Linux Mint messes up my USB keys to listen to music on my car radio

[Jonafen]

Hello everyone,

In my car, I have a car radio that accepts USB keys to read Mp3 files and then listen to music in my car, which should sound totally normal to you.
But here's the issue : If I send Mp3 files from a any Windows version onto my USB key, I can listen to music in my car just like it should. But if I do the same from Linux Mint, well it has never worked ! The radio car just gets frozen or skips the USB device automatically.

I've tried it with different USB keys, different Mp3 files and different car radios and it has always behaved the same way.

Today I had my USB key working fine because I had prepared it from Windows, I just mean that I copied my MP3 files from Windows 7 to my USB key but then I wanted to add 2 songs and I decided to add these songs from Linux Mint just for testing, I had like 99 songs transferred from Windows and I just added 2 extra Mp3 files, then I plugged it right into my car radio and nothing works, my car radio avoid the USB key by skipping it between different mode (radio, Bluetooth, CD, Aux...)

That confirms one thing according to me that Linux Mint does not only send the Mp3 files onto the USB key but also change something on my USB key, making it suddenly unreadable ! It's been years I have this problem and I have no clue on how to resolve that.

Please let me know if you have an idea;

Good on you,

[redlined]

sounds like permissions issues

lets get some environment infos from you to help sort this. Plug stick in while logged into Linux Mint and run this command in terminal lsusb && blkid && inxi -Fxzd

then paste all that result in next reply between [ code ] tags, which you create by click the </> icon (top left of reply edit box).

After this in order to further view permissions we'll run ls -la file on the troublesome USB stick (where "file" will be changed to usb mount point). Thanks~

[Jonafen]

My USB key seems to be the ID-3: USB /dev/sdd model: Cruzer_Fit size: 16.0GB

Code: Select all

Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:8001 Intel Corp. 
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:8009 Intel Corp. 
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 013: ID 0781:5571 SanDisk Corp. Cruzer Fit
Bus 003 Device 003: ID 03f0:1941 Hewlett-Packard 
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 046d:c328 Logitech, Inc. 
Bus 003 Device 012: ID 04b8:1114 Seiko Epson Corp. 
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
/dev/sda1: UUID="29ed9d7e-5c29-426f-806a-acbc1aa85991" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="0abba6da-01"
/dev/sda2: UUID="2246BD9046BD64E7" TYPE="ntfs" PARTUUID="0abba6da-02"
/dev/sda3: UUID="0cdc793d-5515-40a2-bd8f-ed98ba714fcd" TYPE="swap" PARTUUID="0abba6da-03"
/dev/sdb1: UUID="2F79-7B40" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="cc50f2d9-01"
Machine:   Mobo: MSI model: Z97 PC Mate(MS-7850) v: 1.0
           Bios: American Megatrends v: V4.7 date: 12/23/2014
CPU:       Quad core Intel Core i7-4770K (-HT-MCP-) cache: 8192 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 27999
           clock speeds: max: 4000 MHz 1: 1654 MHz 2: 1343 MHz 3: 1501 MHz
           4: 1302 MHz 5: 1408 MHz 6: 1390 MHz 7: 1560 MHz 8: 1415 MHz
Graphics:  Card: NVIDIA GP104 [GeForce GTX 1070] bus-ID: 01:00.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: nvidia (unloaded: fbdev,vesa,nouveau)
           Resolution: 1920x1080@60.00hz
           GLX Renderer: GeForce GTX 1070/PCIe/SSE2
           GLX Version: 4.5.0 NVIDIA 384.130 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card-1 Intel 9 Series Family HD Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
           Card-2 NVIDIA GP104 High Definition Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 01:00.1
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.15.0-45-generic
Network:   Card: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
           driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: d000 bus-ID: 03:00.0
           IF: enp3s0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 1016.2GB (36.8% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: SAMSUNG_HD502HJ size: 500.1GB
           ID-2: /dev/sdb model: WDC_WD5000AADS size: 500.1GB
           ID-3: USB /dev/sdd model: Cruzer_Fit size: 16.0GB
           Optical: No optical drives detected.
Partition: ID-1: / size: 189G used: 139G (78%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 34.01GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda3
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 29.8C mobo: 27.8C gpu: 0.0:35C
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 233 Uptime: 1 day Memory: 2023.4/15992.4MB
           Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 5.4.0
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.481) inxi: 2.2.35 

