/dev/sda1 is not a valid block device

Forum: User Feedback
Topic: /dev/sda1 is not a valid block device
started by: ion

Posted by ion on Feb. 07 2004,13:36

I'm gonna use DSL to rescue a system and need to backup important files to a USB device, namely a digital camera, as I have no other type of device.
Anyhow, I've booted into DSL, I am su:ed to root, and I plug in the running camera.
Dmesg says that it recognises that a camera is plugged in like:
"New usb devie found, assigned to address 5.
USB device is not claimed by any active driver" (with a bit of extra non-human-readable info.)
When running lsmod, I have all possible usb modules.
Meanwhile, in /proc/bus/usb there's the files 'devices' and 'drivers', and the folders 001 and 002.
In folder 001, the files change when I reconnect the camera to match the address that dmesg gave, like 005 -> address 5
So according to every piece of documentation I've read, I've just to run:
mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 /mnt/usbdrive
to mount it.
However, when I do, it gives me the error:
mount: /dev/sda1 is not a valid block device

I get the same error when I try sda2-sda11 and sdb1-sdb11.

fstab assumes /dev/sda1, so the mount.app can't mount it either.
The mount button is blank and non-clickable.

It's an HP digital camera.
I dunno if that makes any difference, but I've had the experience that they make up things of their own a bit...

Posted by hasty on Feb. 07 2004,15:32

I've vaguely wondered about this in the past and would love to know if anyone has used this technique successfully.

And not just on Damn Small although that would be a bonus

Posted by hasty on Feb. 07 2004,16:05

Here I go again hasty by name...

A friend always insists on formatting his card before use.
I've used three cards over the past 4 years and never formatted any of them.

Have you tried mounting with the right file type ?

Posted by cbagger01 on Feb. 07 2004,21:49

Try checking this web site to see if your Camera is supported by the Linux mass storage driver. Sometimes help is provided:

< http://www.qbik.ch/usb/devices/ >

Posted by Rapidweather on Feb. 07 2004,22:09

Also, look at your /etc/fstab.
I believe that DSL picks up all partitions, etc. when it boots, and will show them there. You should have the camera plugged in and turned on when you first boot DSL, and see if it gets picked up in the /etc/fstab file.
----
Here' mine on a Toshiba Laptop, one partition on the hard drive, and a Dell USB memory stick, 64 MB plugged in as my restore device.
----
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
none /dev/pts devpts mode=0622 0 0
/dev/fd0 /mnt/auto/floppy auto user,noauto,exec,umask=000 0 0
/dev/cdrom /mnt/auto/cdrom auto user,noauto,exec,ro 0 0
/dev/sda1 /mnt/usbdrive auto user,noauto,exec,umask=000 0 0
/dev/hda1 /mnt/hda1 auto noauto,user,exec 0 0
----
As you can see, it picked up the usb drive at /dev/sda1
---
Just a thought, hope it helps. btw, that "not a valid block device" also will turn up if you try and mount a floppy, and you forget to put the floppy in the drive!
---
:;):

Posted by pipo on Feb. 08 2004,22:12

I encountered a similar problem with a zip drive.
It did'nt accept /dev/sda1
but when I tried /dev/sda all became OK.
I have no explanation.
Try it, it's very quick.

Posted by Krezip on Feb. 09 2004,16:15

In the latest DSL distro 5.xx you are unable to mount certain/all sub memsticks with Brand NEW pc's. I thought it had something to with USB 2.0 support but disabling it at boottime had no succes.

I solved the problem by upgrading to kernel 2.4.24-xfs

The full knoppix V3.3 with 2.4.22-xfs kernel does not have the "not valid block device" error. There must be a bug somewhere, I guess it's the /kernel/drivers/usb/usbcore.o module.

I advice to just upgrade all modules + kernel but that's more then just a little afternoon of work. You could also downgrade your motherboard

Succes, Krezip. :;):

Posted by Krezip on Feb. 09 2004,16:39

What you should get when doing "modprobe usb-storage" ;

**** DMESG OUTPUT : ****
B device 00:07.2-1, assigned address 2
usb.c: USB device 2 (vend/prod 0xed1/0x6620) is not claimed by any active driver .
Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...
usb.c: registered new driver usb-storage
scsi3 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
Vendor: Model: Rev:
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Attached scsi removable disk sdb at scsi3, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
SCSI device sdb: 2047808 512-byte hdwr sectors (1048 MB)
sdb: Write Protect is off
sdb: sdb1
WARNING: USB Mass Storage data integrity not assured
USB Mass Storage device found at 2
USB Mass Storage support registered
**** EOF DMESG ****

When you do "mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/usb" it'll work fine but not with DSL V5xx release on Brand New motherboards. On older system it's no problem.

I think we need a new DSL distribution. :cool:

Posted by Robert Van den Heuvel on Feb. 13 2004,08:06

Try using simple readers like the $19 Dazzle or the Sandisks. Don't hook up the digital cameras, that complicates matters. I've been greatly successful mounting USB devices of all kinds when I just make matters as simple as possible. Remember, many CompactFlash cards have IDE controllers built in (at least according to a tech I know who has designed such things for 20 years). So choose the simplest, least-intrusive interface possible. I've mounted memory sticks, SD cards, external hard drives, Zip discs (use sdb4, an old secret recipe because Zip comes out at #4, don't ask me why), all kinds of things. But never a digital camera.

Hope this helps...

RobertVan:blues: