Pendrive recognized but not "fdisk-able". But works OK in Windows!

[zogoibi]

Hello all:

Recently I purchased a USB 2.0 16GB pendrive. It has a single partition formatted FAT32. When I plug the pendrive in Windows, it works flawlessly and out of the box, being able to read/write at a reasonable speed. No problems at all.

However, plugging it in Linux (same Debian or Arch, kernels 2.6.39) doesn't work: the OS seems to recognize it and creates the device nodes (/dev/sdc, /dev/sdc1), but then:
1.- Doing "fdisk /dev/sdc" takes 5-10 minutes to respond (outputting lots of errors to the console).
2.- Doing "mount -t vfat /dev/sdc1 /mnt/pendrive" takes even longer than that (outputting also many errors).
3.- Trying to write any file on it ("cp foobar /mnt/pendrive") takes forever. It waits endlessly and the file never gets copied.

I attach an extract of the /var/log/syslog file.

But I insist: in Windows the pendrive works well, so it's not a defective hardware (I assume this to be a right deduction).
The drive specs say that it's valid for all OSes, including Linux.

Does anybody have some clue? Perhaps Linux is using the wrong driver to handle this pendrive? Any help appreciated, thank you.

[zenwalker]

Try

  cfdisk /dev/sdX 
  

[zogoibi]

Thank you, Zenwalker! But nothing: Eight minutes waiting for cfdisk to respond.

I'm posting here the logs I get when inserting the pen drive, highlighting those I consider more relevant:


kernel: usb 1-5: new high speed USB device number 5 using ehci_hcd
kernel: usb 1-5: New USB device found, idVendor=0011, idProduct=7788
kernel: usb 1-5: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
kernel: usb 1-5: Product: Mass Storage
kernel: usb 1-5: Manufacturer: Generic
kernel: usb 1-5: SerialNumber: 97E5AD32
udevd[3151]: failed to execute '/lib/udev/mtp-probe' 'mtp-probe /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.7/usb1/1-5 1 5': No such file or directory
kernel: scsi3 : usb-storage 1-5:1.0
kernel: scsi 3:0:0:0: Direct-Access Generic Flash Disk 8.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
kernel: sd 3:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 0
kernel: sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] 32768000 512-byte logical blocks: (16.7 GB/15.6 GiB)
kernel: sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off
kernel: sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 03 00 00 00
kernel: sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
kernel: sdc: sdc1
kernel: sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
kernel: sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI removable disk
kernel: usb 1-5: reset high speed USB device number 5 using ehci_hcd
udevd[871]: timeout '/sbin/blkid -o udev -p /dev/sdc'
kernel: usb 1-5: reset high speed USB device number 5 using ehci_hcd
udevd[871]: timeout: killing '/sbin/blkid -o udev -p /dev/sdc' [3187]
udevd[871]: timeout: killing '/sbin/blkid -o udev -p /dev/sdc' [3187]
..............
kernel: usb 1-5: reset high speed USB device number 5 using ehci_hcd
kernel: sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] Unhandled error code
kernel: sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] Result: hostbyte=DID_ABORT driverbyte=DRIVER_OK
kernel: sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] CDB: Read(10): 28 00 01 f3 ff f8 00 00 01 00
kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev sdc, sector 32767992
kernel: Buffer I/O error on device sdc, logical block 4095999
udevd[871]: '/sbin/blkid -o udev -p /dev/sdc' [3187] terminated by signal 9 (Killed)
udevd[871]: timeout 'udisks-part-id /dev/sdc'
udevd[871]: timeout: killing '/etc/init.d/hdparm hotplug' [3253]
udevd[871]: timeout 'udisks-part-id /dev/sdc1'


Particularly the "timeout: killing '/sbin/blkid -o udev -p /dev/sdc" gets logged by the dozens. I've trimmed them down for more clarity.

Somebody else?

[yancek]

The thing that jumps out to me is this line:

Jul 5 21:46:09 ganimedes udevd[3151]: failed to execute '/lib/udev/mtp-probe' 'mtp-probe /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.7/usb1/1-5 1 5': No such file or directory

You might try googling the failed to execute part of that. I have no idea what it means?

[zenwalker]

Search on 'mtp-probe' returned below:
This, and
this.

You must be running a virtual box. Try as suggested regarding the Package: libmtp-runtime, perhaps.

[zogoibi]

Thank you guys.

But this is going to be much harder I'm afraid...

