Card reader won't mount in Elyssa [edited 4.55 pm] Solved!!

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T J Tulley
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Card reader won't mount in Elyssa [edited 4.55 pm] Solved!!

Post by T J Tulley »

My Fujifilm DCR2-161 card reader mounted when I first plugged it in, and showed as the media it contained - either 16 MB Fujifilm xD Picture Card or 2.1 GB (Olympus xD Picture Card (formatted in my Fujifilm 900 camera). At that time I added a folder and 2 sub-folders to it ready for adding pictures from my archives.

After a reboot, it will not mount - it shows (as the contained media) in "Computer" on the Desktop but if I R-click and select Mount volume, it reports: "Unable to mount the volume. Details: Mount_point cannot contain the following characters: newline, G_DIR_SEPARATOR (usually /)."

Properties says the permissions could not be determined, and in "Open with" I have added File browser and Image Viewer but it fails to open. Obviously it must first be mounted - which it did when first connected before re-booting (which was difficult, as reported elsewhere).

The specification of the card reader says it is compatible with Mac OS X without an added driver so it ought to work with Unix & Linux, I presume?

Edit- addition, 4.55 PM
I have had an idea - when the card reader was mounted, I went to Properties/Notes and amended Settings to give a Mount Point as /media/CardReader - in similar style to the already specified mount point. [Can't remember what that was].
Of course, there is a notice saying that new settings will not come into effect until next boot.
Now there appears to be no way to edit that specification. The Notes tab of Properties is blank.
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
Yours hopefully -

Theo Tulley.
Using a PC with 2GB RAM, 3 hdds and a 1.7 GHz Celeron cpu.
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Re: Card reader won't mount in Elyssa [edited 4.55 pm]

Post by T J Tulley »

Thanks a lot Mr Blue.
Unfortunately, when I R-click on it in Computer, the Properties field doesn't include a Volume tab - the tabs are Basic, Emblems, Permissions, Open with and Notes. The last is where Mount point and Options appear for many objects, but for this it is now blank. Under Basic, the list is: Name: 2.1 GB Media; Type: unknown type' Size: unknown; Location: Computer:///; Volume: unknown; Mime type: application/octet-stream; Modified: unknown; Accessed: unknown
If I remove the xD Picture card, the entry in Computer disappears.
If I insert a smaller xD Picture card, it reappears, with Name: 16.4 MB Media.

So I can't see where I can edit my previous erroneous entry, which appears to be the reason for failure to mount now. Evidently it still exists - I need to access a table of devices. Where might that be?

I've just carefully examined the contents of /dev - one or two items might correspond, but no entries in Properties/Notes which might be edited.

Any more ideas?
Yours hopefully -

Theo Tulley.
Using a PC with 2GB RAM, 3 hdds and a 1.7 GHz Celeron cpu.
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T J Tulley
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Re: Card reader won't mount in Elyssa [edited 4.55 pm]

Post by T J Tulley »

Thanks again Mr Blue:
$ gconf-editor -> System/storage/ shows no Volume, only default_options or drives.

Default_options are: hfs, iso9660, ntfs, ntfs3g, ntfs-fuse, udf, vfat
None of these look hopeful - they all show different responses on the RHS.

'Drives' opens to show:
/system/storage/drives/_org_freedesktop_Hal_devices_storage_serial_Generic_STORAGE_DEVICE_000000009144_0_1
and when selected this shows on the RHS:
/fstype_override [Value: ext3]
/mount_point [Value: which I edited to: CardReader].
Underneath were various entries, including a warning sign: This key has no Schema, and:
Key name: /system/storage/drives/_org_freedesktop_Hal_devices_storage_serial_Generic_STORAGE_DEVICE_000000009144_0_1/mount_point

Subsequently it still failed to mount, giving a long message including: In some cases useful info id found in syslog - try dmesg | tail or so

I found syslog in /var/log and sure enough there is an entry near the end:
Jul 17 10:41:25 TJT4Elyssa NetworkManager: <debug> [1216287685.228393] nm_hal_device_added(): New device added (hal udi is '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/volume_part1_size_16363008').
The size obviously matches the smaller card then added - the larger one had previously been reported removed from the same address. Later in syslog I see:
Jul 17 12:50:57 TJT4Elyssa kernel: [ 8754.671098] VFS: Can't find ext3 filesystem on dev sdf1.

This suggests to me that I should edit the filesystem specified in gconf-editor - it needs to be something compatible with jpeg files. (But surely sdf1 is the floppy drive - no floppy in it).

More ideas?
Yours hopefully -

Theo Tulley.
Using a PC with 2GB RAM, 3 hdds and a 1.7 GHz Celeron cpu.
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Re: Card reader won't mount in Elyssa [edited 4.55 pm] -Solved!!

Post by T J Tulley »

Thanks yet again, Mr Blue. We seem to have succeeded.

I studied the output of $ dmesg carefully - whole file, I removed the | tail from the command. I could see where the cardreader was recognised and identified as sdf then sdf1.

