Funny floppy drive failure
 

Hi,

I have sw 12 on three boxes and two are waiting.

On my main box I have a funny thing happening.

Its dual boot. In expee the floppy drive works fine, I can format, copy and read files.

In Linux I can do nothing. Mdir says plain_io: Input/output error; superformat fails with: Fatal error while measuring raw capacity & fdformat formats, fails on track 0 verification. (expected 18432, read -1).

I've tried different drives and different media. I upgrade the bios to the last six different versions, it only adds a new problem: splitting of the via_rhine and phy devices. I then went back to the original version of the BIOS.

Anybody with any ideas?

Regards,

llk

What device in /dev is being used?

I had similar stuff happen, I got it to work by compiling 'floppy' as a module not as built-in. It's odd, and I have no idea why it worked. What kernel are you using ?

Floppy failures
 

1. /dev/fd0h1440

2. Will try the compile as module approach.

Regards,

llk

Tried no avail
 

Module iso built-in does not solve it.
llk.

kernel
 

I use 2.6.23.9, same problem with 2.6.20

Rgrds,

llk

So, what happens when you mount the floppy ? Have you tried that ?

I have noticed the same problem. The problem follows the 2.6 kernel around and is on some but by no means all machines. The floppy works fine from boot disks or Slackware 10 on a stick but not from Slackware 12 installed or a live CD based on 2.6.

If you look in /var/log/messages at one that works and one that does not you will see the difference.
On ones that do not work the floppy is identified but no drive routine put up.

I too have tried the compile it as a module trick without success.

Anyone know how to proceed from here ?

John

"So, what happens when you mount the floppy ? Have you tried that ?"

1. modprobe -a floppy

2. fdmount fd0 /mnt/floppy/
fdmount (/dev/fd0): error reading boot/super block: Input/output error

3. mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy -t vfat
mount: /dev/fd0: can't read superblock

4. mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy -t msdos
mount: /dev/fd0: can't read superblock

5. superformat /dev/fd0h1440
Measuring drive 0's raw capacity

Fatal error while measuring raw capacity
0: 40
1: 01
2: 00
3: 00
4: 00
5: 01
6: 08



and so I can continue.

I don't think it should make a difference, but here is it:
uname -a
Linux olifant 2.6.23.9 #2 SMP Wed Dec 19 00:47:21 SAST 2007 i686 Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 6300 @ 1.86GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux

Motherboard: Jetway P4M9PM

Rgrds,

llk:scratch:

What's the output of:

ls -l /dev | grep fd0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8 2007-12-20 11:55 fd0 -> floppy/0
brw-rw---- 1 root floppy 2, 4 2007-12-20 11:55 fd0d360
brw-rw---- 1 root floppy 2, 8 2007-12-20 11:55 fd0h1200
brw-rw---- 1 root floppy 2, 40 2007-12-20 11:55 fd0h1440
brw-rw---- 1 root floppy 2, 56 2007-12-20 11:55 fd0h1476
brw-rw---- 1 root floppy 2, 72 2007-12-20 11:55 fd0h1494
brw-rw---- 1 root floppy 2, 92 2007-12-20 11:55 fd0h1600
brw-rw---- 1 root floppy 2, 20 2007-12-20 11:55 fd0h360
brw-rw---- 1 root floppy 2, 24 2007-12-20 11:55 fd0h720
brw-rw---- 1 root floppy 2, 80 2007-12-20 11:55 fd0h880
brw-rw---- 1 root floppy 2, 28 2007-12-20 11:55 fd0u1440
brw-rw---- 1 root floppy 2, 124 2007-12-20 11:55 fd0u1600
brw-rw---- 1 root floppy 2, 44 2007-12-20 11:55 fd0u1680
brw-rw---- 1 root floppy 2, 60 2007-12-20 11:55 fd0u1722
brw-rw---- 1 root floppy 2, 76 2007-12-20 11:55 fd0u1743
brw-rw---- 1 root floppy 2, 96 2007-12-20 11:55 fd0u1760
brw-rw---- 1 root floppy 2, 116 2007-12-20 11:55 fd0u1840
brw-rw---- 1 root floppy 2, 100 2007-12-20 11:55 fd0u1920
brw-rw---- 1 root floppy 2, 32 2007-12-20 11:55 fd0u2880
brw-rw---- 1 root floppy 2, 104 2007-12-20 11:55 fd0u3200
brw-rw---- 1 root floppy 2, 108 2007-12-20 11:55 fd0u3520
brw-rw---- 1 root floppy 2, 112 2007-12-20 11:55 fd0u3840

So what is the output of:
ls -l /dev/fd0
and
ls -l /dev/floppy/0

Do you have an entry in fstab for /mnt/floppy?

If you have an netry in fstab you usually can't mount something with different options than what the fstab line says.

Your erros look like what happens when the wrong fd?? device is being used.

fd0 should probably be pointing to fd0u1440 not fd0h1440 and if you have an entry in fstab it should agree with that.

ls -l /dev/floppy/0
brw-rw---- 1 root floppy 2, 0 2007-12-20 11:55 /dev/floppy/0

fstab=no

fd0x1440, where x = u or h does not make a difference now and did not in the past. At present they all return:
can't read superblock


To add insult to my injury I made a msdos boot floppy in xP and it boots the box, but linux still refuses to see the same floppy.

systool -v -b platform
Bus = "platform"

Device = "floppy.0"
Device path = "/sys/devices/platform/floppy.0"
cmos = "4"
modalias = "floppy"
uevent = "MODALIAS=floppy"

udevinfo -a -p /sys/devices/platform/floppy.0 -a

looking at device '/devices/platform/floppy.0':
KERNEL=="floppy.0"
SUBSYSTEM=="platform"
DRIVER==""
ATTR{cmos}=="4"
ATTR{modalias}=="floppy"
ATTR{uevent}=="MODALIAS=floppy"

looking at parent device '/devices/platform':
KERNELS=="platform"
SUBSYSTEMS==""
DRIVERS==""
ATTRS{uevent}==""

I can't understand why there are so many fd0*. The only other possible recommendation is try this as root:

(and make sure to put in a floppy disk before the mount step)

All the fd0*'s are there to make provision for the different formats, if I'm not mistaken they appeared around sw3. There is a long description in info fdutils.

I also did the following:

floppycontrol -p
abort= 3
readtrack= 1
recalibrate= 0
reset= 2
reporting= 2
cmos= 4
hlt= 16
hut= 16
srt= 4000
spindown= 3000
spinup= 400
select_delay= 20
rps= 5
spindown_offset= 10
cylinders= 83
tracks= 83
timeout= 3000
interleave= 20
checkfreq= 1500
native_format= 7
autodetect seq.= 7,4,25,22,31,21,29,11
flags:

Maybe someone can use it to point at the problem.