
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Thanks for your input. I took your first piece of advice and made my main linux hd Master and my DVDrom Slave by using jumpers rather than cable select. Here is the dmesg readout after making this change:
[ 103.476000] hdb: rw=0, want=671088706, limit=25364
[ 103.476000] isofs_fill_super: bread failed, dev=hdb, iso_blknum=167772176, block=335544352
[ 103.476000] hdb: status error: status=0x59 { DriveReady SeekComplete DataRequest Error }
[ 103.476000] hdb: status error: error=0x44 { AbortedCommand LastFailedSense=0x04 }
[ 103.476000] ide: failed opcode was: unknown
[ 103.476000] hdb: drive not ready for command
[ 103.480000] hdb: status error: status=0x59 { DriveReady SeekComplete DataRequest Error }
[ 103.480000] hdb: status error: error=0x44 { AbortedCommand LastFailedSense=0x04 }
[ 103.480000] ide: failed opcode was: unknown
[ 103.480000] hdb: drive not ready for command

As for your suggestion about removing DMA from the device, I'm not sure how to do that.

I dual booted into winxp and was able to use the dvdrom in that os just fine so I don't think the unit is faulty.
Any other ideas are welcome.
 
Old 09-14-2007, 05:17 AM   #4
GrapefruiTgirl
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As to removing the DMA (temporarily or otherwise) there should be a BIOS setting for the DMA level used with the device, including maybe some options as well as an 'AUTO' setting. Disable DMA here, or choose the lowest setting. If using AUTO as the option, then to disable DMA from within the Linux operating system, use the tool 'hdparm' which you can read about in the man pages. Using hdparm to disable the DMA and then examining the drives dmesg output may provide insight. (hdparm -d 0 /dev/hdb turns off DMA)

I have had numerous episodes with pretty much the exact errors you are getting, on occasion, with both optical drives AND hard drives. In one case (hard disk) the drive was failing/defective. In other cases (hard disk again) the DMA was acting up because I had had the machine overclocked to a weird speed, causing the memory read/write speeds and the PCI bus speed to be 'out of whack'. Fixing the overclock to a proper ratio fixed that issue instantly.

hdparm -w or hdparm -W will issue a reset command to the drive. Many times for me, this has brought my CD drive out of a hung/confused state. For example, on my old motherboard, some combination of a bad hard drive, possibly bad IDE controller, and/or bad overclock, was causing the IDE bus to act weird. The CD drive became unresponsive. After issuing the hdparm -W command, it would reset the drive and it would act normally again.
CHECK THE MAN PAGES for which -w or -W it is first.

Let's look at the dmesg output above: The only thing interesting there is the first 2 lines. I guess the 'rw=0' means 'read-writeable = no', and if so, then the OS is not identifying the device as a writeable device, OR there is no writeable media in it. The device IS writeable, yes? OK.. Here's a few ideas:

1 - what has changed as far as the KERNEL goes, from the old Ubuntu to this new one? Check the kernel release versions. If they are different, that's a great place to start.

1b - Kernel configuration. Pursuant to the above, check the kernel configuration; make sure all necessary drivers, options, etc, are available for the drive. For example, the kernel option 'Use Multi-mode by default' and 'Ignore word 93 validation bits' or whatever it is, may help on some systems. Double check the options in the IDE/ATA/MFM/RLL kernel config area.

2 - set your BIOS to 'Factory Defaults' and see if anything is different.

3 - How many IDE connectors have you got? If the hard disk and optical drive are on the same IDE connector, try putting them on different connectors, rather than sharing a cable. Generally, from what I have read here and there, it isn't recomended to have optical and hard-disks on the same wire. Who knows, It worked for me with Windows too, but gave me issues under Linux. Also, the MASTER or FIRST device goes at the END of the IDE cable. The second, or slave device should be in the MIDDLE connector.

4 - Examine the output of the command 'lshw' or 'hdparm -i /dev/hdb' and see what info is there for the drive. What DMA is it capable of, and what DMA is it set for now? Is it identified as RW or as RO? Does anything there stand out as being odd?

5 - Finally, what are you using as media in the device, when you get these errors? Or does the drive do this when there is media or not? Is there any common thing between the medias that give this problem, or is it ALL medias you put in?


Let us know if this gets you anywhere..
 
Old 09-14-2007, 08:02 AM   #5
Atrav07
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Smile Problem resolved but not in the way I had hoped

Many thanks again for a thoughtful and complete response. Here's what happened. As you mentioned I did have the hard drive and the dvdrom on the same ide channel and the same cable. My new motherboard only has one place for an ide cable. After some intense video recording using Kino after the next boot my hard drive made clicking sounds and then died. I replaced the hard drive with another older 120gb Western Digital drive and while I was at it I decided to just give in and switch out the ide dvdrom Plextor with the sata Plextor I was using on my other machine. When I inserted the downloaded Ubuntu 7.04 disk it recognized everything and booted up and I installed the os without a glitch. Everything is running flawlessly now.

It is very possible that my hard drive was dying during my earlier posts.

Once again thanks for your help http://linuxquestions.cachefly.net/i...s_lq/icon7.gif
 
Old 09-14-2007, 05:25 PM   #6
GrapefruiTgirl
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Excellent! Well, it always pays to look at the obvious very closely, as well as the obscure.
I hope you don't lose data from your dead drive, as I did when my 80GB Maxtor died. I couldn't recover ANYTHING, it was totally borked.

I'm happy you got it all sorted out

PS - Yes, chances are the drive was failing for some time - they tend to die slowly and problematically, unless there's a sudden mechanical (physical) breakage.

Last edited by GrapefruiTgirl; 09-14-2007 at 05:27 PM.
 
Old 03-23-2008, 09:49 PM   #7
shaheentech
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Smile hdb - command not ready for command.....my way

Well, i tried rebooting twice --
Prior to the second reboot, I had set the BIOS to default..
But the same message was shown---

Finally,I went back to BIOS >>> checked the DMA enteries -- none was enabled...went to the Boot options [I still dont know the logic behind the solution/answer], placed the First Boot device as CDRom, and finally on reboot I got back my CentOS 5

All the best folks,

Shaheen
Radical Computers
 
  


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