[redlined]

My USB key seems to be the ID-3: USB /dev/sdd model: Cruzer_Fit size: 16.0GB

not sure why I asked for blkid, was thinking to see device name and fs format there. also unsure why your inxi results omitted "System" info from above "Machine": (mine looks like this)

Code: Select all

System:    Host: anywhere Kernel: 4.18.0-15-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 7.3.0 Desktop: Cinnamon 4.0.9 
           Distro: Linux Mint 19.1 Tessa base: Ubuntu 18.04 bionic 
           Machine:   Type: Laptop System: Hewlett-Packard product: HP 15 Notebook PC v: 0973100003405F00000620180 serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: Hewlett-Packard model: 233F v: 06.16 serial: <filter> UEFI: Insyde v: F.23 date: 08/05/2015 
           (rest deleted)

and was hoping to see username so I could tailor command better, but what I'm looking for is format of filesystem on the stick and still considering permissions issues as responsible for causing grief in car system trying to play from that stick.

try run this command in terminal: ls -la /media/username/Cruzer_Fit replace username with what you log into system with (can determine this with results from command whoami run in terminal if unsure). Cruzer_Fit is a guess, you can determine the actual name as system sees it by open file manager and hover over the device which should show info like
"/media/username/Cruzer_Fit (/dev/sdd)" or something similar. If the stick name has a space then we need to include single quotes in the ls -la command. so it would look like this: ls -la '/media/username/Cruzer Fit' replacing username with your user name and Cruzer Fit with actual device name.

[Jonafen]

Here's the result of last command, folers and files seem to have different permissions which may be normal (I dunno), but the 2 extra songs I added recently and got my car radio stuck have the exact same permissions that older songs I had put into it... !

