usb floppy & mp3 player doesn't work
Forum: User Feedback
Topic: usb floppy & mp3 player doesn't work
started by: aghv
Posted by aghv on Dec. 16 2007,20:59
I got DSL up and running on my compaq n610c. Wonderful!Then I notice that my usb floppy drive and mp3 player (plug-and-play flash memory) don't work. When I plug *either* one in, the device is detected as something like sda1, sda2, sda3 & sda4. Yes, one device becomes 4 !!! I forgot which one was mountable, but ALL not read/write-able.
Then I tried DSL-N. Both devices work! But I like the DSL interface much better. Is there something I can do to make DSL work with my floppy and mp3 player?
Posted by lucky13 on Dec. 17 2007,13:49
Hotplug assigns USB mount points upon insertion. If you don't mount, it recyles the points it sets. If you do mount, then it assigns new points for subsequent devices per sda1, sdb1, sdc1, etc.By not mounting, you're most likely getting excessive mount points; it's also possible your devices have multiple partitions (more likely the mp3 player). One way to check is to insert a device and (without mounting) in a terminal enter:
sudo fdisk -l /dev/sda
(That's a little L, not a one.)
Everything is a file in Linux and other Unix-like operating systems. New file systems (such as floppies and USB media) must be mounted. You can set those (USB-device, usually vfat) file systems to mount as read-only or read-write by editing /etc/fstab.
Posted by aghv on Dec. 18 2007,00:45
I have tried the following today:First, both mp3 and floppy are not plugged in. I right click the desktop, point to mount, and there are two choices: \auto\floppy and \auto\cdrom
Then I plug in the mp3 player, right click the desktop, point to mount, and there are 4 extra choices: \mnt\sda1, \mnt\sda2, \mnt\sda3, \mnt\sda4 (Total 6 choices)
I am quite sure I only have one partition on the mp3 player, as it works with DSL-N, windows, fedora etc... so having 4 choices pop up is really puzzling.
I run the "sudo ..." command you gave me. This shows:
dsl@box:~$ sudo fdisk -l /dev/sda
Disk /dev/sda: 2046 MB, 2046648832 bytes
63 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1023 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 3906 * 512 = 1999872 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 ? 491539 630924 272218546+ 20 Unknown
Partition 1 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(356, 97, 46) logical=(491538, 56, 59)
Partition 1 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(357, 116, 40) logical=(630923, 45, 23)
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda2 ? 340549 478536 269488144 6b Unknown
Partition 2 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(288, 110, 57) logical=(340548, 59, 57)
Partition 2 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(269, 101, 57) logical=(478535, 44, 52)
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda3 ? 137991 495994 699181456 53 Unknown
Partition 3 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(345, 32, 19) logical=(137990, 7, 18)
Partition 3 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(324, 77, 19) logical=(495993, 58, 49)
Partition 3 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda4 * 357048 357053 10668+ 49 Unknown
Partition 4 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(87, 1, 0) logical=(357047, 33, 36)
Partition 4 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(335, 78, 2) logical=(357052, 62, 44)
Partition 4 does not end on cylinder boundary.
Partition table entries are not in disk order
dsl@box:~$
Then I plug in the floppy as well, right click the desktop, point to mount, and there are another 4 extra choices: \mnt\sdb1, \mnt\sdb2, \mnt\sdb3, \mnt\sdb4 (Total 10 choices)
I run the "sudo ..." command you gave me. This shows:
dsl@box:~$ sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdb
Disk /dev/sdb: 1 MB, 1474560 bytes
1 heads, 3 sectors/track, 960 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 3 * 512 = 1536 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 ? 567332875 1110505095 814758329+ 74 Unknown
Partition 1 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(288, 110, 36) logical=(567332874, 0, 3)
Partition 1 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(366, 104, 37) logical=(1110505094, 0, 1)
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdb2 ? 443394731 623053494 269488144 65 Unknown
Partition 2 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(107, 121, 32) logical=(443394730, 0, 3)
Partition 2 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(10, 121, 13) logical=(623053493, 0, 1)
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdb3 ? 179663131 645784101 699181456 53 Unknown
Partition 3 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(345, 32, 19) logical=(179663130, 0, 2)
Partition 3 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(324, 77, 19) logical=(645784100, 0, 3)
Partition 3 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdb4 ? 1303039523 1303061302 32669+ bb Unknown
Partition 4 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(65, 1, 0) logical=(1303039522, 0, 1)
Partition 4 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(96, 0, 7) logical=(1303061301, 0, 2)
Partition 4 does not end on cylinder boundary.
