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Archive for September, 2004

USB flash disk mounting problem

with 2 comments

I’ve recently upgraded to FC2, kernel 2.6.8-1.521. Everything is in order, my box is humming fine. Except for my USB flash disk.

I’ve overcome the problem of mounting USB flash disks, as described in a previous post. It was a trivial /etc/fstab entry, actually, and just a matter of invoking mount. But that was with the 2.4.22 kernel.

When I tried to mount my USB flash disk, my box spewed out the error:

$ mount /mnt/usb

mount: /dev/sda1: can’t read superblock

Hmmm… Imploring Mr. Google for guidance, I stumbled upon the OSDL Kernel Bug Tracker “Bugzilla Bug 3223 - Superfloppy formatted USB Storage Devices cause scsi errors“. But before applying the patch, I had to make sure that I had the similar problem, so I did a bit of digging on my system.

My /var/log/messages had these entries:

Sep 12 23:11:16 haus-lnx kernel: usb 2-2.2: new full speed USB device using address 5

Sep 12 23:11:16 haus-lnx kernel: scsi2 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices

Sep 12 23:11:16 haus-lnx kernel: Vendor: Model: USB BAR Rev: 1.89

Sep 12 23:11:16 haus-lnx kernel: Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 02

Sep 12 23:11:16 haus-lnx kernel: SCSI device sda: 255744 512-byte hdwr sectors (131 MB)

Sep 12 23:11:16 haus-lnx kernel: sda: Write Protect is off

Sep 12 23:11:16 haus-lnx kernel: sda: assuming drive cache: write through

Sep 12 23:11:16 haus-lnx kernel: sda: sda1

Sep 12 23:11:16 haus-lnx kernel: Attached scsi removable disk sda at scsi2, channel 0, id 0, lun 0

Sep 12 23:11:16 haus-lnx kernel: Attached scsi generic sg0 at scsi2, channel 0, id 0, lun 0, type 0

Sep 12 23:11:16 haus-lnx scsi.agent[5719]: disk at /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1f.4/usb2/2-2/2-2.2/2-2.2:1.0/host2/2:0:0:0

Sep 12 23:11:17 haus-lnx kernel: updfstab: Using deprecated /dev/sg mechanism instead of SG_IO on the actual device

Sep 12 23:11:55 haus-lnx kernel: SCSI error : return code = 0×10070000

Sep 12 23:11:55 haus-lnx kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 32

Sep 12 23:11:55 haus-lnx kernel: FAT: unable to read boot sector

Spot on. Taking a look at my /proc/bus/usb/devices:

T: Bus=02 Lev=00 Prnt=00 Port=00 Cnt=00 Dev#= 1 Spd=12 MxCh= 2

B: Alloc= 11/900 us ( 1%), #Int= 1, #Iso= 0

D: Ver= 1.10 Cls=09(hub ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS= 8 #Cfgs= 1

P: Vendor=0000 ProdID=0000 Rev= 2.06

S: Manufacturer=Linux 2.6.8-1.521 uhci_hcd

S: Product=UHCI Host Controller

S: SerialNumber=0000:00:1f.4

C:* #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=c0 MxPwr= 0mA

I: If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 1 Cls=09(hub ) Sub=00 Prot=00 Driver=hub

E: Ad=81(I) Atr=03(Int.) MxPS= 2 Ivl=255ms

T: Bus=02 Lev=01 Prnt=01 Port=01 Cnt=01 Dev#= 2 Spd=12 MxCh= 4

D: Ver= 1.10 Cls=09(hub ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS= 8 #Cfgs= 1

P: Vendor=058f ProdID=9254 Rev= 1.00

S: Manufacturer=ALCOR

S: Product=Generic USB Hub

C:* #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=e0 MxPwr=100mA

I: If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 1 Cls=09(hub ) Sub=00 Prot=00 Driver=hub

E: Ad=81(I) Atr=03(Int.) MxPS= 1 Ivl=255ms

T: Bus=02 Lev=02 Prnt=02 Port=01 Cnt=01 Dev#= 5 Spd=12 MxCh= 0

D: Ver= 1.10 Cls=00(>ifc ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS=64 #Cfgs= 1

P: Vendor=0ea0 ProdID=6828 Rev= 1.10

S: Manufacturer=USB

S: Product=Flash Disk

C:* #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=80 MxPwr=100mA

I: If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 3 Cls=08(stor.) Sub=06 Prot=50 Driver=usb-storage

E: Ad=81(I) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS= 64 Ivl=0ms

E: Ad=02(O) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS= 64 Ivl=0ms

E: Ad=83(I) Atr=03(Int.) MxPS= 2 Ivl=255ms

T: Bus=01 Lev=00 Prnt=00 Port=00 Cnt=00 Dev#= 1 Spd=12 MxCh= 2

B: Alloc= 93/900 us (10%), #Int= 1, #Iso= 0

D: Ver= 1.10 Cls=09(hub ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS= 8 #Cfgs= 1

P: Vendor=0000 ProdID=0000 Rev= 2.06

S: Manufacturer=Linux 2.6.8-1.521 uhci_hcd

S: Product=UHCI Host Controller

S: SerialNumber=0000:00:1f.2

C:* #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=c0 MxPwr= 0mA

I: If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 1 Cls=09(hub ) Sub=00 Prot=00 Driver=hub

E: Ad=81(I) Atr=03(Int.) MxPS= 2 Ivl=255ms

T: Bus=01 Lev=01 Prnt=01 Port=00 Cnt=01 Dev#= 2 Spd=1.5 MxCh= 0

D: Ver= 1.10 Cls=00(>ifc ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS= 8 #Cfgs= 1

P: Vendor=045e ProdID=0040 Rev= 3.00

S: Manufacturer=Microsoft

S: Product=Microsoft 3-Button Mouse with IntelliEye(TM)

C:* #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=a0 MxPwr=100mA

I: If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 1 Cls=03(HID ) Sub=01 Prot=02 Driver=usbhid

E: Ad=81(I) Atr=03(Int.) MxPS= 4 Ivl=10ms

Okay. Nothing there. The bug seemed to apply to my case so I did a patch -p0 , then tried to mount the USB flash disk again. Same error.

