Cannot see USB flashdrives and USB external hard drives?

[hat_monkey]

Sometimes after plugging my external storage devices (USB flash and USB hard drives) into Windows XP machines, and then plugging them into my knoppix 5.1.1 machine, knoppix will not see them and they refuse to appear on the desktop. if replugging and/or restarting knoppix with the device in the USB port still doesn't prove fruitful, plugging and accessing them into ubuntu 6.10 and then returning them to knoppix will ensure that knoppix will read them.

[hal8000]

When you plug in a USB device the HAL daemon and databus should work together to recognise the device and make it workable. Environments like KDE and Gnome can be configured to display desktop icons.
Whatever happens, the clue will be found in kernel logs, so open a terminal and type
dmesg


--sample below--

usb-storage: device found at 5
usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
scsi 2:0:0:0: Direct-Access Sony Sony DSC 5.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS
SCSI device sda: 63424 512-byte hdwr sectors (32 MB)
sda: Write Protect is off
sda: Mode Sense: 00 00 00 00
sda: assuming drive cache: write through
SCSI device sda: 63424 512-byte hdwr sectors (32 MB)
sda: Write Protect is off
sda: Mode Sense: 00 00 00 00
sda: assuming drive cache: write through
sda: sda1
sd 2:0:0:0: Attached scsi removable disk sda
usb-storage: device scan complete
usb 5-5: USB disconnect, address 5


without any extra info from you, I would guess that windows is altering the file format, and ubuntu is undoing the change.
You need to post the output of dmesg next time a usb device does not work.

[hat_monkey]

to cut a long story short, what I am suggesting is that if you know about these things, have a look at what ubuntu does when opening USB devices and if possible, seriously consider incorporating the ubuntu methods into knoppix.

my wild guesss was that the problem came from virus/worms and extraneous .ddl and other files that Windows, in a virus/worm laden internet cafe envirionment, was putting onto the USB devices. virus/worms that AVG antivirus, bit-defended and another one were only successfully dealing with days after the infections were planted

my ubuntu has been overwritten by my knoppix installation so I am hesitant to go out looking for the USB problem again without having an easy solution. (live CD ubuntu aside). others with this problem will come and if/when it happens again I will post the dmesg output.

[hat_monkey]

so i was doing a backup of my desktop to my usb-plugged-external-hard drive and at 88% finished the copying stopped for no apparent reason. after about 5 minutes of inaction i rebooted and the external usb connected drive did not show on the desktop. unplugged the usb cable and replugged it in again and the externals drives did show.
this doesnt seem to be the same problem as above but i include the two dmesg out puts for your perusal.



external usb drives failed to show..