Code: Select all

total 396204
drwxr-xr-x  18 jon  jon       8192 janv.  1  1970 .
drwxr-x---+  4 root root      4096 févr. 19 21:48 ..
drwxr-xr-x   2 jon  jon       8192 févr. 28  2018 Akhenaton - Métèque et mat
drwxr-xr-x   2 jon  jon       8192 févr. 28  2018 Alpha Blondie - Jerusalem
-rw-r--r--   1 jon  jon    9079161 juil.  9  2018 Angus & Julia Stone - Grizzly Bear (Synapson Remix).mp3
drwxr-xr-x   2 jon  jon       8192 févr. 28  2018 ATK
-rw-r--r--   1 jon  jon    4936550 oct.  28  2013 Azealia Banks - 212 (Feat. Lazy Jay).mp3
-rw-r--r--   1 jon  jon    6925160 mai   22  2010 Beat Assaillant - Hard twelve.mp3
-rw-r--r--   1 jon  jon   52814642 nov.  18  2015 Best of La Belle Musique _ Chilltape.mp3
-rw-r--r--   1 jon  jon   61118415 nov.  23  2014 Best Of Saxo Deep House Album 2014.mp3
-rw-r--r--   1 jon  jon    3620362 sept. 28  2011 BIGA RANX - inna Crunk Style.mp3
-rw-r--r--   1 jon  jon    3216916 août  14  2018 Bigflo & Oli - Dommage.mp3
-rw-r--r--   1 jon  jon    6440832 août  14  2018 Bigflo & Oli - Personne.mp3
drwxr-xr-x   2 jon  jon       8192 févr. 28  2018 Bob Marley
-rw-r--r--   1 jon  jon    8214404 juil.  9  2018 Bonga - Mona ki ngi xica (Synapson remix).mp3
drwxr-xr-x   2 jon  jon       8192 févr. 28  2018 Bonobo - Black Sands
-rw-r--r--   1 jon  jon    2525727 févr.  8  2016 Booba ft. Farruko - G-Love.mp3
-rw-r--r--   1 jon  jon    3571474 févr.  9  2015 Cake - Comfort Eagle.mp3
drwxr-xr-x   2 jon  jon       8192 févr. 28  2018 Calle 13 - Residente o Visitante
-rw-r--r--   1 jon  jon    3578872 févr.  9  2015 Cartel de Santa - La Pelotona.mp3
-rw-r--r--   1 jon  jon    6699302 juil.  9  2018 CätCät - Kisses feat. Mary H (Synapson Remix).mp3
-rw-r--r--   1 jon  jon    8467594 févr.  9  2015 Cesaria Evora - Petit Pays (Chateau Flight remix).mp3
-rw-r--r--   1 jon  jon    4602741 févr.  9  2015 Chikinki - Like it or leave it.mp3
drwxr-xr-x   2 jon  jon       8192 févr. 28  2018 Costanza - Sonic Diary
-rw-r--r--   1 jon  jon    3707008 févr. 18  2007 Cypress Hill - Tequila Sunrise.mp3
drwxr-xr-x   2 jon  jon       8192 févr. 28  2018 Deep Café - The Sunset Lounge Collection
drwxr-xr-x   2 jon  jon       8192 févr. 28  2018 De Gainsbourg à Gainsbarre
-rw-r--r--   1 jon  jon    3711509 juin   7  2012 Flight Facilities feat. Giselle - Crave you.mp3
-rw-r--r--   1 jon  jon    3961031 juin  30  2012 Flight Facilities - Foreign Language feat. Jess.mp3
-rw-r--r--   1 jon  jon    3600196 juin  30  2012 Flight Facilities - With You feat. Grovesnor.mp3
drwxr-xr-x   2 jon  jon       8192 févr. 28  2018 Fool's Gold - Fool's Gold
drwxr-xr-x   2 jon  jon       8192 févr. 28  2018 Fugees - The Score
drwxr-xr-x   2 jon  jon       8192 févr. 28  2018 Gorillaz
-rw-r--r--   1 jon  jon    1568615 oct.  13  2017 Go to Sleep Little Baby (Oh Brother Where Art Thou).mp3
-rw-r--r--   1 jon  jon   18632705 sept. 19 10:01 Interstellar Space music.mp3
-rw-r--r--   1 jon  jon    1954720 mai   22  2010 Latin Playboys - Manifold de amour.mp3
-rw-r--r--   1 jon  jon  102856798 mai   24  2017 Les petits poissons dans l'eau - 1H DE COMPTINES POUR LES PETITS - Titounis.mp3
drwxr-xr-x   2 jon  jon       8192 févr. 28  2018 M
-rw-r--r--   1 jon  jon    4347362 oct.  19 22:10 Mad World - Gary Jules.mp3
-rw-r--r--   1 jon  jon    4576048 juin   4  2018 Moby - Porcelain.mp3
drwxr-xr-x   2 jon  jon       8192 févr. 28  2018 My Best of Bossa Nova
-rw-r--r--   1 jon  jon    2807512 août  14  2018 OrelSan - La pluie (feat. Stromae).mp3
-rw-r--r--   1 jon  jon    4289757 août  14  2018 Petit Biscuit - Palms.mp3
-rw-r--r--   1 jon  jon    3781467 août  14  2018 Petit Biscuit - Sunset Lover.mp3
-rw-r--r--   1 jon  jon   11740516 sept. 19 09:53 PHILIP GLASS - Prophecies (Space music Watchmen Dr Manathan).mp3
-rw-r--r--   1 jon  jon    8193924 mai   30  2018 Prudencia - Meiway - DJ Tassouman.mp3
-rw-r--r--   1 jon  jon    6866736 oct.  19 23:39 Rachmaninov - Prelude in C Sharp Minor.mp3
drwxr-xr-x   2 jon  jon       8192 févr. 28  2018 Sade
-rw-r--r--   1 jon  jon    3688480 févr. 18 21:40 Sidsel Endresen & Bugge Wesseltoft - Try.mp3
-rw-r--r--   1 jon  jon    4213107 févr. 18 21:45 Starboy - Soco feat. Terri, Spotless, Ceeza Milli, Wizkid.mp3
-rw-r--r--   1 jon  jon    6689772 oct.  19 22:13 Sting - Shape of My Heart.mp3
-rw-r--r--   1 jon  jon    8469777 août   3  2018 Synapson - Soro Te Karaba (feat. Victor Démé).mp3
-rw-r--r--   1 jon  jon    4194368 août  31 03:11 Synapson - Souba (feat. Lass) (Official Music Video).mp3
-rw-r--r--   1 jon  jon    5767044 oct.  15 12:26 The Garifuna Collective - Seremei Buguya (Synapson Remix).mp3
drwxr-xr-x   4 jon  jon       8192 févr. 18 21:47 .Trash-1000

