Description of problem: Fedore Core 2 would not mount the floppy drive. I replaced both the floppy drive and cable and reinstalled FC2. I could boot both DOS and Linux floppies created on another machine, so I ruled-out the hardware. The floppy drive worked on this machine with a copy of RH9 installed. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): How reproducible: The floppy consistantly fails. Steps to Reproduce: 1. boot 2. try to mount the floppy 3. Actual results: error message - "invalid block device" Expected results: Additional info: I posted this question to fedora-list. FC2 installed well and everything seemed to work -- I thought. I noticed that my floppy drive doesn't work. I'replaced the drive and cable with new parts then reinstalled FC2. The BIOS will boot a DOS floppy, and a RH9 boot floppy created from on an XP machine. Attempts to mount the floppy manually yield "invalid block device". I am working my way through Michael Jang's RHCE ver8 study guide. but it doesn't offer much help with this. I had RH9 on this machine and the riginal drive worked fine. Any suggestions? I think that having 3 devices share IRQ 10 seems funny, but one thing at a time. Thank you. Dwaine Suprmicro P4STA /1.7Ghz 768 MB memory 80GB WD-JB HD HP9900i CD SoundBlaster16 audio Alexander Apprich replied to my post on the fedora-list: What does your /etc/fstab look like? Is there an entry like /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto noauto,owner 0 0 If there is no such entry, could you add this entry and try it again? I remember having this problem with RH8. If you have this entry and it contains kudzu, delete the kudzu from it . If kudzu is having problems with the floppy it will update your /etc/fstab an boot time. When I removed the kudzu entry of /etc/fstab the floppy started working. The component that I think is a fault here is kudzu, but this form will not accept that entry.
What does your /etc/fstab normally look like without changes? What is the full set of errors you get, including kernel messages?
The original fstab entry was: /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto noauto,owner,kudzu 0 0 Full set of errors? When I tried to create a boot disk, got a message to that the device was not working. I then tried to mount the floppy manually and received an "invalid block device" error message. That is all. I look at /proc/interrupts, ioports, & dma and received the following: CPU0 0: 619774 XT-PIC timer 1: 456 XT-PIC i8042 2: 0 XT-PIC cascade 8: 1 XT-PIC rtc 9: 0 XT-PIC acpi 10: 49610 XT-PIC eth0, radeon@PCI:1:0:0, Ensoniq AudioPCI 11: 0 XT-PIC uhci_hcd, uhci_hcd 12: 7441 XT-PIC i8042 14: 17552 XT-PIC ide0 15: 5746 XT-PIC ide1 NMI: 0 ERR: 0 0000-001f : dma1 0020-0021 : pic1 0040-005f : timer 0060-006f : keyboard 0070-0077 : rtc 0080-008f : dma page reg 00a0-00a1 : pic2 00c0-00df : dma2 00f0-00ff : fpu 0170-0177 : ide1 01f0-01f7 : ide0 02f8-02ff : serial 0376-0376 : ide1 0378-037a : parport0 037b-037f : parport0 03c0-03df : vga+ 03f6-03f6 : ide0 03f8-03ff : serial 0cf8-0cff : PCI conf1 5000-500f : 0000:00:1f.3 9000-9fff : PCI Bus #01 9000-90ff : 0000:01:00.0 a000-a03f : 0000:02:01.0 a000-a03f : Ensoniq AudioPCI a400-a4ff : 0000:02:04.0 a400-a4ff : tulip b000-b01f : 0000:00:1f.2 b000-b01f : uhci_hcd b400-b41f : 0000:00:1f.4 b400-b41f : uhci_hcd f000-f00f : 0000:00:1f.1 f000-f007 : ide0 f008-f00f : ide1 4: cascade Block devices: 1 ramdisk 2 fd 3 ide0 7 loop 9 md 22 ide1 253 device-mapper 254 mdp Once I determined that the hardware was good, I looked through Michael Jang's RHCE book and could not find anything interesting, so I posted a question to the fedora-list. I've found these message line in /var/logs/messages: inserting drive fd0 is 1.44M fdc 0 is a post - 1991 82077 end_request: I/O error, dev fd0 sector 0 I will be glad to send you any data that you want but you will have to specify what you are interested in. I am new to Linux so appologize for not being more helpful. Thank you. Dwaine Castle
Hm, that error implies a bad floppy. The 'kudzu' mount option is completely ignored by mount, so it shouldn't make a difference.
