[gentoo-user] is it toast?

[gentoo-user] is it toast?

[Martin S]

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I lent my USB stick to a guy for a job the other day. Apparently his Win98
box wanted to install drivers for it to work, so he pulled it before
Wintendo (anything < 2000) could get to doing its stuff.

Now I get

SuicidalPuppy martoni # mount /mnt/usb/
mount: block device /dev/sda is write-protected, mounting read-only
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sda,
       missing codepage or other error
       In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
       dmesg | tail  or so

And

SuicidalPuppy martoni # dmesg |tail
...
FAT: bogus logical sector size 255
VFS: Can't find a valid FAT filesystem on dev sda.
FAT: bogus logical sector size 255
VFS: Can't find a valid FAT filesystem on dev sda.


Googling a bit I found a few ideas how to get the USB-thingie up again.
Like:

SuicidalPuppy martoni # hdparm -r0 /dev/sda

/dev/sda:
 setting readonly to 0 (off)
 readonly     =  0 (off)
SuicidalPuppy martoni # parted /dev/sda
Warning: Unable to open /dev/sda read-write (Read-only file system).
/dev/sda has been
opened read-only.
Warning: Unable to open /dev/sda read-write (Read-only file system).
/dev/sda has been
opened read-only.

And
SuicidalPuppy martoni # dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda
dd: opening `/dev/sda': Read-only file system


I'm out of ideas now - Is the last shot to go out and buy a new USB stick?

Martin S





--
Regards,

Martin S

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Re: [gentoo-user] is it toast?

[Iain Buchanan]

On Fri, 2006-03-24 at 07:03 +0100, Martin S wrote:
> I lent my USB stick to a guy for a job the other day. Apparently his
> Win98 box wanted to install drivers for it to work, so he pulled it
> before Wintendo (anything < 2000) could get to doing its stuff.
> 
> Now I get 
> 
> SuicidalPuppy martoni # mount /mnt/usb/
> mount: block device /dev/sda is write-protected, mounting read-only
> mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sda,
>        missing codepage or other error 
>        In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
>        dmesg | tail  or so

The "read-only" is a bit misleading - I get this message when mount
can't understand the filesystem, even though it may be ok.

If you don't need any data from the drive, see if you can re-fdisk and
re-format it.  Unplug it first and plug in again, just in case you did
something bad with hdparm.
-- 
Iain Buchanan <iaindb at netspace dot net dot au>

He who laughs, lasts.

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Re: [gentoo-user] is it toast?

[Martin S]

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2006/3/24, Iain Buchanan <iaindb@netspace.net.au>:
>
> On Fri, 2006-03-24 at 07:03 +0100, Martin S wrote:
> > I lent my USB stick to a guy for a job the other day. Apparently his
> > Win98 box wanted to install drivers for it to work, so he pulled it
> > before Wintendo (anything < 2000) could get to doing its stuff.
> >
> > Now I get
> >
> > SuicidalPuppy martoni # mount /mnt/usb/
> > mount: block device /dev/sda is write-protected, mounting read-only
> > mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sda,
> >        missing codepage or other error
> >        In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
> >        dmesg | tail  or so
>
> The "read-only" is a bit misleading - I get this message when mount
> can't understand the filesystem, even though it may be ok.
>
> If you don't need any data from the drive, see if you can re-fdisk and
> re-format it.  Unplug it first and plug in again, just in case you did
> something bad with hdparm.



SuicidalPuppy martoni # fdisk /dev/sda
You will not be able to write the partition table.
Device contains neither a valid DOS partition table, nor Sun, SGI or OSF
disklabel
Building a new DOS disklabel. Changes will remain in memory only,
until you decide to write them. After that, of course, the previous
content won't be recoverable.

Warning: invalid flag 0x0000 of partition table 4 will be corrected by
w(rite)

Command (m for help): n
Command action
   e   extended
   p   primary partition (1-4)
p
Partition number (1-4): 1
First cylinder (1-1015, default 1):
Using default value 1
Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (1-1015, default 1015):
Using default value 1015

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/sda: 262 MB, 262144000 bytes
9 heads, 56 sectors/track, 1015 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 504 * 512 = 258048 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1               1        1015      255752   83  Linux

Command (m for help): w

Unable to write /dev/sda


Regards,

Martin S

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Re: [gentoo-user] is it toast?

[Hemmann, Volker Armin]

Hi,

does the stick have a write-protect switch? 

Mine has - and AFAIR most sticks too. Maybe he switched it?
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RE: [gentoo-user] is it toast?

