Cannot Mount Floppy in PCLinuxOS 2009.1

[Bruno]

. . . so there is something weird about this computer (mobo, probably) and Linux.

That's what I was thinking right from the start: something hardware related . . . . I initially blamed the drive, but it can very well be the mobo or the cable from mobo to drive. Bruno

[BillD]

Well, I failed to mention it above, but when I tried changing out the drive, I also tried changing the cable I do believe converting my wife to flash drives is that best answer, as you suggested. I did it several years ago when I got scared after a spring popped out of a floppy just after I had removed it from the drive. However, I also believe in plugging the flash drive into a separate extension cable rather than directly into the front of the computer, so as to put as little mechanical stress on the flash drive's connector as possible. Sticking the thing into the front of the computer worries me in that I have read about people bumping them and bending the connector to the point where the internal electrical connections were messed up. (Not to mention the fact that I have only recently had a front connector available!)Bill

Edited April 7, 2009 by BillD

[zlim]

I have an external USB floppy drive connected to my husband's computer. His floppy drive died and since his computer is mounted behind the LCD monitor, I'm very afraid to start taking it apart to see if I can replace the floppy drive. (I purchased a black floppy internal to install; just haven't wanted to risk breaking anything else to replace the floppy).I'm still trying to figure out why my floppy worked and now it doesn't.Bruno, I will post pictures so you can see the image I see for fd0 and also when I select properties it says /dev/null

Edited April 7, 2009 by zlim

[Bruno]

That is /dev/fd Liz . . . and not /dev/fd0 . . . Only /dev/fd0 is the block device like we saw in the output of

# ls -l /dev/df0

Bruno

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Liz,Changing out that internal floppy is easy-breezy.

[striker]

I have an external USB floppy drive connected to my husband's computer. His floppy drive died and since his computer is mounted behind the LCD monitor, I'm very afraid to start taking it apart to see if I can replace the floppy drive. (I purchased a black floppy internal to install; just haven't wanted to risk breaking anything else to replace the floppy).

Liz,Changing out that internal floppy is easy-breezy.

Eric, for you and me that's peanuts, we probably could do it blindfolded. But for everyone there's a first time. If I read the above correct, Liz now uses an external floppy disk drive. As long as it works OK, she can go ahead using it, and does not have to worry about opening hubby's computer. Way back then when I had a problem with my first computer I took it to a local computer shop (I knew the guy there), he opened up the thing and I used my eyes and brains and memory, I can tell you that. From that time on I did it myself. What I'm trying to tell is maybe Liz doesn't feel comfortable doing this 'repair' herself yet. Maybe a knowledgeable friend or local repair man/wife can help her through the first life computer surgery. The alternative is the already mentioned USB floppy disk drive.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

We learn best by doing.

[zlim]

Changing out that internal floppy is easy-breezy

Not if the computer looks like this. that thin slice behind the LCD is the computer and most everything is plastic. I'm afraid I will break something trying to take it apart and will not be able to get it back together again.The fan is on your left and I couldn't un-attach the bottom part to get to the fan to clean it out. If I could have done that, I would have removed the floppy and replaced the CD-ROM with a DVD/CDR.Bruno, I will have another look but I don't have fd0 listed anywhere.Under /dev I have fd and 6 or 7 items in there. Edited April 8, 2009 by zlim

[V.T. Eric Layton]

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!

[Bruno]

Bruno, I will have another look but I don't have fd0 listed anywhere.

HU ???? . . . . I am puzzled, because up in th4e thread you write:

ls -l /dev/nullcrw-rw-rw- 1 root root 1, 3 Apr 5 20:03ls -al /dev/fd0brw-rw---- 1 root floppy 2, 0 Apr 6 01:03

So clearly back then it was there . . . . Bruno

[zlim]

When you ask for a list it shows. But when I open the file manager, I do not see it in the list.Is this rw-rw---- 1 root floppy telling me that only root can read and write? Maybe that's my main problem...liz can not do a thing. Could that be why is is also missing from my file manager?I know this worked because I looked at the contents of a floppy and then decided to add the icon for unmounted floppy on my desktop so it would be easy to mount.This is /dev expanded and as you can see there is a shortcut to fd. fd was expanded in one of my other pictures and what I thought was fd0 apparently does not represent a floppy drive/

Edited April 8, 2009 by zlim

[Bruno]

Hi LizThe owner "root" and group "floppy" is *normal* for that block device . . . . and looking at the /dev tree does not help ( I never use the GUI to look at it ) All /dev directories are created at boot by udev . . at every boot again and again.What maybe helps is to see what dmesg says at boot:

# dmesg | grep -i floppy

Also the mount point is much more important then the /dev directory ( # ls -l /media ) . . . . but also mount points are owned by root by default. Bruno

[striker]

yep, and then the mountpoint: nowadays you can't be sure before hand, it can be /mnt, /media or even /storage. Talking about consistency.