Linux version 2.6.19 (root@Knoppix) (gcc version 4.1.2 20061028 (prerelease) (Debian 4.1.1-19)) #7 SMP PREEMPT Sun Dec 17 22:01:07 CET 2006
BIOS-provided physical RAM map:
BIOS-e820: 0000000000000000 - 000000000009f800 (usable)
BIOS-e820: 000000000009f800 - 00000000000a0000 (reserved)
BIOS-e820: 00000000000ed400 - 0000000000100000 (reserved)
BIOS-e820: 0000000000100000 - 0000000005ff0000 (usable)
BIOS-e820: 0000000005ff0000 - 0000000005fffc00 (ACPI data)
BIOS-e820: 0000000005fffc00 - 0000000006000000 (ACPI NVS)
BIOS-e820: 00000000fffc0000 - 0000000100000000 (reserved)
0MB HIGHMEM available.
95MB LOWMEM available.
Entering add_active_range(0, 0, 24560) 0 entries of 256 used
Zone PFN ranges:
DMA 0 -> 4096
Normal 4096 -> 24560
HighMem 24560 -> 24560
early_node_map[1] active PFN ranges
0: 0 -> 24560
On node 0 totalpages: 24560
DMA zone: 32 pages used for memmap
DMA zone: 0 pages reserved
DMA zone: 4064 pages, LIFO batch:0
Normal zone: 159 pages used for memmap
Normal zone: 20305 pages, LIFO batch:3
HighMem zone: 0 pages used for memmap
DMI 2.1 present.
ACPI: RSDP (v000 PTLTD ) @ 0x000f7ce0
ACPI: RSDT (v001 PTLTD RSDT 0x06040000 LTP 0x00000000) @ 0x05ffbf4f
ACPI: FADT (v001 Compal N30B2 0x06040000 PTL 0x000f4240) @ 0x05fffb8c
ACPI: DSDT (v001 Compal N30B2 0x06040000 MSFT 0x01000007) @ 0x00000000
ACPI: BIOS age (2000) fails cutoff (2001), acpi=force is required to enable ACPI
ACPI: Disabling ACPI support
Allocating PCI resources starting at 10000000 (gap: 06000000:f9fc0000)
Detected 448.510 MHz processor.
Built 1 zonelists. Total pages: 24369
Kernel command line: root=/dev/hda1 rw ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=us apm=power-off nomce loglevel=0 quiet vga=791
No local APIC present or hardware disabled
mapped APIC to ffffd000 (010c9000)
Initializing CPU#0
PID hash table entries: 512 (order: 9, 2048 bytes)
Console: colour VGA+ 80x25
Dentry cache hash table entries: 16384 (order: 4, 65536 bytes)
Inode-cache hash table entries: 8192 (order: 3, 32768 bytes)
Memory: 87208k/98240k available (2747k kernel code, 10584k reserved, 958k data, 336k init, 0k highmem)
virtual kernel memory layout:
fixmap : 0xffe16000 - 0xfffff000 (1956 kB)
pkmap : 0xff800000 - 0xffc00000 (4096 kB)
vmalloc : 0xc6800000 - 0xff7fe000 ( 911 MB)
lowmem : 0xc0000000 - 0xc5ff0000 ( 95 MB)
.init : 0xc04a6000 - 0xc04fa000 ( 336 kB)
.data : 0xc03aef9c - 0xc049e7b4 ( 958 kB)
.text : 0xc0100000 - 0xc03aef9c (2747 kB)
Checking if this processor honours the WP bit even in supervisor mode... Ok.
Calibrating delay using timer specific routine.. 898.26 BogoMIPS (lpj=179653
Security Framework v1.0.0 initialized
SELinux: Disabled at boot.
Capability LSM initialized
Mount-cache hash table entries: 512
CPU: After generic identify, caps: 008021bf 808029bf 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
CPU: L1 I Cache: 32K (32 bytes/line), D cache 32K (32 bytes/line)
CPU: After all inits, caps: 008021bf 808029bf 00000000 00000002 00000000 00000000 00000000
Compat vDSO mapped to ffffe000.
Checking 'hlt' instruction... OK.
Checking for popad bug... OK.
SMP alternatives: switching to UP code
Freeing SMP alternatives: 16k freed
CPU0: AMD-K6(tm) 3D processor stepping 0c
SMP motherboard not detected.
Local APIC not detected. Using dummy APIC emulation.
Brought up 1 CPUs
checking if image is initramfs... it is
Freeing initrd memory: 5292k freed
NET: Registered protocol family 16
EISA bus registered
PCI: PCI BIOS revision 2.10 entry at 0xfd8ce, last bus=1
PCI: Using configuration type 1
Setting up standard PCI resources
ACPI: Interpreter disabled.
Linux Plug and Play Support v0.97 (c) Adam Belay
pnp: PnP ACPI: disabled
PnPBIOS: Scanning system for PnP BIOS support...
PnPBIOS: Found PnP BIOS installation structure at 0xc00f7d50
PnPBIOS: PnP BIOS version 1.0, entry 0xf0000:0xaa05, dseg 0x400
PnPBIOS: 15 nodes reported by PnP BIOS; 15 recorded by driver
SCSI subsystem initialized
libata version 2.00 loaded.
PCI: Probing PCI hardware
PCI: Probing PCI hardware (bus 00)
PCI quirk: region 5c20-5c3f claimed by ali7101 SMB
Boot video device is 0000:01:00.0
PCI: Using ALI IRQ Router
PCI: Using IRQ router ALI [10b9/1533] at 0000:00:07.0
PCI: setting IRQ 11 as level-triggered
PCI: Found IRQ 11 for device 0000:00:04.0
PCI: Sharing IRQ 11 with 0000:01:00.0
NetLabel: Initializing
NetLabel: domain hash size = 128
NetLabel: protocols = UNLABELED CIPSOv4
NetLabel: unlabeled traffic allowed by default
pnp: 00:03: ioport range 0x4d0-0x4d1 has been reserved
pnp: 00:03: ioport range 0x40b-0x40b has been reserved
pnp: 00:03: ioport range 0x480-0x48f has been reserved