[redlined]

do yo know the filesystem this thumbdrive is formatted to? if ext and car radio cannot read it then look in user manual for stereo and see if it says vfat or fat32 only.

actually we can safely check if filesystem format fixes things anyways.
First -Copy all files from usb stick onto computer and verify you have all your files and folders copied over from USB stick.
Then Open USB Stick Formatter (from mint menu)
Make sure you select your thumbdrive from the drop down menu, choose fat32 (older, 4GB file size limit) or exFAT (newer, no file size limit, no journaling)

Once done with reformat then copy all your music files and folders back onto USB stick and give it a test in car stereo, if fails again, try other file system format type (if fat32 first then try exFAT, or vice versa)

[Jonafen]

Thanks for your reactive answers, my USB key uses fat32 as filesystem but I forgot to mentioned that I had already changed my USB key's filesystem beforehand, trying NTFS, FAT32 and vFAT. I remember that NTFS and FAT32 would work if files were sent from Windows but not from Linux Mint (nor Ubuntu, nor Lubuntu). The car radio's manual says that it accepts NTFS and FAT32 which have worked... but only from Windows.

But anyway, how come my USB key worked fine when getting files from Windows, and not from Linux keeping the filesystem the same just by adding 2 files ? It really looks to me that Linux Mint does something onto my USB key that is not only transferring Mp3 files, as if it'd modify something...

[MrEen]

Hi Jonafen.

@redlined is probably better at this than I am, but I'm wondering if Linux is putting that hidden trash folder on the drive, and that might be causing the issue in the car.

[Jonafen]

Hum... doesn't sound stupid at all. Why not after all.

I'm gonna try that, delete that trash folder and plug it back into my car radio.

I'll let you know about the outcome tomorrow because it's 3 AM over here, going to bed now.

[MrEen]

Good night and good luck.

[redlined]

You are way too kind MrEen!
(ps. Jonafen, I refer to MrEen as "the music man", he earns that at least from all the good work he does around here on audio issues. Me? I'm just a hack with less than a year in Linuxland)

My concern was over seeing "drwxr-x---+ 4 root root" in your ls results. and I do bet that trash directory:
drwxr-xr-x 4 jon jon 8192 févr. 18 21:47 .Trash-1000 just sitting there isn't appreciated by your player too.
nor this:
drwxr-xr-x 18 jon jon 8192 janv. 1 1970 . which may be the file trans that choked, and the player really doesn't like, also initiating Linux to create that trash directory

anyways.. if deletes of those problem looking directories (open 1970 first and see if any files you want) and that doesn't fix it, then do the copy over and try exFAT format instead. Windows may be kind and understanding about it's filesystem formats and transferring files free from such concerns to USB devices but Linux is more permissions bent and needs to be told do something besides default (and have no clue what that means when Linux transfer files to USB stick fat32/ntfs formatted).

but, exFAT lack of journalling support (a failsafe for file changes) may tame Linux in that regard as well, so worth a shot if trash delete doesn't fix it. MS came up with exFAT as a fix for fat32 file size limits and before NTFS rolled, so it is often supported but not mentioned because ntfs was the 'holy grail' (Windows, sic tm;) of the day. and since car stereo supports ntfs... I'm think it's worth a try for less headache.

