Thank you for the reply, Ian. The directories exist and are empty:

do@alien:/var/log$ cd /media
do@alien:/media$ ls -l
total 12
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 6 2005-04-24 17:32 cdrom -> cdrom0
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2005-04-24 17:32 cdrom0
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2005-05-16 14:25 sda1
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2005-07-17 11:01 winxp
do@alien:/media$ ls cdrom
do@alien:/media$ ls cdrom0
do@alien:/media$ ls sda1
do@alien:/media$ ls winxp
do@alien:/media$

I use winxp to mount my (hum) Windows partition, sda1 for the usb
stick and cdrom for the cd. Here is what happens:

alien:/media# mount /media/winxp/
alien:/media# mount /media/sda1
mount: special device /dev/sda1 does not exist

I have 3 usb ports of my laptop. If I move the usb stick to another
port, I can mount it (don't know why, I had noticed this before
though). Could this be the source of the message?

alien:/media# mount /media/sda1 (usb stick in other port)
alien:/media# mount /media/cdrom
alien:/media#

No error messages.
/dev/sda1 does not exist prior to inserting the usb stick, but then
again, that entry in /etc/fstab says 'noauto'...

It might just be a glitch somewhere as nothing seems wrong as far as I can tell.
Thanks much for any help.

Dominique

On 10/19/05, Ian Greenhoe wrote:
> On Wed, 2005-10-19 at 13:12 -0400, Dominique Orban wrote:
> > Hello,
>
> Hi!
>
>
>
> > My /etc/fstab is as
> > follows (and this is how it was also before the upgrade):
> >
> > #
> > proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
> > /dev/hda3 / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0
> 1
> > /dev/hda2 none swap sw 0 0
> > /dev/hda1 /media/winxp ntfs ro,user,noauto,umask=000 0
> 0
> > /dev/hdc /media/cdrom0 iso9660 ro,user,noauto 0 0
> > /dev/sda1 /media/sda1 vfat rw,users,noauto 0 0
> >
> > and the output of "mount" is
> >
> > /dev/hda3 on / type ext3 (rw,errors=remount-ro)
> > proc on /proc type proc (rw)
> > sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw)
> > devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,gid=5,mode=620)
> > tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw)
> > usbfs on /proc/bus/usb type usbfs (rw)
> > tmpfs on /dev type tmpfs (rw,size=10M,mode=0755)
>
> Do the directories /media , /media/winxp , /media/cdrom0 ,
> and /media/sda1 exist? In order to mount something the directory onto
> which it is mounted must exist. The mount point (directory onto which a
> filesystem is mounted) *should* also be empty prior to mounting, but
> that will not cause an error.
>
> Also, try running the mount command for your mount points that weren't
> mounted and tell us what error you get (if any). e.g.:
>
> mount /media/winxp
>
> etc.
>
> -Ian
>
>

Hi Dominique,

I've had some interesting problems with partitions not being detected on
devices sometimes. With *slow* usb devices like a zip drive this is a
big problem, but even usb sticks are sometimes a hassle.

So when I insert the device, it creates /dev/sda but not /dev/sda1 for
the partitions in it

My workaround is to:

1) insert the device
2) use fdisk to detect the partition table

fdisk /dev/sda
p
q

3) then mount

and as a result of (2), I get the /dev/sda1 device node created. I'm
pretty sure I read of better tools for doing this than fdisk (chkpart or
something) but I obviously didn't bookmark that site and haven't turned
up anything on google.

hope that helps

cheers
Stu



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On Wed, 2005-10-19 at 16:47 -0400, Dominique Orban wrote:
> Thank you for the reply, Ian. The directories exist and are empty:
>
> do@alien:/var/log$ cd /media
> do@alien:/media$ ls -l
> total 12
> lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 6 2005-04-24 17:32 cdrom -> cdrom0
> drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2005-04-24 17:32 cdrom0
> drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2005-05-16 14:25 sda1
> drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2005-07-17 11:01 winxp
> do@alien:/media$ ls cdrom
> do@alien:/media$ ls cdrom0
> do@alien:/media$ ls sda1
> do@alien:/media$ ls winxp
> do@alien:/media$
>
> I use winxp to mount my (hum) Windows partition, sda1 for the usb
> stick and cdrom for the cd.