[zlim]

Well that looks normal.

[root@localhost liz]# dmesg | grep -i floppyide-floppy driver 1.00Floppy drive(s): fd0 is 1.44M

For the brief time it worked, I was able to mount it, look at the contents and umounted before I pulled the floppy out.I just do not understand what changed.Clicking floppy in PCL CC gives me thisMount point: /media/floppyDevice: fd0Name: H1440Type: autoOptions: umask=0,users,iocharset=utf8,noauto,flush,exec

Edited April 8, 2009 by zlim

[Bruno]

Hi Liz: And mounting on the commandline does not work either ?? Bruno

[zlim]

I see that mount /dev/fd0 can only be used if there is an entry in /etc/fstab or in /dev/mtab. Since I do not have an entry in either location, what command should I be using to mount my floppy?

[Bruno]

Hi LizDepends if you have a /media/floppy directory . . . if you have not, make it first with:

# mkdir /media/floppy

Once that directory ( the moint-point ) is there you can do:

# mount  /dev/fd0  /media/floppy

That should do ;) Bruno

[zlim]

I get the same message mount: you must specify the filesystem typeOnly from a terminal at least I don't get the sound of breaking glass.I tried this earlier mount vfat /dev/fd0 but I didn't put the 2nd directory in the command.I'm now studying man mount 8It seems to indicate a switch -t vfstyle which means I'd type -t vfatI think I need to study this further to be able to give the correct syntax.If I get it finally mounted as root, then I will want to know how in the world I can do it so that liz can finally mount a floppy without going to a terminal and changing into root to mount a floppy.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Attempts code, followed by error1. mount [-t vfat] /dev/fdo /media/floppygives me more man pages2. mount -t vfat /dev/fd0 /media/floppymount: special device /dev/fd0 does not exist

Edited April 9, 2009 by zlim

[Bruno]

Sorry . . but adding "-t vfat" most likely will not help . . . . it will just report an error. ( it very well knows that fd0 is vfat so that is not the problem ) Bruno

[zlim]

If you have other suggestions as to what to try, please keep them coming.Unlike Bill, my floppy drive did work previously so I'm not going to blame it on hardware; it must be something in software that I did to break it.

[Bruno]

Sorry . . . . I am out of options . . . . :thumbsup: Bruno

[zlim]

Well I just plugged in a USB stick and had no trouble accessing it. Now I'll pull out the 2nd USB external floppy drive I have and see if I can read a floppy that way.Well I got a different error with a USB floppy drive (floppy in) Error - KonquerorMethod "Mount" with signature "ssas" on interface "org.freedesktop.Hal>Device.Volume" doesn't existIt actually tries to mount two things: first the floppy and very quickly the USB. I cancelled the USB and then asked for the floppy to open in a new window; that's when the above error appeared.Sooo Bill, save your money. Don't by a USB floppy drive because at least on my install of PCLinux the floppy disk still can not open.The same floppy drive mounts correctly on my eeepc. Shows the mounted floppy icon in the tray and I can use the file manager to examine all the files on the floppy.So I know it is not the USB floppy drive nor the floppy disk itself since both work perfectly in my eeepc.

Edited April 10, 2009 by zlim

[striker]

Yep, it's pclos. That's the problem.

