Hi:

I can't mount my pendrive (aka memory stick). Device /dev/sda1 is in /dev/. In another Linux machine (Slack 12.0) I mount it as 'mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 /mnt/usb'. The message is

mount: /dev/sda1 is not a valid block device

I think mount is objecting the medium, but I do not understand why. The USB connector is mounted directly on the motherboard and the motherboard manual clearly states it has USB support.

Kernel 2.4.22, Slackware 9.1

Are you sure that it is sda1 on this machine? Run 'fdisk -l' to verify that.

'fdisk-l' only sees my four hard disk partitions, after having plugged the stick in.

Does blkid output show the USB Flash Drive?

The /dev/sda and /dev/sda* are for the HDD, not the USB Flash Drive.

No. But there is this: This is the output form mount in the 12.0 machine. mount, on the machine in question (9.1) does not show that line. Also, the boot messages do not say a word about USB!

key here is:
Needs someone with historical knowledge, as this version of Slackware is rather old; Good chances there's no support for USB drives plug&play in that kernel. Iirc, 9.1 is from an age where USB was not too common yet; you may have to recompile your kernel to get the USB support you're looking for.

According to the linked post and the rest of that thread it should be possible to use an USB stick with Slackware 9.1. I can not say if your hardware has any problematic components though. Is the computer you are using much newer than the distro? Might be a try worth to load the kernel module "usb-storage" first and see what happens, when you plug in the stick after that.
The posting: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...2/#post2462194

Wonder if it maybe a udev problem, not having rules to create the block device for usb storage

Slack 9.1 was released in 2003, the problematic machine is from 1999. Remember is has two USB connectors mounted on the motherboard, plus the manual explicitly states there is USB support (1.1). I did this: I booted with the slack 9.1 no. 1 cdrom and could read, after the OS loaded the USB modules and saw the USB hub:I went to PCCHIPS (the motherboard manufacturer) archives, but no USB drivers were listed there.

EDIT:
The controller is Silicon Integrated Systems, SiS7001 USB controller (rev 11). And the kernel is bare.i, and IDE kernel, using SCSI emulation.

One more thought: From what I remember with a machine that was about the same age, I had to explicitly enable USB in BIOS, unlike what you expect today.

Thanks, titopoquito. I set
Plug and Play aware OS: No
USB function: Enabled
USB function for DOS: Enabled

No use. But do please tell me. Is this an SCSI device or nothing to do with SCSI/IDE?

Sorry, I can't remember this. I started my Slackware experience with 9.1, but I had no USB stick at that time. Did you try loading the kernel module (usb-storage) manually and see if there is any change in dmesg output?

I did. But the output was just the same. First all usb modules are loaded, the usb hub is seen, and then

usb.c: USB device 2 (vend/prod 0x951/0x1603) is not claimed by any active driver.
No USB devices found. Unloading USB subsystem.

What gets me confused is that one of the posters said he had no problem with USB and 9.1.

That is a bit strange -you should have no problem using this thing.
Are you sure this:
(vend/prod 0x951/0x1603)
is referring to this device? It may be something from the hub, mouse, etc.

USB drives are treated as SCSI drives by linux. Can you post output from lsmod, and if you have it 'lsusb'?