pnp: 00:03: ioport range 0x4d6-0x4d6 has been reserved
pnp: 00:03: ioport range 0x1000-0x105f has been reserved
PCI: Bridge: 0000:00:01.0
IO window: e000-efff
MEM window: fd000000-fecfffff
PREFETCH window: 18000000-180fffff
PCI: Bus 2, cardbus bridge: 0000:00:04.0
IO window: 00001400-000014ff
IO window: 00001800-000018ff
PREFETCH window: 10000000-11ffffff
MEM window: 12000000-13ffffff
PCI: Bus 6, cardbus bridge: 0000:00:04.1
IO window: 00001c00-00001cff
IO window: 00002000-000020ff
PREFETCH window: 14000000-15ffffff
MEM window: 16000000-17ffffff
PCI: Found IRQ 11 for device 0000:00:04.0
PCI: Sharing IRQ 11 with 0000:01:00.0
PCI: Assigned IRQ 11 for device 0000:00:04.1
NET: Registered protocol family 2
IP route cache hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
TCP established hash table entries: 4096 (order: 3, 49152 bytes)
TCP bind hash table entries: 2048 (order: 2, 24576 bytes)
TCP: Hash tables configured (established 4096 bind 204
TCP reno registered
audit: initializing netlink socket (disabled)
audit(1179495764.248:1): initialized
Total HugeTLB memory allocated, 0
VFS: Disk quotas dquot_6.5.1
Dquot-cache hash table entries: 1024 (order 0, 4096 bytes)
fuse init (API version 7.
fuse distribution version: 2.6.1
io scheduler noop registered
io scheduler anticipatory registered
io scheduler deadline registered (default)
io scheduler cfq registered
Activating ISA DMA hang workarounds.
isapnp: Scanning for PnP cards...
isapnp: No Plug & Play device found
Real Time Clock Driver v1.12ac
Floppy drive(s): fd0 is 1.44M
FDC 0 is a National Semiconductor PC87306
RAMDISK driver initialized: 16 RAM disks of 100000K size 1024 blocksize
Uniform Multi-Platform E-IDE driver Revision: 7.00alpha2
ide: Assuming 33MHz system bus speed for PIO modes; override with idebus=xx
ALI15X3: IDE controller at PCI slot 0000:00:0f.0
ALI15X3: chipset revision 32
ALI15X3: not 100% native mode: will probe irqs later
ide0: BM-DMA at 0xfcf0-0xfcf7, BIOS settings: hdaMA, hdbio
ide1: BM-DMA at 0xfcf8-0xfcff, BIOS settings: hdcMA, hddio
Probing IDE interface ide0...
hda: IC25N020ATCS04-0, ATA DISK drive
ide0 at 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6 on irq 14
Probing IDE interface ide1...
hdc: TOSHIBA CD-ROM XM-7002B, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive
ide1 at 0x170-0x177,0x376 on irq 15
hda: max request size: 128KiB
hda: 39070080 sectors (20003 MB) w/1768KiB Cache, CHS=38760/16/63
hda: cache flushes not supported
hda: hda1 hda2 < hda5 >
hdc: ATAPI 24X CD-ROM drive, 128kB Cache
Uniform CD-ROM driver Revision: 3.20
Loading iSCSI transport class v2.0-724.<6>PNP: PS/2 Controller [PNP0303,PNP0f13] at 0x60,0x64 irq 1,12
serio: i8042 KBD port at 0x60,0x64 irq 1
serio: i8042 AUX port at 0x60,0x64 irq 12
mice: PS/2 mouse device common for all mice
EISA: Probing bus 0 at eisa.0
Cannot allocate resource for EISA slot 1
Cannot allocate resource for EISA slot 2
Cannot allocate resource for EISA slot 5
EISA: Detected 0 cards.
Initializing XFRM netlink socket
NET: Registered protocol family 1
NET: Registered protocol family 15
Using IPI No-Shortcut mode
Freeing unused kernel memory: 336k freed
Time: tsc clocksource has been installed.
input: AT Translated Set 2 keyboard as /class/input/input0
IBM TrackPoint firmware: 0x0b, buttons: 3/3
input: TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint as /class/input/input1
usbcore: registered new interface driver usbfs
usbcore: registered new interface driver hub
usbcore: registered new device driver usb
ohci_hcd: 2006 August 04 USB 1.1 'Open' Host Controller (OHCI) Driver (PCI)
PCI: setting IRQ 9 as level-triggered
PCI: Found IRQ 9 for device 0000:00:13.0
ohci_hcd 0000:00:13.0: OHCI Host Controller
ohci_hcd 0000:00:13.0: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
ohci_hcd 0000:00:13.0: irq 9, io mem 0xfedde000
usb usb1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found
hub 1-0:1.0: 2 ports detected
device-mapper: ioctl: 4.10.0-ioctl (2006-09-14) initialised: [email protected]
md: linear personality registered for level -1
md: multipath personality registered for level -4
md: raid0 personality registered for level 0
md: raid1 personality registered for level 1
raid5: measuring checksumming speed
8regs : 671.000 MB/sec
8regs_prefetch: 520.000 MB/sec
32regs : 422.000 MB/sec
32regs_prefetch: 346.000 MB/sec
pII_mmx : 1264.000 MB/sec
p5_mmx : 1197.000 MB/sec
raid5: using function: pII_mmx (1264.000 MB/sec)
raid6: int32x1 35 MB/s
raid6: int32x2 58 MB/s
raid6: int32x4 74 MB/s
raid6: int32x8 80 MB/s
raid6: mmxx1 71 MB/s
raid6: mmxx2 128 MB/s
raid6: using algorithm mmxx2 (128 MB/s)
