I am trying to get my parallel port Sparq drive to work with Red Hat 9. I have followed the instructions at http://www.torque.net/parport/paride.html and have gotten to point where I would mount the drive. When I issue this command: mount -t vfat /dev/pcd0 /mnt/sparq

I get this message: mount: /dev/pcd0 is not a valid block device
Do you have any sugggestion on why I get this error message?

Thanks!

Andy

The first thing that comes to mind is shouldn't you be using a pd device instead of a pcd ?

If that doesn't help could you please post the outputs of the following commands :

cat /proc/version
lsmod
ls -l /dev/pd...

Where by the last command I mean the output of ls -l on whatever device file you're trying to use.

Tim

I tried pd, pd0, etc. but it said that the device does not exist. Here is the info you requested:

# cat /proc/version
Linux version 2.4.20-20.9 (bhcompile@stripples.devel.redhat.com) (gcc version 3.2.2 20030222 (Red Hat Linux 3.2.2-5)) #1 Mon Aug 18 11:45:58 EDT 2003

# lsmod
Module Size Used by Not tainted
vfat 13004 0 (autoclean)
fat 38808 0 (autoclean) [vfat]
pd 19328 0 (unused)
epat 9612 1
paride 4928 1 [pd epat]
ide-cd 35712 0 (autoclean)
cdrom 33728 0 (autoclean) [ide-cd]
udf 98432 0 (autoclean)
maestro 34920 0 (autoclean)
soundcore 6404 2 (autoclean) [maestro]
parport_pc 19076 2 (autoclean)
lp 8996 0 (autoclean)
parport 37056 2 (autoclean) [paride parport_pc lp]
autofs 13268 0 (autoclean) (unused)
3c59x 30736 1
keybdev 2976 0 (unused)
mousedev 5556 2
hid 22244 0 (unused)
input 5856 0 [keybdev mousedev hid]
usb-uhci 26412 0 (unused)
usbcore 79040 1 [hid usb-uhci]
ext3 70784 2
jbd 51924 2 [ext3]

# ls -l /dev/pcd0
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 46, 0 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pcd0

Thanks for the help.

I don't know if this will help or not but after I issue these commands:

/sbin/insmod paride
/sbin/insmod epat
/sbin/insmod pd

dmesg adds these entry's:

paride: version 1.06 installed (parport)
paride: epat registered as protocol 0
pd: pd version 1.05, major 45, cluster 64, nice 0
pda: Sharing parport0 at 0x378
pda: epat 1.02, Shuttle EPAT chip c6 at 0x378, mode 2 (8-bit), delay 1
pda: SyQuest SparQ, master, 1961069 blocks [957M], (1945/16/63), removable media
pdada: do_pd_read_drq: status = 0x12051 = ERR SEEK READY MC TMO
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
end_request: I/O error, dev 2d:00 (PD), sector 0
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
end_request: I/O error, dev 2d:00 (PD), sector 2
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
end_request: I/O error, dev 2d:00 (PD), sector 4
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
end_request: I/O error, dev 2d:00 (PD), sector 6
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
end_request: I/O error, dev 2d:00 (PD), sector 0
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
end_request: I/O error, dev 2d:00 (PD), sector 2
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
end_request: I/O error, dev 2d:00 (PD), sector 4
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
pda: do_pd_read: status = 0x2051 = ERR SEEK READY MC
end_request: I/O error, dev 2d:00 (PD), sector 6
unable to read partition table

It looks like you've got the right modules loaded but I suspect you're not using (or don't have) the right device files.

You probably should be using a device named /dev/pda1 which should be a block device with a major number of 45 and a minor number of 1 (unless the disk is not partitioned in which case it would be /dev/pda major number 45, minor number 0. If you don't know how to tell this, just post the results of the command :

ls -l /dev/pd*

If this still doesn't work make sure that you're getting messages that look like those of the HOWTO when you load the pd module. (You can use the command dmesg to see the system messages if you're not on the system console). For testing at least you should make sure that you only have a single device on the parallel port.

Tim

I don't think you should be getting all those error messages when you load the module.

If the drive is the only device on the parallel port when the module is loaded then it's likely to be either a hardware problem with the drive or a problem with the cable. If you have a Windows machine available you might want to test the drive and cable on that.