As suggested, I installed the libmpt-runtime package with the mpt-probe library, but to no avail: when inserting the drive, I still get almost the same errors, except that the mpt-probe library says that it's not an mpt device.

On plugging in the pen drive, I get this in the syslog (again I highlight what I think is relevant):



usb 1-5: new high speed USB device number 3 using ehci_hcd
usb 1-5: New USB device found, idVendor=0011, idProduct=7788
usb 1-5: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
usb 1-5: Product: Mass Storage
usb 1-5: Manufacturer: Generic
usb 1-5: SerialNumber: 97E5AD32
scsi3 : usb-storage 1-5:1.0
mtp-probe: checking bus 1, device 3: "/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.7/usb1/1-5"
mtp-probe: bus: 1, device: 3 was not an MTP device
scsi 3:0:0:0: Direct-Access Generic Flash Disk 8.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
sd 3:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 0
sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] 32768000 512-byte logical blocks: (16.7 GB/15.6 GiB)
sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off
sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 03 00 00 00
sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
sdc: sdc1
sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI removable disk
usb 1-5: reset high speed USB device number 3 using ehci_hcd
udevd[824]: timeout '/sbin/blkid -o udev -p /dev/sdc'
usb 1-5: reset high speed USB device number 3 using ehci_hcd
udevd[824]: timeout: killing '/sbin/blkid -o udev -p /dev/sdc' [6945]
udevd[824]: timeout: killing '/sbin/blkid -o udev -p /dev/sdc' [6945]
udevd[824]: timeout: killing '/sbin/blkid -o udev -p /dev/sdc' [6945]
................................ [dozens of these timeouts]..................
usb 1-5: reset high speed USB device number 3 using ehci_hcd
Jul 8 04:50:07 ganimedes udevd[824]: timeout: killing '/sbin/blkid -o udev -p /dev/sdc' [6945]
.............................[again dozens of these]....................



Then I try to mount the device, but the mount command doesn't respond until I unplug the device. Then I get the last logs:



usb 1-5: USB disconnect, device number 3
sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] Unhandled error code
sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] Result: hostbyte=DID_NO_CONNECT driverbyte=DRIVER_OK
sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] CDB: Read(10): 28 00 01 f3 ff f8 00 00 01 00
end_request: I/O error, dev sdc, sector 32767992
Buffer I/O error on device sdc, logical block 4095999
udevd[824]: '/sbin/blkid -o udev -p /dev/sdc' [6945] terminated by signal 9 (Killed)
udevd[824]: timeout 'udisks-part-id /dev/sdc'
udevd[824]: timeout: killing '/etc/init.d/hdparm hotplug' [7003]



As you see, mpt-probe reports it's not an mpt device and the kernel "sees" that it's a flash drive, reads the size, block size, etc. But somehow the kernel can't access it for mounting, writing, or even trying to open it with fdisk.

Everything seems to point that it's a defective drive... if it weren't because it works under Windows.

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but what would you think that can be causing the /sbin/blkid command to timeout? And why? (I don't really know what triggers the blkid command: perhaps when I try to mount it?)

Oh! Needless to say that any other pen drive I plug in to my computer works ok.

I'm perplexed.

[sgosnell]

There have been problems with udev in recent updates to Sid and Wheezy. I don't know about Arch. You might want to use Google to find udev bugs in Debian and see if they affect you.

[zogoibi]

Thank you. I'll do it. However, as a first idea, I have to underline the fact that my Linux box (both Debian and Arch) reads perfectly well any other pen drive I plug in. Only this particular one doesn't work. Shouldn't any udev bug related with pen drives affect all of them or none?


BTW: in case I can't find the solution in this forum, can anybody here suggest me some other forum where I have chances of finding useful help?

[EDIT] Ok, I googled that, but I couldn't find any udev bug related with this issue.

[smertens]

I had a very similar issue. In my case, the USB drive turned out to be counterfeit. At least the first 8GB seem okay, the rest can be formatted but they refuse to mount. My guess is there's some sort of firmware hack that works better for Windows than it does for Linux. Try filling the drive with data in Windows (and then see if you can read it all back).

PS. I found this thread when I googled for some text returned by dmesg. My fake stick gives me nearly identical info that yours does:
New USB device found, idVendor=0011, idProduct=7788
New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3

[zogoibi]

Hmm.... It certainly looks the same case. Lately I've come to the conclusion that my pen drive is counterfait also. Too bad. I bought it from China via eBay, and some days after receiving the item, the seller disappeared from eBay. So, I give up on this subject. I handed the drive over to some Windows user.

Thank you for info.