Partition table entries are not in disk order
dsl@box:~$
As a comparison, I try a flash memory stick that I know is working.
I unplug both the mp3player and floppy, plug in the memory stick, right click the desktop, point to mount, and there are now these choices: \mnt\sdb1, \mnt\sdb2, \mnt\sdb3, \mnt\sdb4, \mnt\sdc1, \mnt\sda (Total 8 choices)
I run the "sudo ..." command you gave me. This shows:
dsl@box:~$ sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdc
Disk /dev/sdc: 4127 MB, 4127194624 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 501 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdc1 * 1 502 4030432 6 FAT16
Partition 1 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(500, 254, 63) logical=(501, 196, 14)
dsl@box:~$
Well, at least I have one memory stick working. It would be nice if I could get the mp3player and floppy working as well.
I like DSL because it is small and it loads much faster than other live CD! Keep up the good work!
Posted by lucky13 on Dec. 18 2007,01:46
| Quote |
| I am quite sure I only have one partition on the mp3 player |
From the output you pasted, I'm quite sure it has more than one partition and that its MBR appears to be pretty messed up. Have you done fdisk -l using any of those 2.6-based distros to see if they report the same? Have you always properly mounted and unmounted that device (including using "safe remove" in Windows)?
Posted by curaga on Dec. 18 2007,07:55
I know some flash devices come from factory with partitions like that, I've gotten some myself. It's easy to fix though, just repartition with only one partition, and format.
Posted by aghv on Dec. 19 2007,04:39
I dug up an old laptop running Win98 and used fdisk to repartition the mp3player, and then format. (Well, that's the only way I know how to do it)Finally I got the mp3 player working!!!
Now I get the following results:
dsl@box:~$ sudo fdisk -l /dev/sda
Disk /dev/sda: 2046 MB, 2046648832 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 248 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 247 1983996 b Win95 FAT32
And out of curiousity I tried this as well:
dsl@box:~$ sudo fdisk -l /dev/sda1
Disk /dev/sda1: 2031 MB, 2031611904 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 246 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1p1 ? 119512 153402 272218546+ 20 Unknown
Partition 1 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(356, 97, 46) logical=(119511, 107, 3)
Partition 1 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(357, 116, 40) logical=(153401, 15, 41)
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda1p2 ? 82801 116350 269488144 6b Unknown
Partition 2 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(288, 110, 57) logical=(82800, 34, 61)
Partition 2 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(269, 101, 57) logical=(116349, 219, 8)
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda1p3 ? 33551 120595 699181456 53 Unknown
Partition 3 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(345, 32, 19) logical=(33550, 137, 11)
Partition 3 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(324, 77, 19) logical=(120594, 153, 54)
Partition 3 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda1p4 * 86812 86813 10668+ 49 Unknown
Partition 4 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(87, 1, 0) logical=(86811, 142, 3)
Partition 4 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(335, 78, 2) logical=(86812, 225, 45)
Partition 4 does not end on cylinder boundary.
Partition table entries are not in disk order
dsl@box:~$
I don't understand what the partitions 1-4 are about, but the mp3 player is working now! It appears as one partition in the menu and I can mount and use it.
Update:
I tried something extra.