Linux I'm new at computers I'm not. I built my first one in 1963. I know this is not a floppy problem, because I tried many disks on 4 different machines. I tested the media by creating both DOS and Linux boot disks which worked. If the BIOS can boot from the floppy how can we blame the disks? Then I bought a new floppy disk drive & cable; reinstalled FC2; and the problem persisted. Finally, I looked at the OS. When I removed the kudzu term the drive appeared almost instantly on my desktop. I did not have to reboot or even issue a mount command. And, I could see the files on my floppy. I am concerned that you believe the kudzu term could not have caused the problem. I did have error messages in one of my logs and maybe more if I keep searching. So, I am still in research mode. Can you give me a test plan? The FC machine is pure test and education for me. I did not track this problem down Alexander Apprich did see vol 3 Issue 429 message 9 on the fedora-list digest, he would be a better person to talk to. I have a brand new install, and I will be glad to send you what ever information you want. Thanks. Dwaine Castle Message: 9 Date: Wed, 26 May 2004 09:43:58 +0200 From: Alexander Apprich <a.apprich> Subject: Re: missing floppy To: For users of Fedora Core releases <fedora-list> Message-ID: <40B44ABE.3040509> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Dwaine, Dwaine Castle wrote: > FC2 installed well and everything seemed to work -- I thought. > > I noticed that my floppy drive doesn't work. I'replaced the drive and cable > with new parts then reinstalled FC2. The BIOS will boot a DOS floppy, and a > RH9 boot floppy created from on an XP machine. Attempts to mount the floppy > manually yield "invalid block device". > > I am working my way through Michael Jang's RHCE ver8 study guide. but it > doesn't offer much help with this. I had RH9 on this machine and the > original drive worked fine. > > Any suggestions? > What does your /etc/fstab look like? Is there an entry like /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto noauto,owner 0 0 If there is no such entry, could you add this entry and try it again? I remember having this problem with RH8. If you have this entry and it contains kudzu, delete the kudzu from it . If kudzu is having problems with the floppy it will update your /etc/fstab an boot time. > I think that having 3 devices share IRQ 10 seems funny, but one thing at a > time. Sharing AFAIK that's normal for some devices. > > Thank you. > Dwaine > You're welcome :-) Alex
Just clarifying, given: /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto noauto,owner,kudzu 0 0 does not work, and simply changing it to: /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto noauto,owner 0 0 makes it work, for both making a boot disk, and mounting a floppy? What are you using to make a boot disk?
Yes, removing kudzu allowed me to mount and use the drive. Just now made the boot disk. mkbootdisk --device /dev/fd0 `uname -r` Volume in drive A has no label. Volume Serial Number is 40B5-214C Directory of A:\ 05/26/2004 06:59 PM 8,104 ldlinux.sys 05/08/2004 09:21 AM 1,199,031 vmlinuz 05/24/2004 08:39 PM 190,734 initrd.img 05/26/2004 06:59 PM 135 syslinux.cfg 05/26/2004 06:59 PM 203 boot.msg 5 File(s) 1,398,207 bytes 0 Dir(s) 65,024 bytes free
And the same mkbootdisk line fails if kudzu is in the fstab? FWIW, mkbootdisk doesn't even *look* at the /dev/fd0 line.
I added kudzu back to the fstab file: rebooted: and I can mount and read the floopy. I don't know what to think. However, I was able to boot both DOS & Linux floppies with 2 different floppy drives. So, my motherboard BIOS could read the floppies, but FC2 refused. Then Alex tells me that he had solved the same problem in RH8 by removing a term from fstab. I removed the term and get immediate connectivity. Some process was trying to mount the floppy before I edited fstab probably from a previous mount attempt. As soon as I saved the change to fstab the mount operation succeeds. If kudzu can not have caused that problem, might it be somehow involved? What posted the message in the /var/log/messages that said "end_request: I/O error, dev fd0 sector 0"? How does it get reset or cleared?
end_request: I/O error, dev fd0 sector 0 means that the kernel made an I/O request to /dev/fd0 (the floppy) and it errored out on sector zero. Usually that's from trying to do something when there's no floppy in the drive, or read the filesystem on a floppy with nothing on it. What would be interesting is to know what the timestamp for that message in /var/log/messages corresponded to. Were you trying to mount it as root or as a 'normal' user before?