md: raid6 personality registered for level 6
md: raid5 personality registered for level 5
md: raid4 personality registered for level 4
md: raid10 personality registered for level 10
ReiserFS: hda1: found reiserfs format "3.6" with standard journal
ReiserFS: hda1: using ordered data mode
ReiserFS: hda1: journal params: device hda1, size 8192, journal first block 18, max trans len 1024, max batch 900, max commit age 30, max trans age 30
ReiserFS: hda1: checking transaction log (hda1)
ReiserFS: hda1: replayed 171 transactions in 42 seconds
ReiserFS: hda1: Using r5 hash to sort names
ReiserFS: hda1: Removing [16724 66089 0x0 SD]..done
ReiserFS: hda1: Removing [16724 66088 0x0 SD]..done
ReiserFS: hda1: Removing [16724 66087 0x0 SD]..done
ReiserFS: hda1: Removing [16724 66067 0x0 SD]..done
ReiserFS: hda1: Removing [16724 66063 0x0 SD]..done
ReiserFS: hda1: warning: vs-2180: finish_unfinished: iget failed for [16724 66039 0x0 SD]
ReiserFS: hda1: Removing [94109 66010 0x0 SD]..done
ReiserFS: hda1: Removing [94109 66008 0x0 SD]..done
ReiserFS: hda1: There were 7 uncompleted unlinks/truncates. Completed
Adding 273064k swap on /dev/hda5. Priority:-1 extents:1 across:273064k
apm: BIOS version 1.2 Flags 0x03 (Driver version 1.16ac)
cpufreq: No nForce2 chipset.
powernow: This module only works with AMD K7 CPUs
powernow-k8: Processor cpuid 58c not supported
Yenta: CardBus bridge found at 0000:00:04.0 [1179:0001]
Yenta: Enabling burst memory read transactions
Yenta: Using CSCINT to route CSC interrupts to PCI
Yenta: Routing CardBus interrupts to PCI
Yenta TI: socket 0000:00:04.0, mfunc 0x000c1722, devctl 0x64
Yenta: ISA IRQ mask 0x04b8, PCI irq 11
Socket status: 30000006
Yenta: CardBus bridge found at 0000:00:04.1 [1179:0001]
Yenta: Using CSCINT to route CSC interrupts to PCI
Yenta: Routing CardBus interrupts to PCI
Yenta TI: socket 0000:00:04.1, mfunc 0x000c1722, devctl 0x64
Yenta: ISA IRQ mask 0x04b8, PCI irq 11
Socket status: 30000006
pcmcia: Detected deprecated PCMCIA ioctl usage from process: cardmgr.
pcmcia: This interface will soon be removed from the kernel; please expect breakage unless you upgrade to new tools.
pcmcia: see http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/util...ia/pcmcia.html for details.
cs: IO port probe 0xc00-0xcff: clean.
cs: IO port probe 0xc00-0xcff: clean.
cs: IO port probe 0x820-0x8ff: clean.
cs: IO port probe 0x820-0x8ff: clean.
cs: IO port probe 0x800-0x80f: clean.
cs: IO port probe 0x800-0x80f: clean.
cs: IO port probe 0x100-0x4ff: excluding 0x378-0x37f 0x3f8-0x3ff
cs: IO port probe 0x100-0x4ff: excluding 0x378-0x37f 0x3f8-0x3ff
cs: IO port probe 0xa00-0xaff: clean.
cs: IO port probe 0xa00-0xaff: clean.
USB Universal Host Controller Interface driver v3.0
usbcore: registered new interface driver hiddev
usbcore: registered new interface driver usbhid
drivers/usb/input/hid-core.c: v2.6:USB HID core driver
ieee1394: Initialized config rom entry `ip1394'
Linux agpgart interface v0.101 (c) Dave Jones
agpgart: Detected ALi M1541 chipset
agpgart: AGP aperture is 64M @ 0xe0000000
pci_hotplug: PCI Hot Plug PCI Core version: 0.5
shpchp: Standard Hot Plug PCI Controller Driver version: 0.4
ali15x3_smbus 0000:00:11.0: ALI15X3_smb region uninitialized - upgrade BIOS or use force_addr=0xaddr
ali15x3_smbus 0000:00:11.0: ALI15X3 not detected, module not inserted.
ali1535_smbus 0000:00:11.0: SMB device not enabled - upgrade BIOS?
ali1535_smbus 0000:00:11.0: ALI1535 not detected, module not inserted.
Serial: 8250/16550 driver $Revision: 1.90 $ 4 ports, IRQ sharing disabled
serial8250: ttyS0 at I/O 0x3f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
00:0e: ttyS0 at I/O 0x3f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
parport: PnPBIOS parport detected.
parport0: PC-style at 0x378, irq 7 [PCSPP,TRISTATE]
PCI: setting IRQ 5 as level-triggered
PCI: Found IRQ 5 for device 0000:00:08.0
gameport: CS4281 Gameport is pci0000:00:08.0/gameport0, speed 3977kHz
cs: IO port probe 0xc00-0xcff: clean.
cs: IO port probe 0xc00-0xcff: clean.
cs: IO port probe 0x820-0x8ff: clean.
cs: IO port probe 0x820-0x8ff: clean.
cs: IO port probe 0x800-0x80f: clean.
cs: IO port probe 0x800-0x80f: clean.
cs: IO port probe 0x100-0x4ff: clean.
cs: IO port probe 0x100-0x4ff: clean.
cs: IO port probe 0xa00-0xaff: clean.
cs: IO port probe 0xa00-0xaff: clean.
lp0: using parport0 (interrupt-driven).
lp0: console ready
ppdev: user-space parallel port driver
NET: Registered protocol family 10
lo: Disabled Privacy Extensions
Mobile IPv6
mtrr: no more MTRRs available
mtrr: no more MTRRs available
knoppix@Knoppix:~$

