USB Stick not even seen by fdisk -l

[Bridge51]

I have a big problem. I was trying to follow instructions on how to install a linux Distro on a usb stick, tried to change it a little bit so that there was an extra partition than the instructions said, and now that USB stick is not being read by my eee. The thing is, the computer can see the sda (4gb ssd), the sdb (the 16gb ssd) and my other usb stick, sdc (4gb) with no problems. It just does not see the other usb stick at all, even when i type:

sudo fdisk -l

the bad usb stick has 3 partitions on it, 2 @ ~750 meg, and a 3rd at ~14 gig. when i plug it into my windows desktop tower, it works just fine as the first 750mb partition. the partition manager in windows shows all 3 partitions, but i can't do anything to them except format the 2 smaller ones. right now i'm stuck with a 16gb usb stick that only has 750 usable, and isn't readable by my linux eeepc

I've been spinning my wheels on this since last night, please point me in the right directions

[pytheas22]

Please remove the USB stick, plug it back in, then immediately run this command and post the output:

dmesg | tail

That should help figure out what's going on.

[jbrown96]

It seem to be an issue with the eee. If you don't need any of the data from the drive, you can delete all the partitions in Windows (right click on My computer-->Manage-->disk management). If you do need the data, I would try a livecd on either machine (does the eee have an optical drive??) and you can copy it.
Very strange problem.

[Bridge51]

Here is the output of the dmesg thing

joseph@eeepc-jpn:~$ dmesg | tail
[ 90.660103] ===>rt_ioctl_giwscan. 6(6) BSS returned, data->length = 569
[ 100.962107] usb 5-2: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 4
[ 101.095239] usb 5-2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 101.097315] scsi3 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
[ 101.098603] usb-storage: device found at 4
[ 101.098618] usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
[ 106.087474] usb-storage: device scan complete
[ 111.687354] usb 5-2: reset high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 4
[ 113.627295] ===>rt_ioctl_giwscan. 6(6) BSS returned, data->length = 574
[ 120.608473] ===>rt_ioctl_giwscan. 6(6) BSS returned, data->length = 574
joseph@eeepc-jpn:~$


EDIT: also of note here though is that i have my other WORKING usb plugged in as well

[Bridge51]

It seem to be an issue with the eee. If you don't need any of the data from the drive, you can delete all the partitions in Windows (right click on My computer-->Manage-->disk management). If you do need the data, I would try a livecd on either machine (does the eee have an optical drive??) and you can copy it.
Very strange problem.

I tried doing that, but of the three partitions, only the non-used 14 gig one even has the option to delete, and it says i can't as soon as i try to. all of the other options are greyed out as well, including the 'shrink volume'

[pytheas22]

Thanks for the dmesg. What happens if you unplug the stick, run this command:

sudo modprobe -r ehci_hcd

then plug the stick back in? Does fdisk see it then? If not, what is "dmesg | tail" after performing those steps?

[Bridge51]

Did what you said and it didn't come up. heres the output and what i did:

joseph@eeepc-jpn:/dev$ sudo modprobe -r ehci_hcd
[sudo] password for joseph:
joseph@eeepc-jpn:/dev$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 4034 MB, 4034838528 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 490 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000740f4

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 462 3710983+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 463 490 224910 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 463 490 224878+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdb: 16.1 GB, 16139354112 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 1962 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xf26d47c4

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 1 1962 15759733+ 83 Linux
joseph@eeepc-jpn:/dev$ dmesg | tail
[ 3113.724185] usb 4-2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 3113.728024] uvcvideo: Found UVC 1.00 device USB 2.0 Camera (05e3:0505)
[ 3118.086273] usb 1-2: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 2
[ 3118.260428] usb 1-2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 3118.286956] scsi6 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
[ 3118.288745] usb-storage: device found at 2
[ 3118.288763] usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
[ 3123.279256] usb-storage: device scan complete
[ 3128.880762] usb 1-2: reset full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 2
[ 3143.968310] usb 1-2: device descriptor read/64, error -110
joseph@eeepc-jpn:/dev$


the sdb is my second hard drive, the 16 gig on the eeepc

also, thanks for continuing to help, i appreciate it

[pytheas22]

The line from dmesg that reads:

device descriptor read/64, error -110

usually indicates some kind of problem with the hardware, like flaky connectors or electromagnetic interference (even if it works in Windows, this error can prevent Linux from mounting the device). Generally, switching to the USB 1.1 driver (which you did using that "modprobe -r" command that I posted above) is an effective workaround, but apparently in your case it's not.

Try rebooting, then run this command again:

sudo modprobe -r ehci_hcd

and then try plugging the USB stick into all of your different USB ports. Do you still have no luck with any of the ports, and does "dmesg" still mention the "device descriptor read/64, error -110" problem each time?

[Bridge51]

rebooted, did the driver workaround like you said, and tried the usb in each of the ports

gives me the same 'device descriptor read/64, error -110

If it makes any difference, here are the instructions i was using the partition the drive in the first place:

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/2008/05...ll-from-linux/

however, i used my own logic of making a second partition just like the first, and made their 'second' partition my 3rd

I don't know what to do, it's a brand new 16 gig usb stick and i'm freakin out :-/

[pytheas22]

I don't think that moving the partition should have hurt anything.

You may want to try wiping the drive and reformatting it as one big partition (you can use gparted: "sudo apt-get install gparted" to do so, or use Windows) just to make sure that the disk still works that way.