hi

how do i configure mandrake 9.2 to detect an external usb storage ...

thanks

Well, firstly you SEARCH. But since I'm also one of the lazy, I'll give you this link: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...threadid=90977

that i already tried but it didnt work ...
here is the output of lsmod :
Module Size Used by Not tainted
sd_mod 13100 0 (autoclean) (unused)
vfat 11820 0 (autoclean)
fat 37944 0 (autoclean) [vfat]
sg 34636 0 (autoclean)
usb-storage 72952 0 (unused)
usbcore 72992 0 [usb-storage]
parport_pc 25096 1 (autoclean)
lp 8096 0 (autoclean)
parport 34176 1 (autoclean) [parport_pc lp]
trident 31796 0
soundcore 6276 0 [trident]
ac97_codec 12488 0 [trident]
pcigame 2888 0 [trident]
gameport 3316 0 [pcigame]
nfsd 74256 8 (autoclean)
af_packet 14952 1 (autoclean)
sr_mod 16920 0 (autoclean)
floppy 55132 0
8139too 17160 1 (autoclean)
mii 3832 0 (autoclean) [8139too]
nls_iso8859-1 3516 1 (autoclean)
ntfs 76812 1 (autoclean)
supermount 15296 2 (autoclean)
ide-cd 33856 0
cdrom 31648 0 [sr_mod ide-cd]
ide-scsi 11280 0
scsi_mod 103284 4 [sd_mod sg usb-storage sr_mod ide-scsi]
rtc 8060 0 (autoclean)
ext3 59916 1
jbd 38972 1 [ext3]


when i tried to mount the usb stick i got this error ....
mount: special device /dev/sda1 does not exist

what does that mean ...to just let you know that i am a newbie in linux .
thanks

with your usb device inserted try typing 'fdisk -l', and see if the device shows.

this seems more of a hardware problem than one specific to laptops. posted below is an example of a usb device showing on my computer as sda1

bash@prompt: fdisk -l

Disk /dev/hda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 1 1912 15358108+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda2 1913 5560 29302560 83 Linux
/dev/hda3 5561 5685 1004062+ 82 Linux swap

Disk /dev/sda: 14 MB, 14909440 bytes
2 heads, 32 sectors/track, 455 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 64 * 512 = 32768 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 455 14531+ 1 FAT12

it is nt there ...

prompt: fdisk -l

Disk /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/disc: 40.0 GB, 40007761920 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4864 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part1 * 1 3824 30716248+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part2 3825 4864 8353800 5 Extended
/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 3825 3950 1012063+ 82 Linux swap
/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part6 3951 4864 7341673+ 83 Linux

are you running an scsi or an ide system ?

what's with the lun0/ stuff ? i thought that was scsi

i dont really know what the lun0 thing ..but i have a ?Fujitsu MHR2040AT
ide harddrive on compaq presario 915 ca

In your modules listing, I didn't see the 'usb-uhci' module. You might want to 'modprobe usb-uhci' as root.

modprobe usb-uhci

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
/lib/modules/2.4.21-0.13mdk/kernel/drivers/usb/usb-uhci.o.gz: init_module: No such device
Hint: insmod errors can be caused by incorrect module parameters, including invalid IO or IRQ parameters.
You may find more information in syslog or the output from dmesg
modprobe: insmod /lib/modules/2.4.21-0.13mdk/kernel/drivers/usb/usb-uhci.o.gz failed
modprobe: insmod usb-uhci failed

try ' modprobe ehci-hcd ' or modprobe ohci-hcd

then try mounting device