[hat_monkey]

external usb drives did show after replugging:


mtrr: no more MTRRs available
mtrr: no more MTRRs available
ohci_hcd 0000:00:13.0: auto-wakeup
usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 2
usb 1-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial
drivers/usb/serial/usb-serial.c: USB Serial support registered for generic
usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial_generic
drivers/usb/serial/usb-serial.c: USB Serial Driver core
drivers/usb/serial/usb-serial.c: USB Serial support registered for ark3116
ark3116 1-1:1.0: ark3116 converter detected
usb 1-1: ark3116 converter now attached to ttyUSB0
usbcore: registered new interface driver ark3116
usb 1-1: USB disconnect, address 2
ark3116 ttyUSB0: ark3116 converter now disconnected from ttyUSB0
ark3116 1-1:1.0: device disconnected
ohci_hcd 0000:00:13.0: auto-wakeup
usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 3
usb 1-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
usbcore: registered new interface driver libusual
Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...
scsi0 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage
USB Mass Storage support registered.
usb-storage: device found at 3
usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
scsi 0:0:0:0: Direct-Access SAMSUNG HM080HC AM10 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0
SCSI device sda: 156301488 512-byte hdwr sectors (80026 MB)
sda: Write Protect is off
sda: Mode Sense: 03 00 00 00
sda: assuming drive cache: write through
SCSI device sda: 156301488 512-byte hdwr sectors (80026 MB)
sda: Write Protect is off
sda: Mode Sense: 03 00 00 00
sda: assuming drive cache: write through
sda: sda1 sda2 < sda5 sda6 > sda3
sd 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi disk sda
usb-storage: device scan complete
knoppix@Knoppix:~$