Here are some snippets from the messages log. There are a lot of error messages. May 24 21:28:58 localhost udev[3611]: creating device node '/udev/loop7' May 24 21:28:58 localhost kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 0 May 24 21:32:13 localhost ntpd[2501]: kernel time sync enabled 0001 May 25 14:18:41 localhost udev[3561]: creating device node '/udev/loop7' May 25 14:18:41 localhost kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 0 May 25 14:20:24 localhost gconfd (root-3624): starting (version 2.6.0), pid 3624 user 'root' May 26 18:05:19 localhost modprobe: FATAL: Error running install command for sound_slot_1 May 26 18:08:57 localhost ntpd[2172]: synchronized to 209.132.176.4, stratum=1 May 26 18:09:26 localhost kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 0 May 26 18:09:27 localhost kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 0 May 26 18:11:01 localhost kernel: floppy0: disk absent or changed during operation May 26 18:11:01 localhost kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 19 May 26 18:11:01 localhost kernel: Buffer I/O error on device fd0, logical block 19 May 26 18:11:01 localhost kernel: lost page write due to I/O error on fd0 May 26 18:13:15 localhost ntpd[2172]: kernel time sync disabled 0041 May 26 18:20:47 localhost ntpd[2172]: kernel time sync enabled 0001 May 26 18:45:15 localhost kernel: floppy0: disk absent or changed during operation May 26 18:45:15 localhost kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 19 May 26 18:45:15 localhost kernel: FAT: Directory bread(block 19) failed May 26 18:48:07 localhost kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 0 May 26 18:48:14 localhost last message repeated 3 times May 26 18:51:43 localhost kernel: FAT: Filesystem panic (dev fd0) May 26 18:51:43 localhost kernel: invalid access to FAT (entry 0x0000bd98) May 26 18:51:43 localhost kernel: floppy0: disk removed during i/o May 26 18:51:43 localhost kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 385 May 26 18:51:43 localhost kernel: Buffer I/O error on device fd0, logical block 385 May 26 18:51:43 localhost kernel: lost page write due to I/O error on fd0 May 26 18:51:43 localhost kernel: hanged during operation May 26 18:51:43 localhost kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 1569 May 26 18:51:43 localhost kernel: floppy0: disk absent or changed during operation May 26 18:51:43 localhost kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 1570 May 26 18:51:43 localhost kernel: floppy0: disk absent or changed during operation May 26 18:51:43 localhost kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 1571 May 26 18:51:43 localhost kernel: floppy0: disk absent or changed during operation May 26 18:51:43 localhost kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 1572 May 26 18:51:43 localhost kernel: floppy0: disk absent or changed during operation May 26 18:51:43 localhost kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 1573 May 26 18:51:43 localhost kernel: floppy0: disk absent or changed during operation May 26 18:51:43 localhost kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 1574 May 26 18:51:43 localhost kernel: floppy0: disk absent or changed during operation May 26 18:51:43 localhost kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 1575 May 26 18:51:43 localhost kernel: floppy0: disk absent or changed during operation May 26 18:51:43 localhost kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 1576 May 26 18:58:20 localhost kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 32 May 26 18:58:20 localhost kernel: FAT: Directory bread(block 32) failed May 26 18:58:29 localhost kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 0 May 26 18:59:04 localhost last message repeated 8 times May 26 18:59:05 localhost kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 0 May 26 18:59:33 localhost kernel: FAT: Filesystem panic (dev fd0) May 26 18:59:33 localhost kernel: invalid access to FAT (entry 0x0000578c) May 26 18:59:33 localhost kernel: File system has been set read-only May 26 18:59:33 localhost kernel: FAT: Filesystem panic (dev fd0) May 26 18:59:33 localhost kernel: invalid access to FAT (entry 0x0000578c) May 26 18:59:33 localhost kernel: FAT: Filesystem panic (dev fd0) May 26 18:59:42 localhost kernel: invalid access to FAT (entry 0x00006600) May 26 18:59:42 localhost kernel: attempt to access beyond end of device May 26 18:59:42 localhost kernel: fd0: rw=0, want=26144, limit=2880 May 26 18:59:42 localhost kernel: Buffer I/O error on device fd0, logical block 26143 May 26 18:59:42 localhost kernel: FAT: Filesystem panic (dev fd0) May 26 18:59:42 localhost kernel: invalid access to FAT (entry 0x0000219d) May 26 18:59:42 localhost kernel: FAT: Filesystem panic (dev fd0) May 26 18:59:42 localhost kernel: invalid access to FAT (entry 0x0000739e) May 26 18:59:42 localhost kernel: FAT: Filesystem panic (dev fd0)
Fedora Core 2 is now maintained by the Fedora Legacy project for security updates only. If this problem is a security issue, please reopen and reassign to the Fedora Legacy product. If it is not a security issue and hasn't been resolved in the current FC3 updates or in the FC4 test release, reopen and change the version to match.
This won't get fixed for FC2. If it's still a problem in FC3 or FC4test, please reopen or refile. Thanks.