Drat. I had to resort to mounting the USB storage device on loopback:

$ sudo mount -t vfat -o loop /dev/sda1 /mnt/usb

This one worked, so I promptly edited my /etc/fstab to reflect the option, unmounted and remounted the thing again. Voila! I can access my flash disk again. Would have to study the patch more closely though, as it seemed the better solution.

Written by Ian Dexter

September 12th, 2004 at 11:15 pm

Posted in Play

Building a team

without comments

We recently went on a team-building event at a countryside resort. The goal was to cultivate team spirit in line with plans on converging activities of two divisions in the company, that of Development Communication and Information and Communication Technology.

The team

My boss laid out several projects in the pipeline that leverages IT for development, with particular stress on the communications part. Among the projects were single-source publishing (or forking and retooling of content into different media: digital, print, audiovisual); research and development funding sources; and the expected outputs of several IT endeavors in the Open Academy and for PhilRice.

The plans got me all excited, of course, but my excitement was dampened a bit by the fact that I’m lagging in my targets. I still haven’t found a way to connect Active Directory to LDAP for single sign-on of network services. Multihomed routing is also another headscratcher, although I’m gaining headway in my review on Cisco IOS fundamentals.

I have yet to install a single usable service on the staging server, which has been giving me problems since I put it up. Strange though it may be, it used to work when I configured it with FC1. But when I configured the network connection to the LAN, that started all the mess. I had to replace the distro to Mandrake 9.2, but as I’m not that familiar with the distro, I can’t even get ping to work on it. So it now runs FC2, with absolutely no connection to the world — again, networking doesn’t work!

Anyway: back to teambuilding. It was fun. I got to know people from DevCom, and they were pretty nice people who know their stuff, and are serious about having fun, too. The event was also an avenue for the IT people to get to know each other better. It certainly was a surprise for all of us to see potential divas and belters doing their thing (the videoke machine was maxed out in the short time we were there).

Cool pool

There were bits of friendly competition between the two divisions. We showed the DevCom people that we weren’t pussies in Guesstures, and that we can hold our own in videoke singing, IT “geeks” that we are.

Guess this!

All ya people in da house, say AAARRRGGGGHHHH!

What I liked the most, though, was the culminating activity, “Hot Seat”. Instead of the usual bullsession, “Hot Seat” places whoever was in it at the center of adulation and praise. Positive values were pointed out for reinforcement and improvement. In a way, too, it made everyone lighthearted on the way home.

It was a great time, back there in that countryside resort, for discoveries both new (friends, talents) and old (values, attitudes). I sincerely hope the event fulfilled its purpose.

Written by Ian Dexter

September 12th, 2004 at 10:04 pm

Posted in Play

Building the team

without comments

We recently went on a team-building event at a countryside resort. The goal was to cultivate team spirit in line with plans on converging activities of two divisions in the company, that of Development Communication and Information and Communication Technology.

The team

My boss laid out several projects in the pipeline that leverages IT for development, with particular stress on the communications part. Among the projects were single-source publishing (or forking and retooling of content into different media: digital, print, audiovisual); research and development funding sources; and the expected outputs of several IT endeavors in the Open Academy and for PhilRice.

The plans got me all excited, of course, but my excitement was dampened a bit by the fact that I’m lagging in my targets. I still haven’t found a way to connect Active Directory to LDAP for single sign-on of network services. Multihomed routing is also another headscratcher, although I’m gaining headway in my review on Cisco IOS fundamentals.

I have yet to install a single usable service on the staging server, which has been giving me problems since I put it up. Strange though it may be, it used to work when I configured it with FC1. But when I configured the network connection to the LAN, that started all the mess. I had to replace the distro to Mandrake 9.2, but as I’m not that familiar with the distro, I can’t even get ping to work on it. So it now runs FC2, with absolutely no connection to the world — again, networking doesn’t work!

Anyway: back to teambuilding. It was fun. I got to know people from DevCom, and they were pretty nice people who know their stuff, and are serious about having fun, too. The event was also an avenue for the IT people to get to know each other better. It certainly was a surprise for all of us to see potential divas and belters doing their thing (the videoke machine was maxed out in the short time we were there).

Cool pool

There were bits of friendly competition between the two divisions. We showed the DevCom people that we weren’t pussies in Guesstures, and that we can hold our own in videoke singing, IT “geeks” that we are.

Guess this!

All ya people in da house, say AAARRRGGGGHHHH!

What I liked the most, though, was the culminating activity, “Hot Seat”. Instead of the usual bullsession, “Hot Seat” places whoever was in it at the center of adulation and praise. Positive values were pointed out for reinforcement and improvement. In a way, too, it made everyone lighthearted on the way home.

It was a great time, back there in that countryside resort, for discoveries both new (friends, talents) and old (values, attitudes). I sincerely hope the event fulfilled its purpose.

Written by Ian Dexter

September 10th, 2004 at 9:03 am

Posted in Work