Hello all. Having a problem with an external HD on an FC2 system.
I have two partitions on the external HD - sda1 and sda2. I have the proper entries in /etc/fstab so that both partitions should mount automatically at boot - I know this because once booted up, I can mount them by doing a sudo mount -a.

HOWEVER, during the boot process, the partitions won't mount. I get error messages for each saying "not a valid block device."

I've looked and looked but can't find an answer. I'm wondering if it is a module problem. Here is the output of lsmod:
Module Size Used by
snd_via82xx 27489 0
snd_ac97_codec 67361 1 snd_via82xx
snd_pcm 93001 2 snd_via82xx,snd_ac97_codec
snd_timer 28741 1 snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc 9669 2 snd_via82xx,snd_pcm
gameport 5057 1 snd_via82xx
snd_mpu401_uart 8897 1 snd_via82xx
snd_rawmidi 25569 1 snd_mpu401_uart
snd_seq_device 8653 1 snd_rawmidi
snd 53413 7 snd_via82xx,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_device
soundcore 10017 1 snd
parport_pc 26501 1
lp 12077 0
parport 37257 2 parport_pc,lp
autofs4 23365 0
usb_storage 62345 0
pcmcia 21189 2
yenta_socket 19137 1
pcmcia_core 51713 2 pcmcia,yenta_socket
sunrpc 155813 1
8139too 26305 0
mii 4801 1 8139too
ipt_REJECT 6593 1
ipt_state 2113 1
ip_conntrack 41205 1 ipt_state
iptable_filter 3777 1
ip_tables 16577 3 ipt_REJECT,ipt_state,iptable_filter
sg 34145 0
microcode 6497 0
vfat 12737 0
fat 40033 1 vfat
sd_mod 16577 0
scsi_mod 122177 3 usb_storage,sg,sd_mod
dm_mod 56021 0
usblp 12097 0
joydev 9217 0
uhci_hcd 31577 0
ohci_hcd 23765 0
ehci_hcd 34761 0
video 15813 0

Am I missing something? Does anyone have any suggestions?
button 6609 0
battery 9413 0
ac 4933 0
ext3 120905 1
jbd 69209 1 ext3

Since there are no replies, I figured I'd update this a bit.

Trolling the net and various forums, having used google/linux, etc., I am wondering if my computer is looking to mount the USB drive BEFORE the usb modules have loaded. Since I am not sure what to look for in dmesg, I don't know if that is my problem or if it is, how I can fix it.

Also, this is what I get when I do an fdisk -l:

[root]# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/hda: 30.0 GB, 30005821440 bytes
16 heads, 63 sectors/track, 58140 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 1008 * 512 = 516096 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 203 102280+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda2 204 20000 9977688 83 Linux
/dev/hda3 57166 58140 491400 82 Linux swap
/dev/hda4 20001 57165 18731160 f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/hda5 20001 57165 18731128+ 83 Linux

Partition table entries are not in disk order

Disk /dev/sda: 30.0 GB, 30020272128 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 3649 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 2024 16257748+ c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sda2 2025 3649 13052812+ c W95 FAT32 (LBA)

I am particularly concerned with the entry "Partition table entries are not in disk order," as well as the fact that I have hda1 through hda5 when I THOUGHT, when installing FC2, I created only /boot / and /home.

What's going on here?!?!

Can't anyone help this poor man? [Paraphrasing a line from Blazing Saddles...]

WOW! 157 views and still no replies? Is it possible that I alone have inadvertently discovered a problem that affects only me?

Surely there must be an answer! Surely some Linux Master knows the deep dark secret to unraveling these problems! But when will that superhero appear? Can they not see the signal being flashed on the clouds?

LinuxMan (or LinuxWoman), where are you in our (okay, MY) hour of need?

Looking at the output of [root]# fdisk -l it looks as though:

/dev/hda1 is /boot
/dev/hda2 is probably /
/dev/hda3 is linux swap
/dev/hda4 is your windows 95 partition
/dev/hda5 is probably /home

That seems straightforward. I do not know what the relevance of "Partition table entries are not in disk order" is, but maybe it doesn't matter as your system is booting and running from /dev/hda alright.

Your external disk is set as two partitions, /dev/sda1 and /dev/sda2. They are both formatted as FAT32.

That seems straightforward.

Why aren't they mounting at boot time?
I do not know. Maybe you should post the contents of your /etc/fstab, and take a look in /var/log/messages to see if there is anything helpful there.

tredegar: Thanks so much for the reply!

Your probably right about my hda partitions, EXCEPT I don't have a Win95 partition. I think hda5 is a logical partition on hda4, but I don't know how that happened. Here is my /etc/fstab:

LABEL=/ / ext3 defaults 1 1
none /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620 0 0
none /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
none /sys sysfs defaults 0 0
/dev/hda3 swap swap defaults 0 0
/dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom udf,iso9660 noauto,owner,kudzu,ro 0 0
/dev/sda1 /mnt/fat1 auto auto,rw,uid=0,gid=501,showexec,quiet,fmask=117,dmask=007 0 0
/dev/sda2 /mnt/fat2 auto auto,rw,uid=0,gid=501,showexec,quiet,fmask=117,dmask=007 0 0

/var/log/messages is HUGE! What should I be looking for?

You are correct hda4 is an extended partition and hda5 is a logical partition that resides in hda4. An extended partition allows one to create more than 4 partitions on a disk.

Even though you have 4 linux partitions on the drive the OS is really only using 2. / and swap. I can not tell which partition / is using without see the output of the mount command (with no options). The size of hda1 would appear that it was going to be mounted as /boot.

Partitions not in order is not a big deal. I can't tell why the drive was partitioned like it is but maybe you cancelled a previous install.

You are also correct that the USB modules are not loaded when the OS tries to mount them via the fstab file.

I've never looked into to changing the boot process so I do not know how to fix the problem via that route. You can compile the USB modules into the kernel or build a new initrd with the modules included. You can always add a line in the /etc/rc.local file to mount them because this is the last boot script to run.

michaelk: Thanks so much for the reply!

Other than changing the boot process, you've mentioned three possible solutions: compiling the USB modules into the kernel, building a new initrd, and adding a line to /etc/rc.local.

Not really knowing, I'd guess you listed them in decreasing order of complexity to accomplish. In your view, what are the relative costs/benefits of each option?

fryem720

I'd take the easy way out and put the mount command in /etc/rd.local.

But I'm sure it's loads of fun to recompile your kernel.

Thanks, tredegar. If I add these lines, should that do it?

mount -a

Or should I be more specific:

mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/fat1
mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/fat2

mount /mnt/fat1
mount /mnt/fat2

Is sufficient

michaelk: Worked like a charm. YOU ROCK!! Thanks so much.