While attempting to diagnose a problem on another computer, I removed the 3.5" floppy drive from my dual-boot Linux/Win98 computer(with the computer turned off, of course). I later reinstalled it (also with computer turned off), and when booting to Linux (SuSE 7.1), now the floppy drive doesn't work. When attempting to read a disc I receive the error message "/dev/fd0: no such file or directory".

What happened while the computer was turned off to cause this problem?

How can I correct it? The drive works fine in Win98.

Ron

I would check the floppy setup in BIOS.

Check the orientation of the floppy cable. Check the drive and the motherboard for pin one. For some reason some manufacturers have stopped using a "keyed" cables and connectors, i.e. now they can go either way. I have put a floppy cable on backward more than once. Usually, the led on the floppy will light up and not go out...

James.

"The drive works fine in Win98."

Now when attempting to mount the 3.5" floppy drive, either using the desktop icon or by invoking the mount command in a terminal window, I receive the error message "/dev/fd0 is not a block device".
When observing the directory tree in the file browser Konqueror, the name fd0 is in italics, unlike the names of the other folders. Is there a particular reason for this?

Ron

Oh yes, results from cat /etc/fstab are: /dev/fd0 /floppy auto noauto,user,exec, 0 0

Mine is:

/dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto defaults,noauto,user 0 0

for Slackware.

That "not block device" usually means either no disk or the drive isn't configured properly. You're not mounting an empty drive?

ls -la /dev/fd0
ls -la /floppy

They shouldn't be linked to anything.

BTW, it can't have auto and noauto on the same line.

In my /etc/fstab file, the term 'auto' is in the field indicating file type, as one may never be certain what types of files are to be found on a floppydisc. the 'noauto' is in the field indicating that the floppy drive is not to be automatically mounted during bootup.
The line for my CDROM drive also has 'auto' and 'noauto' in the same places, and works ok.
Drive is not empty, lately I've been using a Linux boot disc, which Win98 is able to open and read without difficulty.
I'll do the ls -la for the drive and mountpoint and post results shortly (I'm in Win98 at the moment)

Thanks for your help

Ron

The results of ls -la /dev/fd0 are lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 Apr 14 /dev/fd0 >/proc/self/fd0

The results of ls -la /floppy are :
total 8
drwxr-xr-x 2 root 4096
drwxr-xr-x 23 root 4096


So, I am guessing this means there ARE some links. How do I know where they are and how do I disconnect them?

Ron

This looks like you're problem. It looks like /dev/fd0 is just a symlink. That is not good.

rm /dev/fd0
grep fd /proc/devices #see if that gets you anything
mknod /dev/fd0 b 2 0 #see if you can create it, after first removing it

Well, now there is something different, and that may be an improvement.

When attempting to mount the disc, I receive the message: "I can't determine file type, and none was specified".

Ron

1. What is the mount command you are using?

2. What do you get from 'grep fd0 /etc/fstab'

3. What format is the floppy? Is it FAT, ext, ...?

I tried several commands attempting to mount:

I tried the desktop icon.

I tried "mount /dev/fd0 /floppy"

I tried "mount /floppy"

I tried "mount /dev/fd0"


One disc had some .jpg files which I wanted to install as background on the desktop. Since they were taken from the Win98 system, they were FAT32. Another disc was the SuSE 7.1 boot disc. It won't read either of them, while Win98 reads them both, using the same 3.5 drive on the same machine.


I tried booting last night to attempt "grep fd0 /etc/fastab", as I could not find my notes from the previous attempt.

The machine will no longer even boot to Linux, partway during the boot process, I receive the error message "Kernel panic: VFS: unable to mount root fs on 3:43"

Searching the titles of problems here, I notice that there are many problems with nvidia chips on video cards, and I have a the Geforce MX440.

Ron

did you compile your kernel recently?

looks to me like you did and forgot to include support for your fs (e. ext3, or whatever)