[hat_monkey]

Here is the latest output after WINDOWS XP usage for USB non-show and non-mount:

usb 1-1: USB disconnect, address 2
sda : READ CAPACITY failed.
sda : status=0, message=00, host=7, driver=00
sda : sense not available.
sda: Write Protect is off
sda: Mode Sense: 00 00 00 00
sda: assuming drive cache: write through
sda : READ CAPACITY failed.
sda : status=0, message=00, host=7, driver=00
sda : sense not available.
sda: Write Protect is off
sda: Mode Sense: 00 00 00 00
sda: assuming drive cache: write through
ohci_hcd 0000:00:13.0: auto-wakeup
usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using ohci_hcd
and address 3
usb 1-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
scsi1 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devic
es
usb-storage: device found at 3
usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before
scanning
scsi 1:0:0:0: Direct-Access JetFlash TS1GJF11
0 0.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
SCSI device sda: 2047999 512-byte hdwr sectors (1
049 MB)
sda: Write Protect is off
sda: Mode Sense: 00 00 00 00
sda: assuming drive cache: write through
SCSI device sda: 2047999 512-byte hdwr sectors (1 049 MB)
sda: Write Protect is off
sda: Mode Sense: 00 00 00 00
sda: assuming drive cache: write through
sda: unknown partition table
sd 1:0:0:0: Attached scsi removable disk sda
usb-storage: device scan complete
knoppix@Knoppix:~$ sudo mount sda
mount: can't find sda in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab
knoppix@Knoppix:~$ mount sda
mount: can't find sda in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab
knoppix@Knoppix:~$


so it seems to be to my unknowing eye, the partition table problem as you mentioned.

so from here,
using
knoppix@Knoppix:~$sudo mc

I edited etc/fstab to also include this line

/dev/sda/ media/sda auto rw,users,exec 0 0

and etc/mtab
/dev/sda /media/sda auto rw,nosuid,nodev 0 0

in my persistent knoppix.image and booted from bootfrom=/dev/hda1/home/downdirectory/K*.iso


and then restart knoppix before a changed occurred and I was able to then use the USB flash drive normally.

Because this fail to mount USB doesnt happen every time I use Windows XP, it may be also connected to which service pack is installed in windows XP and also which version of internet expolrer is being used.
For the record, the last machine used before the USB plugging problems started in knoppix5.1.1 were Internet Explorer 7 on Windows XP service pack2