Knoppix can not access my harddrive!

[GuessWho]

Hey. I'm new to knoppix, got it a week ago. I've got a few problems though.

first, I can't access my harddrives. when i click ''Hard Disk (sda) /mnt/sda/", a box shows up:

"/dev/sda: Input/output error

mount: I could not determine the filesystem type, and none was specified

Please check that the disk is entered correctly."

Edit: These are SATA Drives. I am no hardware freak, so i haven't got knowledge about what SATA is, But could that be the problem?

Of course, It is entered correctly, since i also use windows. could this be the problem? I've read on the web about knoppix being able to read almost all disks. I think the filesystem is FAT32, if that could be the problem. also, i can click "Hard disk (sys) /sys/" but i get another box with the text:

"mount: only root can mount /sys on /sys

please check that the disk is entered correctly"

My other problem, (probably depending on this one) is that i can't save knoppix configuration. I've done it on a floppy disk, but when i type "knoppix myconfig=/mnt/auto/floppy", it makes an attempt to load the config, but it doesn't find the dir. and "knoppix myconfig=scan" doesn't work either, it won't find anything.

And, this is not necessary, But i'd like to have sound enabled... is it possible with a live-cd?

if you come up with an answer to these problems, please keep in mind that i cannot download any bigger files, since I'm using a 56k.

Please help a learning Newbie.

Thanks, GuessWho.

[Chromatic Distortion]

Fat32 drives are NOT the problem. It's the NTFS filesystems that knoppix has trouble writing to them.

I get that error sometimes when I try & mount a crazy floppy disk sometimes.
You can get it to work by doing this (as root)
mount -o umask=000 -t vfat /dev/sda1 /mnt/sda1
*note* you will only be able to access this drive as root unless you do this:
mount -o users,exec,umask=000,uid=<your_user_id>,gid=<your_ group_id>

/dev/sda refers to the WHOLE disk instead of a perticular partition.
/dev/sda1 refers to the 1st partition in the master boot record.

These commands may seem a little cryptic, but if you have something like the following somewhere in /etc/fstab
/dev/sda1 /mnt/sda1 vfat noauto,users,exec,rw,umask=000,uid=<your_user_id>, gid=<your_group_id>

then all you should have to type is
mount /dev/sda1

Yeah, I have dialup too, and it sucks. I've offered to pay for a DSL bill, but my parents think all technology is evil, so they won't let me.

Oh, yeah, if you wanna see if sound works, try playing a .mp3 or .wav file or something by using xmms (type xmms at a terminal).

Plus try this for boot options:
knoppix myconfig=/dev/fd0
/dev/fd0 referrs to the whole floppy disk, oddly enough
you can't reach /mnt/auto/floppy because it is not mounted yet.