I'm calling it a night too, g'nite fellas

[lsemmens]

I was thinking along the lines of FAT. I am about to do the same with a USB key for my car, so time will tell if it works for me.

[srq2625]

I've just started using a USB thumbdrive for my music in my car stereo. To date I've had no problems - yes, I know that doesn't help the OP.

But, maybe the reason I'm not having problems is because I KNOW the FAT32 filesystem has issues - the major one being that it's easy to corrupt it if one removes the devices from the computer before all data has been written. So, I ALWAYS use a terminal for copying files and I ALWAYS run sync before I dismount the device and pull it from the USB port.

With that for a background, I ask the following questions:

1. Are you sure all data has been written before pulling the device?
2. Are you unmounting the device before pulling the device?

[Jonafen]

Hi guys,
Well, I just got back on my issue and deleted Trash folder, nothing's changed, still not working...
Then I reformatted my USB key to NTFS with slow formatting mode, nothing's changed, still not working...
I always properly unmount my USB key from window manager MATE before pulling it out.
I think I'm getting desperate with this.

[redlined]

and, from LM you tried USB stick format to exFAT

also, your mention prior of trying vFAT format still sounds like a best bet approach, all boil down to how Linux stores stuff on Windows filesystems and what stereo wants/needs to see aligning up. vFAT came in as fix for FAT filename limits, before FAT32. which to me sounds like a good idea (as a lowest common denominator approach) to retry.

and... not sure if you've mentioned (i didn't see it on real quick readback just now) but have you tried this with another USB stick? (just using Linux to format and copy mp3s to stick) also considering there may be some bad bit/block on flashdrive, that windows and stereo ignore but Linux doesn't

Not trying to jerk you around here, just have no equipment to test these ideas to fix so want to ensure the basic troubleshooting ideas are fruitless before I "throw in the towel"

[Jonafen]

Sorry guys, I was out of town for a little while with no Linux Mint around
To answer to question, yes I did have tried with a different USB key, same results.
As to the vFAT filesystem I remembered I did try it, but I'm not so sure anymore because I've been trying to resolve that issue for the past 2 years on and off.
Concerning NTFS and FAT32 that is for sure.
In the program 'Disks' from Linux Mint I don't see any option to format into vFAT filesystem.

[redlined]

and exFAT?

Try USB stick formatter to do exFAT though, it is one I haven't seen you mention attempt yet (if I missed it, then my apologies, I do not intend to pester with a suggestion and do feel this is valid option to try simply because exFAT is different than FAT32 and NTFS so expecting different results

fwiw- iirc vFAT is FAT16+ not sure what filename restriction(s) and volume size ( <4GB) are still present for it though.

edit to add: I believe you have to create partitions of 4GB or less to enable a vFAT option in format menu. maybe
just checked using 2GB stick: usb stick formatter, disks and gparted, nothing has vFAT. Try exFAT instead

[Jonafen]

The USB Formatter in my LM 18 MATE only proposes me the following filesystems : NTFS, FAT32 & EXT4...

[redlined]

well that's weird, didnt think it was added later

Check Disks, make sure unmounted then format, name stick and select other and next. exFAT should be listed there. similar for gparted.

[Jonafen]

That's right, I totally forgot that Gparted is the best tool to format, I just installed it, selected my USB key, went to 'format to' and there exFAT is grayed out !