[Bruno]

Wait a minute . . . I might be on to something . . . . both Liz and Bill can you do:

# lsmod | grep -i floppy

( or simply run lsmod and see if "floppy" is listed )If the command comes up empty ( and that is what I am starting to suspect ) . . . please do:

# modprobe floppy

and do the lsmod command again . . . . . if in this case it this time "floppy" does show up: try the "mount /dev/fd0 /media/floppy" again and see it mounts.Now . . . imagine that this trick solves the problem . . . you just have to add a line to /etc/modprobe.preload: all there has to be on that line is:

floppy

. . . after that reboot and see if things are fixed. Bruno

[zlim]

# lsmod | grep -i floppy returnsfloppy 52356 0So since something showed up, I tried mount /dev/fd0 /media/floppyand got the usualmount: you must specify the filesystem typeThanks for trying Bruno. I guess in PCLinux, I will have to put anything I want on USB sticks.At least my streaming music works and my printer prints!I will look around the PCLinux forums because I can't believe that only Bill and I have this problem. Eventually, someone might discover what is happening.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

This not mounting of floppies is one of the strangest problems I've seen discussed here at ATL. I think you guys really, really need to go back to the beginning. What did you do to your operating systems or hardware JUST PRIOR to this problem developing. I've found in my troubleshooting experience that just answering this simple question can sometimes also lead you to the answers needed to solve the problem.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Specific questions for Liz:1) Do you have a disk in the drive when trying to mount? (a stupid question... I know ) 2) Have you tried other disks?3) Do you actually have a /media/floppy directory?4) Have you tried entering an fstab entry for mounting the floppy?Here's a really good article in PCLos Magazine about fstab --> http://www.pclosmag.com/html/Issues/200709/page07.html5) Can't mount as root or as user from GUI, right?6) Is there a node in /dev labeled "fd0", NOT just "fd"?Uh... can't think of anything else right now. This is beginning to really make me scratch my head, though.

[striker]

http://www.pclinuxos.com/index.php?option=...p;topic=29861.0http://www.pclinuxos.com/index.php?option=...p;topic=53809.0

[Bruno]

I will add 2 little questions for both Liz and Bill too:

$ uname -r$ ls -l /boot

Bruno

[BillD]

$ uname -r2.6.26.8.tex3

$ ls -l /boottotal 6164-rw-r--r-- 1 root root	 440 Mar 31 20:30 boot.backup.hda-rw-rw-r-- 1 root root	 440 Jan 18 22:35 boot.backup.sda-rw-rw-r-- 1 root root	 440 Oct 12 08:57 boot.backup.sdblrwxrwxrwx 1 root root	  20 Apr 11 15:21 config -> config-2.6.26.8.tex3-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   92321 Jan 12 04:38 config-2.6.26.8.tex3-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  371200 Mar 31 20:30 gfxmenudrwxr-xr-x 2 root root	4096 Mar 31 20:30 grub/-rw------- 1 root root 2450804 Mar 31 20:30 initrd-2.6.26.8.tex3.imglrwxrwxrwx 1 root root	  24 Mar 31 20:29 initrd.img -> initrd-2.6.26.8.tex3.imglrwxrwxrwx 1 root root	  28 Apr 11 15:21 kernel.h -> /boot/kernel.h-2.6.26.8.tex3-rw-r--r-- 1 root root	1493 Apr 11 15:21 kernel.h-2.6.26.8.tex3-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  111864 Mar 16  2008 memtest-2.01.bin-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  470820 Mar 31 20:30 message-graphiclrwxrwxrwx 1 root root	  24 Mar 31 20:29 System.map -> System.map-2.6.26.8.tex3-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  944721 Jan 12 04:38 System.map-2.6.26.8.tex3-rw-r--r-- 1 root root	 256 Oct 12 08:57 uk-latin1.klt-rw-r--r-- 1 root root	 256 Mar 31 20:30 us.kltlrwxrwxrwx 1 root root	  21 Mar 31 20:29 vmlinuz -> vmlinuz-2.6.26.8.tex3-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1800688 Jan 12 04:38 vmlinuz-2.6.26.8.tex3

The stuff in the forums that striker mentioned did not work (altho I appreciate the info, and thank you).The interesting thing about all this is that the floppy will not mount on this or two other computers I tried (each with a different mobo) running live with either PCLinuxOS or Ubuntu 8.04 . . . It appears I was just lucky it worked on the first one I installed it on!In Liz's case, since it apparently worked for her originally, I wonder if it will still work if she runs live? (Maybe she told us somewhere above, and I just overlooked it.) If it did, it would not take very long to re-install the root and fix her problem.Bill

Edited April 11, 2009 by BillD