I wiped out the first 10000 sectors of memory of the mp3 player, filled that with zero. So all MBR, partition table, file table should have been gone. Then I formatted the mp3player again using winxp. The mp3player acted quite normally, with one partition. But when I used secinspect to view the status, indeed 4 partitions were shown!!! So winxp formatted the mp3player with 4 partitions but explorer showed only 1. That is so strange.
I also started with a fresh installation of Win98. Did the same thing. The player worked quite normally with win98 as if it had 1 partition. Then I used fdisk to check. fdisk failed to work. Then I tried it with DSL, 4 partitions popped up!!!
Posted by aghv on Dec. 19 2007,08:06
I guess I can live without the usb floppy drive, but I actually found a way to make it work!If I plug in just the floppy drive, 4 partitions come up in the mount menu. None of them is mount-able or usable. This is very weird because how could my floppy disk have 4 partitions??? (I tried with a floppy disk I'm sure is virus free, a good old dos installation diskette, so it's not because of the floppy disk itself.)
But, if I plug in my flash memory stick and mount that first, then plug in the usb floppy, now only one device, sdb, comes up in the menu and I can mount it and use it! So problem solved... sort of...
Posted by curaga on Dec. 19 2007,13:13
I meant partition & format under Linux. That Win behavior is due to it not recognizing multiple partitions on flash devices.Use "sudo cfdisk /dev/sda", it's very easy to use
Posted by aghv on Dec. 21 2007,05:28
I tried using linux this time. It also worked.This is what I did:
sudo cfdisk -z /dev/sda (I picked 06 FAT16 for file type) # for partition
sudo mkdosfs -F 16 /dev/sda1 # for creating file table
Then I tried to mount:
sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/sda1
mounting successful, but I didn't have access permission to sda1!!!
So I rebooted. This time the mp3player was auto-detected as sda1. I mounted
it from the menu and it worked.
I think there's definitely something peculiar about this mp3player. I tried the above with FAT32. That didn't work. The mp3player wouldn't load on poweron. Then I tried using FAT32(LBA). Wow! The most incredible thing happened. It seemed to work at first sight. But then the mp3player did not show the files written by the computer. And the computer did not show the files recorded by the mp3player. so there're like two seperate file systems co-existing, and they didn't notice each other.
I also notice the mp3player seem to be loading slower than before, after meddling with its file system. It used to poweron instantly. now it takes 8 seconds for the first logo to appear, so slow I thought it died on me. It seems like nothing I do can reverse the slowness now.
Posted by lucky13 on Dec. 21 2007,11:51
You didn't have access to the device because you mounted it as root (sudo). The hotplug script assigns rw to user, so it would be root's to rw.What kind of mp3 player is it (brand)? Some of them are kind of quirky and have their own on-board formatting tools.
Posted by aghv on Dec. 23 2007,04:40
It's a generic brand (no brand name) mp3/mp4 player with a 1.5"LCD, bought on ebay. Made in China. Sold by Hong Kong. Came with features like radio, ebook, photo viewer etc. It's a cheap-o, had incorrect memory size problem before. So I can't say that I don't expect problems with it. Oh well you get what you pay for. But anyway, I got it working with DSL now.About the mounting issue, I finally figured out the correct command. Hurray
sudo su
mount -t vfat -o rw -o nosuid -o nodev -o umask=000 -o uid=1001 -o gid=50 /dev/sda1 /mnt/sda1
such a long command
Correction:
Just tried again with Vista. same multiple partition problem. I'm gonna fix it with linux from now on. Repeat: Vista, like Win98 and xp create the same multiple partitions.
About the 2 co-existing file systems that can't see each other. I ran into the same problem today. It might have something to do with the way I mounted without re-booting. Mounting from the desktop menu without re-booting seemed to be the problem. Using the long typed command line above was OK. When I've time, maybe I'll try again to find out the real reason.
Thanks for all your help.