Question

/dev/sda1 is not a valid block device

Asked by: ACanadian

Our linux (Suse) server crashed over the Xmas holidays and since then it will not mount an external backup drive (USB)...the error is /dev/sda1 is not a valid block device.

We have tried other USB drives and it generates the same error.  Also replaced the USB cable...same error...

There have been no configuration changes since before the server crashed.  /dev/sda1 is listed in /etc/fstab

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Asked On
2009-01-08 at 12:46:56ID24036470
Tags

suse

,

linux

,

mount

,

/dev/sda1 is not a valid block device

Topic

SuSE Linux

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Answers

 

by: oklitPosted on 2009-01-09 at 02:30:13ID: 23334218

First, run command:
tail -f /var/log/messages
(probably as root, as this file can be set to have read permissions for root only).
Then, plug in your USB disk.
After few seconds, you should see some new lines in this logfile, concerning your USB disk. There should be info about device used. Probably it will be something different that sda/sda1 - maybe sdb/sdb1 or sdc/sdc1.
Then, you should change your /etc/fstab to contain this new device instead of /dev/sda1.
If you don't want to look into your messages file, you can just check for new devices created after connecting your USB disk. Run: "ls -l /dev/sd*", then plug your USB disk in, wait few seconds (half a minute should be sufficient for most cases), than again do: "ls -l /dev/sd*". Any new device on this listing will be your USB disk. After that, change /dev/sda1 in your /etc/fstab.
After that, you can mount your disk with mount /your/mount_point or mount /dev/sdXY (where sdXY is your USB device).
It this doesn't work, post part of your messages file (after connecting your USB disk).

 

by: ACanadianPosted on 2009-01-09 at 09:25:22ID: 23337856

I did both suggestions above, using both (2) USB devices:

1.  tail -f /var/log/messages

- only displays a message for one of the devices (the one that was connected during the crash and may be faulty):

"usb 4-2: new high speed USB device using address 6
usb 4-2: device not accepting address 6, error -71"

- the second USB drive did not display any message

2.  ls -l /dev/sd*

- unfortunately the list is bigger than the console cache and all of the dates are from November, 2005, so I cannot see any new additions after plugging in the USB device.

Question#1: Is it possible to sort the list by date?
Question#2: Is it possible to "clean up" the list, removing entries that are no longer being used?


 

by: oklitPosted on 2009-01-09 at 10:19:31ID: 23338537

I've found a lot of suggestions via google, starting from broken usb controller to broken usb drives. With so many different problems, I don't think they will be helpful in your case (but of course you can try - I was searching for "device not accepting address" "error -71")

Finally, have a look here: http://www.linux-usb.org/FAQ.html#ts6

 

by: ACanadianPosted on 2009-01-16 at 12:09:36ID: 23396890

It turned out that the USB power supply died and may have caused the USB card and motherboard slot to fail.

Here's how we got it working again:

1.  We did a cat /proc/bus/usb/devices - this showed us that the system did not see the USB card, which led us to replacing it with a different one.
2.  The second card also failed, so we thought the problem might be the slot it was plugged into.  We installed the USB card into a different slot.  Now cat /proc/bus/usb/devices showed it.
3.  The system would still not mount the USB drive, so we thought it may be related to the power supply (the light came on, but only faintly).
4.  We tried a new power supply for the USB (had to buy a new enclosure just to get the power cord).  

This worked.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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