Can't mount USB drive from GUI, works fine via CLI

[Daniel15]

Hi everyone,
I upgraded to Ubuntu 8.04, and it doesn't seem to be able to mount my USB drive (specifically, an MP3 player) via the CLI. If I go to Places -> Computer and double-click "USB Drive", I get:

Unable to mount location

Can't mount file

However, running

sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /media/sdb1

in a terminal works fine.

Any ideas how to fix this?

[ghost_ryder35]

since you have to use 'sudo' to mount it, ts probally because the volume is not in your fstab. try editing your fstab to make it work?
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=283131

[danwood76]

Hal should auto mount the USB drive when its inserted.
You cant mount without root permissions thats why it works from the cli using sudo.

Have you added this drive to the fstab?

If you unplug the drive and plug it in does it automount?

[Daniel15]

can you edit your fstab to make it work?
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=283131

I shouldn't have to edit my fstab to get a USB storage device to mount, should I?

Have you added this drive to the fstab?

Nope... But I didn't have to do that in Ubuntu 7.10?

If you unplug the drive and plug it in does it automount?

Some output appears in /var/log/dmesg (showing that it's been detected), but it doesn't mount.

[danwood76]

No I wouldnt add it to the fstab as it wont automount when inserted.

My automount is working fine.
Can you post the exact dmesg output after your insert?

[Daniel15]

[ 3875.085893] usb 1-3: USB disconnect, address 4
[ 3905.708980] usb 1-3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 5
[ 3903.774866] usb 1-3: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 3903.775450] scsi4 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
[ 3903.775949] usb-storage: device found at 5
[ 3903.775957] usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
[ 3908.772601] usb-storage: device scan complete
[ 3910.840348] scsi 4:0:0:0: Direct-Access SONY WALKMAN 1.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS
[ 3909.785417] ready
[ 3909.786048] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] 1875968 2048-byte hardware sectors (3842 MB)
[ 3909.890055] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
[ 3909.890062] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 00 2a 00 00
[ 3909.890065] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 3911.958749] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] 1875968 2048-byte hardware sectors (3842 MB)
[ 3911.959750] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
[ 3911.959761] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 00 2a 00 00
[ 3911.959768] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 3911.959776] sdb: sdb1
[ 3911.962659] sdb: p1 exceeds device capacity
[ 3911.963210] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
[ 3911.963295] sd 4:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
[ 3912.040061] attempt to access beyond end of device
[ 3912.040072] sdb: rw=0, want=4294967044, limit=7503872
[ 3912.040076] Buffer I/O error on device sdb1, logical block 1073741760
[ 3912.040081] attempt to access beyond end of device
[ 3912.040084] sdb: rw=0, want=4294967048, limit=7503872
[ 3912.040086] Buffer I/O error on device sdb1, logical block 1073741761
[ 3912.040090] attempt to access beyond end of device
[ 3912.040092] sdb: rw=0, want=4294967044, limit=7503872
[ 3912.040095] Buffer I/O error on device sdb1, logical block 1073741760
[ 3912.040098] attempt to access beyond end of device
[ 3912.040102] sdb: rw=0, want=4294967048, limit=7503872
[ 3912.040105] Buffer I/O error on device sdb1, logical block 1073741761
[ 3912.040117] attempt to access beyond end of device
[ 3912.040121] sdb: rw=0, want=4294967276, limit=7503872
[ 3912.040124] Buffer I/O error on device sdb1, logical block 1073741818
[ 3912.040128] attempt to access beyond end of device
[ 3912.040131] sdb: rw=0, want=4294967280, limit=7503872
[ 3912.040134] Buffer I/O error on device sdb1, logical block 1073741819
[ 3912.040139] attempt to access beyond end of device
[ 3912.040143] sdb: rw=0, want=4294967276, limit=7503872
[ 3912.040146] Buffer I/O error on device sdb1, logical block 1073741818
[ 3912.040149] attempt to access beyond end of device
[ 3912.040153] sdb: rw=0, want=4294967280, limit=7503872
[ 3912.040156] Buffer I/O error on device sdb1, logical block 1073741819
[ 3912.040221] attempt to access beyond end of device
[ 3912.040226] sdb: rw=0, want=4294967292, limit=7503872
[ 3912.040229] Buffer I/O error on device sdb1, logical block 1073741822
[ 3912.040234] attempt to access beyond end of device
[ 3912.040238] sdb: rw=0, want=4294967292, limit=7503872
[ 3912.040241] Buffer I/O error on device sdb1, logical block 1073741822
[ 3912.040250] attempt to access beyond end of device
[ 3912.040254] sdb: rw=0, want=4294967292, limit=7503872
[ 3912.040261] attempt to access beyond end of device
[ 3912.040265] sdb: rw=0, want=4294967292, limit=7503872
[ 3912.040271] attempt to access beyond end of device
[ 3912.040275] sdb: rw=0, want=4294967292, limit=7503872
[ 3912.040282] attempt to access beyond end of device
[ 3912.040285] sdb: rw=0, want=4294967292, limit=7503872
[ 3912.040292] attempt to access beyond end of device
[ 3912.040295] sdb: rw=0, want=4294967292, limit=7503872
[ 3912.040305] attempt to access beyond end of device
[ 3912.040308] sdb: rw=0, want=4294967228, limit=7503872
[ 3912.040312] attempt to access beyond end of device
[ 3912.040315] sdb: rw=0, want=4294967232, limit=7503872
[ 3912.040324] attempt to access beyond end of device
[ 3912.040327] sdb: rw=0, want=4294967284, limit=7503872
[ 3912.040331] attempt to access beyond end of device
[ 3912.040334] sdb: rw=0, want=4294967288, limit=7503872
[ 3912.040341] attempt to access beyond end of device
[ 3912.040345] sdb: rw=0, want=4294967292, limit=7503872
[ 3912.040352] attempt to access beyond end of device
[ 3912.040356] sdb: rw=0, want=4294967292, limit=7503872

Interesting, it seems to be trying to read beyond the end of the device for some reason O_o

I'm not sure if the same errors came up on Ubuntu 7.10, I never needed to fix anything, it "just worked".

[ghost_ryder35]

have you ever used it with a windows machine and improperly dismounted it? sometimes it will complain about things like that. However I would try adding it to your fstab, more than likley will fix it.

[Daniel15]

Never used it on a Windows machine.

I added it to my fstab:

daniel@daniel-laptop:/media$ ls -la /dev/disk/by-label/
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 60 2008-04-27 22:56 .
drwxr-xr-x 6 root root 120 2008-04-27 22:56 ..
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 2008-04-27 22:56 WALKMAN -> ../../sdb1

daniel@daniel-laptop:/media$ tail -n1 /etc/fstab
LABEL=WALKMAN /media/WALKMAN vfat noauto,user,rw

it still doesn't automatically mount, but I can now mount it using mount /media/WALKMAN at the command line. Still better I guess, but not as good as having it automatically mount (how it worked in Ubuntu 7.10)

[ghost_ryder35]

did you do an 'upgrade' to hardy or a upgrade as in a fresh install? if it was an 'upgrade' its probally just a clitch somewhere hate to say it

[Daniel15]

This is a fresh install. I initially did an upgrade, but I was encountering so many problems (couldn't access anything in System -> Administration because it kept saying I didn't have permission, and other things mysteriously falling apart) that I thought it would be best to format and reinstall.