Yeah, I have a windows partition myself. There are few games that
haven't been ported to Linux yet.

> Here is what happens:
>
> alien:/media# mount /media/winxp/
> alien:/media# mount /media/sda1
> mount: special device /dev/sda1 does not exist
>
> I have 3 usb ports of my laptop. If I move the usb stick to another
> port, I can mount it (don't know why, I had noticed this before
> though). Could this be the source of the message?

Probably not. From what you've described, I can't see anything that
would cause this error to be displayed.

As far as that specific USB port is concerned, does it work under
windows? If not, I'd say you have a hardware failure. Otherwise, you
might have a second usb controller that isn't getting initialized.

> alien:/media# mount /media/sda1 (usb stick in other port)
> alien:/media# mount /media/cdrom
> alien:/media#
>
> No error messages.
> /dev/sda1 does not exist prior to inserting the usb stick, but then
> again, that entry in /etc/fstab says 'noauto'...

What the noauto means (which I didn't notice before in your fstab) is
that your system won't automatically mount that particular mount point
when starting up. You (or some piece of software) have to give an
explicit command to cause that location to be mounted. So, noauto on
the cdrom0 and sda1 entries makes sense. You may want to remove it on
the entry for your windows partition.

> It might just be a glitch somewhere as nothing seems wrong as far as I can tell.
> Thanks much for any help.

Well, looking at your files, I am unable to see anything that would be
causing the error message to be displayed.

*light goes on*

I wonder if you have something trying to remount /proc? *digs
thru /etc/init.d/ files...* In fact, in /etc/init.d/mountvirtfs, it
explicitly mounts /proc, so you could comment out the proc line in
your /etc/fstab file. That is my guess as to what is most likely
causing the error.

BTW, don't delete anything from fstab unless you are *sure* that it
should be deleted. Comment it out instead.

> Dominique

-Ian

> On 10/19/05, Ian Greenhoe wrote:
> > On Wed, 2005-10-19 at 13:12 -0400, Dominique Orban wrote:
> > > Hello,
> >
> > Hi!
> >
> >
> >
> > > My /etc/fstab is as
> > > follows (and this is how it was also before the upgrade):
> > >
> > > #
> > > proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
> > > /dev/hda3 / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0
> > 1
> > > /dev/hda2 none swap sw 0 0
> > > /dev/hda1 /media/winxp ntfs ro,user,noauto,umask=000 0
> > 0
> > > /dev/hdc /media/cdrom0 iso9660 ro,user,noauto 0 0
> > > /dev/sda1 /media/sda1 vfat rw,users,noauto 0 0
> > >
> > > and the output of "mount" is
> > >
> > > /dev/hda3 on / type ext3 (rw,errors=remount-ro)
> > > proc on /proc type proc (rw)
> > > sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw)
> > > devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,gid=5,mode=620)
> > > tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw)
> > > usbfs on /proc/bus/usb type usbfs (rw)
> > > tmpfs on /dev type tmpfs (rw,size=10M,mode=0755)
> >
> > Do the directories /media , /media/winxp , /media/cdrom0 ,
> > and /media/sda1 exist? In order to mount something the directory onto
> > which it is mounted must exist. The mount point (directory onto which a
> > filesystem is mounted) *should* also be empty prior to mounting, but
> > that will not cause an error.
> >
> > Also, try running the mount command for your mount points that weren't
> > mounted and tell us what error you get (if any). e.g.:
> >
> > mount /media/winxp
> >
> > etc.
> >
> > -Ian
> >
> >
>
>


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