Ubuntu 11.04 does not work well with Sandisk USB stick with U3 launchpad

**Fanolian** · April 29th, 2011

TL;DR: If you have problem using Ubuntu 11.04 from USB, remove the U3 launchpad if you do not need it at all. It may solve your problem.
Link: http://u3.sandisk.com/launchpadremoval.htm

I am not a Ubuntu/Linux user but I do keep a copy of Ubuntu LiveUSB in my Sandisk cruzer micro 8GB USB stick in case of system failure. It comes with the U3 lanuchpad that I never use.

The USB stick was working happily with Ubuntu 10.04 and 10.10. However when I formatted the stick and put Ubuntu 11.04 (checksum is ok) into it, it failed to boot from the stick every single time. I was getting this error even though I have disabled all(one) my physical DVD-RWs in BIOS:

Code:

mounting /dev/sr0 on /cdrom. failed Device or resource busy.
(I do not remember the wording...)

The error message appeared when I saw the Ubuntu logo and the five animating dots. So I decided to remove U3 launchpad and voilà! I could boot for the first time (and 6th time in a row without problem now).

sidenote: My physical DVD-RW drive is still blocking the bootup half of the times even if there is no discs in it. Disabling the drive in BIOS solve the problem. The error occurs before I see the five animating dots. The screen stops at

Code:

[figure varying each time] scsi 0:0:0:0: CD-ROM PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-111 1.29 PQ:0 ANSI:5

**LebLinux** · April 29th, 2011

Confirmed. As Fanolian said; remove launchpad and redo it. Thanks!

**flattop1** · April 30th, 2011

I have the same problem..
but I dont use windows so how do I get rid of the u3 launchpad software using ubuntu?

**Bao2** · April 30th, 2011

So the solution to be able to use my SanDisk (that worked fine in ubuntu 10.10) is to go to the street and ask someone if has windows and let me run a tool to make my sandisk working in linux again. And this thread was marked solved???

**eks** · May 1st, 2011

Wasted around 8 hours on this issue yesterday... My workaround was to install Kubuntu 10.10 with a SanDisk USB flash drive then upgrade it to 11.04.

Kubuntu Natty CD and DVD were crashing with the stick formatted in both fat32 or ext2. Haven't tried removing U3 launchpad, will do that next time I boot into Windows (not today).

Updated the wiki.

**mörgæs** · May 1st, 2011

You can also remove U3 with u3-tool found in the Ubuntu repositories.

Using Killdisk as described here
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1580857
is a good idea for erasing USB drives. It does not remove U3, though.

**Cibomatto2002** · May 2nd, 2011

xubuntu 11.04 really did a number on my flash drive SanDisk 16 Gigs now Windows or xubuntu can not read it I can't even format it the computer does not know how big the Flash drive is anymoe

I was using Linux Live USB creator version 2.7.6

**mörgæs** · May 2nd, 2011

Did you try what I suggested in the post above?

**amr2205** · May 3rd, 2011

I confirm that the solution provided by Fanolian worked for me.

**Cibomatto2002** · May 3rd, 2011

When I use Killdisk I get Error Opening Drive Handle.

This is the driver that is installed WPD FileSystem Volume Driver.

I think somehow it installed the wrong driver after the USB key crashed.