So I created the mount point as you suggested, and mounted it there. Its properties were then clearer - Basic gave a circular disk diagram showing more than half used - this is a small xD card with 8 large jpeg files on it. That page also showed the filetype as msdos. Permissions are still unknown (jn properties, but they show in /- filebrowser) and in the Open-with tab I added filebrowser.

Now I can open it fully and see the jpeg files; if I double-click on those they open with Gnome's Image Viewer, so all is well.

I tried to rename the new directory with the command $ mv /media/a /media/CardReader but the response was cannot move - Device or resource busy. I did think of using 'CardReader' where you had suggested 'a' - now I wish I had done so.

Next - I exchanged the card in the reader - change not shown. So I unmounted it, then changed the name of the mount point, and re-mounted it. Now it appears in /- filebrowser as /media/CardReader and its contents are as I originally created them - but it also contains an empty directory 'a' -without the quotes. So I entered a command to remove it, with response as follows:
theo@TJT4Elyssa / $ sudo rm /media/CardReader/a
rm: cannot remove `/media/CardReader/a': Is a directory

This doesn't matter much, but is annoying. I'm just being fussy. Thanks a lot.
Yours hopefully -

Theo Tulley.
Using a PC with 2GB RAM, 3 hdds and a 1.7 GHz Celeron cpu.
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T J Tulley
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Re: Card reader won't mount in Elyssa [edited 4.55 pm] Solved!!

Post by T J Tulley »

Thanks again Mr Blue: Mystery deepens.

Continuing to be fussy, I am surprised this morning to find mounted 2 devices - CardReader, shown on desktop and in / -filebrowser as 2.1 GB, empty, modified 17/7/08, and CardReader_, shown likewise with contents as I originally installed them - this shows modifed 18/7/08, but the contents are dated 13/7/08 - so this is the 'real' one.
(The original contents are a directory dcim containing 2 empty directories family and friends - ready to receive photos).
It also contained the empty directory 'a' which I have successfully removed with $ sudo rmdir /media/CardReader_/a.

Now I can't remove the empty directory /CardReader - says it is busy, although I have closed filebrowser; it is represented by an icon on the desk top. I was first in /media, but then went to / but it is still busy. It is empty.

Is there a command which will show what a file or directory is busy with?

BTW, this is after resuming from hibernate, not after a full boot. When did the superfluous mount occur?

Well - after writing to there, I have unmounted CardReader (by command) - icon disappeared from Desktop - but trying to rename CardReader_ as CardReader finds it busy. AFIK its only 'activity' is being represented by an icon on Desktop. Here's the command & response:
theo@TJT4Elyssa / $ sudo mv /media/CardReader_ /media/CardReader
mv: cannot move `/media/CardReader_' to `/media/CardReader/CardReader_': Device or resource busy.

That looks as though it was trying to insert CardReader_ into CardReader whose icon has gone from Desktop, but in /-filebrowser it still appears, now with a white X over it - Properties now show it as total capacity 4.8 GB, 2.7 GB used (contents unreadable), 2.1 GB free - filesystem ext3.
Those 'Properties look as though CardReader_ has in fact been inserted into CardReader - though it still shows separately in the list.
I've just spotted that both CardReader versions are listed in .hal-mtab - but that record was probably written when the system opened, and is not updated. I've also been looking through syslog but it's difficult to make sense of that.

Sorry if I'm trying your patience.
Yours hopefully -

Theo Tulley.
Using a PC with 2GB RAM, 3 hdds and a 1.7 GHz Celeron cpu.
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T J Tulley
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Re: Card reader won't mount in Elyssa [edited 4.55 pm] Solved!!

Post by T J Tulley »

Thanks again Mr Blue: it's been cured in a different way.

A few days ago I was advised to avoid BusyBox by editing Menu-lst in Grub and a bit doubtfully I did so. As I said, I regularly use Hibernate, but today I decided it was time to try whether that worked, and whether other edits I have done to fstab would work. One does, but the editing of Menu.lst has failed to prevent resort to BusyBox: I had to use Supergrub several times before I got it to boot. I shall undo that edit, and continue to avoid re-booting by hibernating.

I had unplugged the card reader, so I re-connected it, and soon the icon appeared on the Desktop. Only one!
A double-click opens it to show CardReader - File Browser, containing the folder dcim - which opens to show family and friends. Family opens to show another folder which I created in it this morning.

Evidently the previous CardReader (second one created, empty) has disappeared and the original can take its name without the '_' - whoopee! I'm now having problems copying photos into those folders, but that will be another topic - probably in Software & Applications - and not immediately - there are other things I must work at.
Rapid edit: I couldn't resist looking at permissions.
$ cd /media; $ ls -l response included:
drw-r----- 3 root root 8192 1970-01-01 01:00 CardReader
It has refused to sudo chgrp or sudo chown; apparently sudo chmod 666 was accepted but it doesn't look like it here!

Warmest thanks for your help on this.
Last edited by T J Tulley on Fri Jul 18, 2008 4:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Yours hopefully -

Theo Tulley.
Using a PC with 2GB RAM, 3 hdds and a 1.7 GHz Celeron cpu.
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