Ubuntu
util-linux package

My ext usb floppy won't auto-mount

Asked by Stephen Hamer

I am running Ubuntu 10.04 from an ext USB HDD, and am basically very happy with it; but I have a problem: my external usb floppy-disc drive is playing up (no, don't switch off, flip the page, or whatever – stay with me on this).

OK, it's not a huge problem, but it's irritating – kind of like having an undeletable folder on your Windows desktop.

The system detects the drive when I plug it in, but it won't “auto-mount” (is that the word?) the disc. An icon labelled “Floppy Drive” appears in the “Computer”file-browser window where the drives attached to the computer are displayed, but no floppy-icon appears on the desktop screen, and when I right-click the icon in the Computer-window and choose “Open”, nothing happens – I get zip.

Disc Utility (on the Administration menu) finds the drive and lists it as a TEAC TEAC FD-05PUB, but doesn't detect the disc; under the “Volumes”-heading it states: No Medium Detected.

Duff disc? Duff floppy-drive? /var/log/messages gives me this:

stephen@stephen-laptop:~$ tail -f /var/log/messages
Aug 21 21:50:23 stephen-laptop kernel: [13618.781579] ath5k phy0: unsupported jumbo
Aug 21 21:52:25 stephen-laptop kernel: [13740.572135] usb 2-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 4
Aug 21 21:52:25 stephen-laptop kernel: [13740.898519] usb 2-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
Aug 21 21:52:25 stephen-laptop kernel: [13740.902909] scsi9 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
Aug 21 21:52:30 stephen-laptop kernel: [13746.024291] scsi 9:0:0:0: Direct-Access TEAC FD-05PUB 1026 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS
Aug 21 21:52:30 stephen-laptop kernel: [13746.040792] sd 9:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
Aug 21 21:52:31 stephen-laptop kernel: [13746.536240] sd 9:0:0:0: [sdd] 2880 512-byte logical blocks: (1.47 MB/1.40 MiB)
Aug 21 21:52:31 stephen-laptop kernel: [13746.664257] sd 9:0:0:0: [sdd] Write Protect is off
Aug 21 21:52:33 stephen-laptop kernel: [13747.304292] sdd:
Aug 21 21:52:33 stephen-laptop kernel: [13748.840286] sd 9:0:0:0: [sdd] Attached SCSI removable disk

i.e. some part of the system finds my 1.47 MB disc. The floppy-drive itself works fine in a “Live-User” session with my 10.04 installation CD: the disc mounts and the system puts a cute little floppy-icon on the desktop. It is also works fine in Windows.

Now I said it wasn't a huge problem; and it isn't because if I do:

sudo mkdir /media/floppy

and then,

sudo mount -t vfat /dev/sdd /media/floppy -o uid=1000

the disc mounts, and with a cute little floppy-icon on the desktop, too (which, when I first did it, surprised me: I read somewhere that a manually-mounted drive won't support an icon – the floppy-icon certainly disappears if I change the name of the directory to which the disc-volume is attached. Why is this, pray?).

More importantly, I can both read-from and write-to the disc. The permissions come out like this:

stephen@stephen-laptop:~$ ls -l /media
total 60
drwx------ 6 stephen stephen 32768 1970-01-01 01:00 B&P
drwxr-xr-x 2 stephen root 16384 1970-01-01 01:00 floppy
drwx------ 9 stephen stephen 8192 1970-01-01 01:00 MUSIC

Thus I can mount the disc, and access it. But I can't reformat it; at least, I can't reformat it by right‑clicking the disc-icon and choosing “Format” (the option is missing). Reformatting in a live-user session is possible, but doesn't give me a better-behaved disc.

When I want to unmount the disc, I have to resort to the terminal again, and do:

sudo umount /dev/sdd

Having to use the terminal in this way is only a tiny problem; but is still (as I said above) an irritant; for one thing, I have to remount each time I change a floppy.

Don't over-strain your brains on this one Ubuntu grey-beards; I don't want to do a major hack-job on my computer just to get my floppy to auto-mount (a task I wouldn't be competent to carry-out anyway).

But I am curious about the source of the problem, and whether there is a straightforward solution to it.

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Sam_
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Revision history for this message
Sam_ (and-sam) said : 		#1

Maybe this helps.
http://www.webupd8.org/2010/05/fix-usb-devices-automount-not-working.html

Revision history for this message
Best Sam_ (and-sam) said : 		#2

Another hint.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?s=f52fec53befdfa5a5c1c650c14caac47&t=1470705&page=4

Revision history for this message
Stephen Hamer (stephen-hamer-uk) said : 		#3

OK, the bottom line is that my floppy is now auto-mounting correctly (see immediately below /dev/sdc at /media/Bits&Bobs).

stephen@stephen-laptop:~$ mount -l
*
*
*
/dev/sdc on /media/Bits&Bobs type vfat (rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=udisks,uid=1000,gid=1000,shortname=mixed,dmask=0077,utf8=1,flush) [Bits&Bobs]

stephen@stephen-laptop:~$

Sam's prompt and informative hints put me on the right track—thanks Sam—but the solution that I eventually stumbled upon didn't make direct use of his ideas.