[Michael Kintzios]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Hemmann, Volker Armin 
> [mailto:volker.armin.hemmann@tu-clausthal.de] 
> Sent: 24 March 2006 10:45
> To: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org
> Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] is it toast?
> 
> 
> Hi,
> 
> does the stick have a write-protect switch? 
> 
> Mine has - and AFAIR most sticks too. Maybe he switched it?

If it doesn't have a switch, can you repartition it with VFAT using
parted, or fdisk?
-- 
Regards,
Mick


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Re: [gentoo-user] is it toast?

[Richard Fish]

On 3/24/06, Martin S <shieldfire@gmail.com> wrote:
> Haven't had the oppurtunity to look for a switch (haven't seen one though)
> as it's home and I'm not.
> But no I can't repartition it as evident from earlier mails in the thread.
> It's read-only :(

I would bet a write-protect switch got flipped.  Otherwise, yes, i
think you have to replace it.  I can't imagine how the other guy could
have damaged it from your description of the events though.

-Richard

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Re: [gentoo-user] is it toast?

[Roy Wright]

Richard Fish wrote:

>I would bet a write-protect switch got flipped.  Otherwise, yes, i
>think you have to replace it.  I can't imagine how the other guy could
>have damaged it from your description of the events though.
>
>-Richard
>
>  
>

You might want to try it on another computer before giving it up for lost.
Might even want to try it with *gasp - I can't believe I'm saying this* 
windows.

I did manage to fry a USB port on my motherboard one night.  It was 
dark, I was
plugging a memory stick in the front connector, kind of a awkward reach.
Tried to insert it upside down.  Apparently the stick's case shorted the 
port's
pins.  Soft crack sound.  Whiff of burnt electronics.  Sigh.

Point is that the USB ports are not fool proof.

- Roy
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Re: [gentoo-user] is it toast?

[Hemmann, Volker Armin]

On Friday 24 March 2006 16:23, Martin S wrote:
> Haven't had the oppurtunity to look for a switch (haven't seen one though)
> as it's home and I'm not.
> But no I can't repartition it as evident from earlier mails in the thread.
> It's read-only :(
>

hm, I am not sure, but it is not possible for some devices to be 'logical' 
write protected? Maybe your friend set it that way in windows?

Give it back to him and let him check it.
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[gentoo-user] Re: is it toast?

[James]

Martin S <shieldfire <at> gmail.com> writes:

> 
> Haven't had the oppurtunity to look for a switch (haven't seen one though) as  
> it's home and I'm not.But no I can't repartition it as evident from earlier 
> mails  in the thread. It's read-only :(Martin S


If you've got partition magic or similar software, take a look at
it with windows based patitioning software. Microsoft is trying
to sell FAT licenses to everyone, so who knows what is going on 
low level in the device.

Have you plugged in another USB memory device to ensure everything is 
OK with your hal/ivman/dbus software?  I had a few jyrations with these
software packages before they were stabalized, but that was about a month
ago.

Does 'usbview' show the device correctly or is the vendor information
corrupted?

hth,

James



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Re: [gentoo-user] is it toast?

[Martin S]

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2006/3/24, Richard Fish <bigfish@asmallpond.org>:
>
> I would bet a write-protect switch got flipped.  Otherwise, yes, i
> think you have to replace it.  I can't imagine how the other guy could
> have damaged it from your description of the events though.
>

Neither can I actually.
But I've tried it with Windows as well now - same sh**. Can't format it
either.
There is no switch on it.
I'll have a look at it with the disk manager thing i Win - but I fear I've
seen the last of it.
My stupidest buy on eBay have served me well as far as it did.


Regards,

Martin S

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Re: [gentoo-user] is it toast?

[Neil Bothwick]

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On Sat, 25 Mar 2006 05:29:04 +0100, Martin S wrote:

> > I would bet a write-protect switch got flipped.  Otherwise, yes, i
> > think you have to replace it.  I can't imagine how the other guy could
> > have damaged it from your description of the events though.

> Neither can I actually.
> But I've tried it with Windows as well now - same sh**. Can't format it
> either.

If you mount it with the sync option, later kernels will destroy it
fairly quickly (there was a thread on this a few months back). It is
possible that the FAT was about to die when you lent the stick out and
the failure when Windows was let loose at it is purely a coincidence.

I had a stick fail like this and even 'cfdisk -z', which ignores any
existing partition table, couldn't handle it.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

Some people are born mediocre, some people achieve mediocrity, and some
people have mediocrity thrust upon them.  - Joseph Heller, "Catch-22"

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