Tim

I only have the Sparq on the parallel port. The mode is EPP+ECP.

I tried mounting /dev/pda1 and it gave me a message that the device was already mounted. WHen I went to /mnt/sparq I found that the drive was indeed mounted. I don't know how it was mounted since all the attempts I made received errors. The only thing I can think of is that when I loaded the paride modules it automatically mounted. The problem with that is how did it know to mount the drive at /mnt/sparq?

Bottom line is that the drive does work even though it is as slow as a slug. I wonder why I received so many errors while loading paride even though it seems to work?

Here is the output of ls -l /dev/pd*:
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 0 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?1
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 1 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?11
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 10 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?110
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 11 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?111
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 12 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?112
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 13 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?113
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 14 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?114
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 15 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?115
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 2 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?12
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 3 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?13
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 4 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?14
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 5 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?15
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 6 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?16
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 7 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?17
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 8 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?18
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 9 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?19
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 16 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?2
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 17 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?21
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 26 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?210
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 27 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?211
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 28 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?212
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 29 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?213
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 30 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?214
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 31 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?215
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 18 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?22
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 19 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?23
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 20 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?24
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 21 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?25
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 22 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?26
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 23 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?27
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 24 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?28
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 25 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?29
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 32 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?3
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 33 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?31
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 42 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?310
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 43 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?311
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 44 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?312
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 45 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?313
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 46 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?314
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 47 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?315
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 34 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?32
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 35 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?33
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 36 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?34
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 37 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?35
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 38 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?36
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 39 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?37
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 40 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?38
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 41 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?39
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 48 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?4
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 49 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?41
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 58 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?410
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 59 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?411
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 60 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?412
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 61 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?413
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 62 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?414
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 63 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?415
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 50 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?42
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 51 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?43
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 52 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?44
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 53 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?45
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 54 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?46
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 55 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?47
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 56 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?48
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 57 Oct 20 16:47 /dev/pd?49
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 0 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pda
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 1 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pda1
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 10 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pda10
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 11 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pda11
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 12 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pda12
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 13 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pda13
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 14 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pda14
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 15 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pda15
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 2 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pda2
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 3 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pda3
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 4 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pda4
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 5 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pda5
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 6 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pda6
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 7 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pda7
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 8 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pda8
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 9 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pda9
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 16 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdb
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 17 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdb1
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 26 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdb10
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 27 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdb11
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 28 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdb12
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 29 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdb13
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 30 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdb14
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 31 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdb15
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 18 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdb2
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 19 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdb3
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 20 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdb4
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 21 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdb5
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 22 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdb6
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 23 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdb7
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 24 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdb8
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 25 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdb9
crw------- 1 root root 53, 0 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pd_bdm0
crw------- 1 root root 53, 1 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pd_bdm1
crw------- 1 root root 53, 2 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pd_bdm2
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 32 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdc
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 33 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdc1
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 42 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdc10
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 43 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdc11
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 44 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdc12
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 45 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdc13
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 46 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdc14
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 47 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdc15
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 34 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdc2
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 35 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdc3
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 36 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdc4
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 37 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdc5
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 38 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdc6
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 39 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdc7
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 40 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdc8
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 41 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdc9
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 48 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdd
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 49 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdd1
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 58 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdd10
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 59 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdd11
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 60 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdd12
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 61 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdd13
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 62 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdd14
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 63 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdd15
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 50 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdd2
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 51 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdd3
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 52 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdd4
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 53 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdd5
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 54 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdd6
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 55 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdd7
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 56 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdd8
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 45, 57 Jan 30 2003 /dev/pdd9

It's strange about the mounting. Just loading a module isn't going to mount a file system as far as I know. I suppose it's conceivable that a mount that appeared to fail ultimately ended up working in the background.

Do you continue to get errors during drive operation or only when mounting ?

Don't know about the speed, I don't think a parallel port is going to give you more than about 1 MB/s of data transfer anyway.

Tim

thanks friends
me here in Brazil can do that with the help of this Topic


visit www.forumgdh.net

Since my post, the mounting has been going smoothly for whatever the reason. I run this script:

#!/bin/sh
# loads modules for Sparq Drive

/sbin/insmod paride
/sbin/insmod epat
/sbin/insmod pd

And then mount with this command:

mount -t auto /dev/pda1 /mnt/sparq

I haven't had any trouble.

Thanks for the help.