The first of the two pages Sam directed me to suggested that I should either:

a) disable the legacy floppy option in the BIOS. This facility had apparently caused some systems to “hang” while booting, and a lot of ongoing problems in mounting ext. usb devices. The page directed the reader to a bug report about the matter.

[I dismissed this solution as pretty much irrelevant, because I don't have a legacy floppy option in my BIOS setup (this turned out to be a mistake)]

or

b) to do this:

sudo modprobe -r floppy

i.e. manually install the “module” that handles mounting floppy-drives (Is this right?). This looked like a promising idea, but when I tried it, all I got was:

WARNING: All config files need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/dgc.conflicts, it will be ignored in a future release.

WARNING: All config files need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/dgc, it will be ignored in a future release.

stephen@stephen-laptop:~$

and when I did:

lsmod

no “floppy” module was listed as installed; so I had, in fact, simply discovered another problem. [An internet search on the above error-message, by the way, got me nowhere]

Disappointed, I turned to the second of Sam's hints. This took me to a web page that suggested I:

...open /etc/modules with administrator privileges and add the lines 'usb_storage' and 'usbhid' to the bottom of the file, then save … 'hald' is installed along with 'pmount' and 'libpmount0.0' (not sure about the pmount stuff) ... restart the computer …

Again, this looked promising. The rationale, here, seems to be to ensure that the tools needed to mount the floppy are installed when the system boots–couldn't do any harm, could it?.

Synaptic couldn't find 'hald', and I eventually decided that the author of the above must mean 'HAL', an already-installed piece of software with (apparently) a big role in the operation of ext. hardware. I didn't bother, in my first attempt, with the pmount stuff.

To edit /etc/modules, I first backed up the file with:

cp /etc/modules /etc/modules2

Then I grabbed the original with:

sudo gedit /etc/modules

added the suggested edits and saved.

After restarting, I got … nothing. My floppy still wouldn't mount. I then spent a pretty fruitless hour or so trying to find out what 'hald' was and whether I needed it; and then I put my system back as I had found it,

I did (in effect):

sudo mv /etc/modules2 /etc/modules,

and packed it in for the night.

As I dropped off to sleep, I was still thinking about the problem: why is it just my usb floppy that won't work, other usb devices being OK? Why does my floppy work in a “live session” with the CD, but not in the full-install? Has some 'update' or 'fix' stopped it working? And then I started to think about the bug report that Sam's first hint had turned up. What had it actually said? Something about the system looking for non-existent floppies during boot-up. How would you fix that? Would you issue an update that would stop all floppies from auto-mounting?

OK, next evening, I took another look at that bug report. Find it here:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/udisks/+bug/539515

The meat in this report is at the end: comment 129, where we learn:

“This [the bug? / some fix?] is a regression and breaks mounting floppies. Please see:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/441835/comments/227
I backed down to udisks (1.0.1-1build1) via synaptic (Package|Force Version) and now the floppy mounts properly using 'Places|Floppy Disk'.”

I interpreted this as meaning that the latest version of the package “udisks”–whether issued as a bug-fix, or otherwise–interferes with the mounting of floppies–the solution being to roll-back to an earlier version of the package.

So I did as suggested: I opened Synaptic and searched for “udisks”. This brought up udisks 1.0.1-1ubuntu1 (lucid updates). Then I went to Packages (menu bar) → Force Version → udisks (1.0.1-1build1), and finished off with “Apply”.

After restarting, my floppy auto-mounted perfectly. Other usb (pen-drives, ext CD) are also behaving normally.

And the moral of this story: don't automatically accept updates–especially those that solve problems you don't have.

I hope this post is helpful to others.

Revision history for this message
Sam_ (and-sam) said : 		#4

An excellent reference of triage, diagnose and community effort. Thanks Stephen.

Revision history for this message
clutch68rs (clutch68rs) said : 		#5

Stephen, this info (forcing downgrade of 1.0.1-1build1 of udisks) saved us a lot of heartache. As a public library system trying to roll out Lucid, we have a lot of patrons with floppies lying around with old docs on them (especially resumes). We dust off the USB floppy drives when needed so they can get to those files, and Lucid's handling of USB floppy drives had us stumped. Your findings regarding this last speed-bump will allow us to deploy with the fdd behavior we had grown used to in Mint Helena. Thanks so much for posting it!