Problems mounting vfat partitions
Matthew Ross Walker
matt at thebraingarden.com
Tue Nov 22 11:30:00 MST 2005
In the last week, my linux system has decided that it doesn't like vfat
partitions. I don't particularly blame it, but it's annoying, since I
use a lot of devices with vfat filesystems on them.
I've got an external USB harddrive that has worked for months. The other
day, I had to reboot, and the drive just stopped working. I plugged it
into my windows machine, and it mounted right up. I ran every disk check
I can get my hands on, and they all come up clean.
The hardware is still being detected properly on Linux. But it refuses
to mount.
Troubleshooting:
[code]
mwalker ~ # mount /mnt/usb1
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/lacie_drive,
missing codepage or other error
In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
dmesg | tail or so
mwalker ~ # cat /etc/fstab
# NOTE: If your BOOT partition is ReiserFS, add the notail option to opts.
/dev/hda1 /boot ext2 noauto,noatime
1 1
/dev/hda3 / reiserfs defaults
0 0
/dev/hda2 none swap sw
0 0
/dev/lacie_drive /mnt/usb1 vfat
auto,users,uid=1000,gid=100,dmask=007,fmask=117 0 0
# NOTE: The next line is critical for boot!
none /proc proc defaults
0 0
none /dev/shm tmpfs defaults
0 0
/dev/hdc /media/cdrom auto
user,exec,noauto,managed 0 0
/dev/sda1 /media/usbdisk vfat
user,exec,noauto,utf8,managed 0 0
mwalker ~ # ls -la /dev/lacie_drive
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 0 Nov 22 10:59 /dev/lacie_drive
mwalker ~ # ls -la /dev/sda1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 11 Nov 22 10:59 /dev/sda1 -> lacie_drive
mwalker ~ # dmesg | tail
sda: sda1
Attached scsi disk sda at scsi1, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
Attached scsi generic sg0 at scsi1, channel 0, id 0, lun 0, type 0
usb-storage: device scan complete
FAT: bogus number of FAT structure
VFS: Can't find a valid FAT filesystem on dev sda.
FAT: bogus number of FAT structure
VFS: Can't find a valid FAT filesystem on dev sda.
FAT: bogus number of FAT structure
VFS: Can't find a valid FAT filesystem on dev sda.
mwalker ~ # fsck.vfat -a /dev/sda1
dosfsck 2.11, 12 Mar 2005, FAT32, LFN
Currently, only 1 or 2 FATs are supported, not 0.
mwalker ~ # uname -a
Linux mwalker 2.6.14-gentoo-r2 #1 PREEMPT Tue Nov 22 10:32:18 MST 2005
i686 Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.80GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux
mwalker ~ # lsmod
Module Size Used by
nvidia 3707912 8
smbfs 63480 2
snd_pcm_oss 48544 0
snd_mixer_oss 17280 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_seq_oss 32640 0
snd_seq_midi_event 6016 1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq 49936 4 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_seq_device 7052 2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
snd_intel8x0 30304 2
snd_ac97_codec 93820 1 snd_intel8x0
snd_ac97_bus 2048 1 snd_ac97_codec
snd_pcm 82696 3 snd_pcm_oss,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec
snd_timer 21636 2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd 46308 13
snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm,snd_timer
snd_page_alloc 8712 2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
dm_mod 52796 0
usb_storage 31364 0
[/code]
I was running 2.6.12-gentoo-r9 previously, but upgraded today, in the
hopes that it would fix the problem.
The above drive is an actual external harddrive, but the same thing is
now also happening to USB flash drive that I use. It also mounts
properly in windows. I tried copying everything off the flash drive, and
reformatting it, (full, not quick) but it didn't make any difference. I
don't have a handy system with enough disk space to do the same thing
for the USB harddrive, but I doubt it would work anyway.
Any tips? Any other information needed?
--
Matthew Walker
The Brain Garden, Inc
matt at thebraingarden.com
Work: (801) 655-1075
Home: (801) 491-2079
Page: (801) 283-9887 (Emergencies Only)
Random Quote:
BOFH Excuse #265:
The mouse escaped.
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