RC6 - Does not recognize Ext HD

[Anne Ftl]

Win 7 Ult - Intel CPU
DNS 323 A1 - Alt-F-0.1RC6
Int HD 2x4TB
Ext HD 2TB -  Seagate Backup Plus formatted Ext4
This setup worked prior to RC6

I had several problems early in the update but it seems like all of my problems were fixed by a fresh install of Alt-F,
 EXCEPT   Alt-F fails to recognize the external hard drive.

Everything else seems to be working perfectly....

As a test, I connected the Ext HD to my laptop (ext2fsd installed), and was able to read and write the drive.

Suggestions ???

Thanks,
Anne

[João Cardoso]

On Monday, 5 June 2017 19:08:13 UTC+1, Anne Ftl wrote:

Win 7 Ult - Intel CPU
DNS 323 A1 - Alt-F-0.1RC6
Int HD 2x4TB
Ext HD 2TB -  Seagate Backup Plus formatted Ext4
This setup worked prior to RC6

Using Alt-F RC5? RC4.1? 

I had several problems early in the update but it seems like all of my problems were fixed by a fresh install of Alt-F,
 EXCEPT   Alt-F fails to recognize the external hard drive.

Either when already plugged before box powerup or plugging it after box is powered up?

 

Everything else seems to be working perfectly....

As a test, I connected the Ext HD to my laptop (ext2fsd installed), and was able to read and write the drive.

Suggestions ???

Disks are detected by the linux kernel, which generates an event that Alt-F handles. If the linux kernel doesn't detect the drive Alt-F can't do nothing.

To determine if the linux kernel detects the disk, watch the system log with the disk unplugged, System->Utilities, View Logs, "System Log", browse to the end and notice the messages and dates, then plugin the USB disk, hit the Refresh button and see if new lines are displayed. Eg:

Jun  6 19:00:10 DNS-320L daemon.info smartd[706]: Device: /dev/sda [SAT], SMART Usage Attribute: 190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel changed from 70 to 58

Jun  6 19:00:10 DNS-320L daemon.info smartd[706]: Device: /dev/sda [SAT], SMART Usage Attribute: 194 Temperature_Celsius changed from 30 to 42

 

appended  after plugging an USB disk that will be named "sdb":

 

Jun  6 19:00:43 DNS-320L user.info kernel: usb 1-1: new high-speed USB device number 2 using orion-ehci

Jun  6 19:00:43 DNS-320L user.err kernel: orion-ehci f1050000.ehci: port 1 reset error -110

Jun  6 19:00:43 DNS-320L user.info kernel: usb-storage 1-1:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected

Jun  6 19:00:43 DNS-320L user.info kernel: scsi host2: usb-storage 1-1:1.0

Jun  6 19:00:43 DNS-320L user.notice hot: Event not supported

Jun  6 19:00:43 DNS-320L user.info kernel: usbcore: registered new interface driver uas

Jun  6 19:00:44 DNS-320L user.notice kernel: scsi 2:0:0:0: Direct-Access     Initio   ST3250620A       2.03 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0

Jun  6 19:00:44 DNS-320L user.notice kernel: sd 2:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg1 type 0

Jun  6 19:00:44 DNS-320L user.notice kernel: sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] 488397168 512-byte logical blocks: (250 GB/233 GiB)

Jun  6 19:00:44 DNS-320L user.notice kernel: sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off

Jun  6 19:00:44 DNS-320L user.debug kernel: sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 23 00 00 00

Jun  6 19:00:44 DNS-320L user.err kernel: sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] No Caching mode page found

Jun  6 19:00:44 DNS-320L user.err kernel: sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through

Jun  6 19:00:44 DNS-320L user.info kernel:  sdb: sdb1 sdb2

Jun  6 19:00:44 DNS-320L user.notice kernel: sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI disk

In your case a 'sdc' device should appear (you already have sda and sdb, as you have two internal disks)

You can also watch the "hot" and "hot_aux" logs, but they will only show new entries at the bottom after plugging the USB disk if the kernel has detected a new USB disk.

 

Thanks,
Anne

[Anne Ftl]

On Tuesday, June 6, 2017 at 2:15:32 PM UTC-4, João Cardoso wrote:

On Monday, 5 June 2017 19:08:13 UTC+1, Anne Ftl wrote:

Win 7 Ult - Intel CPU
DNS 323 A1 - Alt-F-0.1RC6
Int HD 2x4TB
Ext HD 2TB -  Seagate Backup Plus formatted Ext4
This setup worked prior to RC6

Using Alt-F RC5? RC4.1? 

I had several problems early in the update but it seems like all of my problems were fixed by a fresh install of Alt-F,
 EXCEPT   Alt-F fails to recognize the external hard drive.

Either when already plugged before box powerup or plugging it after box is powered up?

 Both ways tried

NOTHING in the logs similar to what you show.

I tried plugging in a thumb drive to the NAS to see if the port was dead, and the thumb drive  WAS detected !
I then tried plugging in the Ext HD again. however the Ext HD is not detected.

REMEMBER... This Ext HD worked  perfectly  before  changing to RC6
 ... and..
The ext HD still works when plugged into any of my laptops.

I re-formatted the Ext HD to NTFS on my laptop, and tried plugging into NAS again.. nothing
I re-formatted the Ext HD back to EXT4 on my laptop, and tried again... nothing
I then plugged in a thumb drive into the NAS, and it was detected

When the Ext HD is plugged into my laptop, it shows up in Alt-F as a mounted file system on my laptop

[João Cardoso]

On Wednesday, 7 June 2017 16:09:41 UTC+1, Anne Ftl wrote:

On Tuesday, June 6, 2017 at 2:15:32 PM UTC-4, João Cardoso wrote:

On Monday, 5 June 2017 19:08:13 UTC+1, Anne Ftl wrote:

Win 7 Ult - Intel CPU
DNS 323 A1 - Alt-F-0.1RC6
Int HD 2x4TB
Ext HD 2TB -  Seagate Backup Plus formatted Ext4
This setup worked prior to RC6

Using Alt-F RC5? RC4.1? 

I had several problems early in the update but it seems like all of my problems were fixed by a fresh install of Alt-F,
 EXCEPT   Alt-F fails to recognize the external hard drive.

Either when already plugged before box powerup or plugging it after box is powered up?

 Both ways tried

NOTHING in the logs similar to what you show.

 

Then there is no hope for your particular drive, sorry.

I tried plugging in a thumb drive to the NAS to see if the port was dead, and the thumb drive  WAS detected !
I then tried plugging in the Ext HD again. however the Ext HD is not detected.

REMEMBER... This Ext HD worked  perfectly  before  changing to RC6

Changing from what? Alt-F? What version? It might be a kernel regression or a kernel misconfiguration.

 

 ... and..
The ext HD still works when plugged into any of my laptops.

I re-formatted the Ext HD to NTFS on my laptop, and tried plugging into NAS again.. nothing
I re-formatted the Ext HD back to EXT4 on my laptop, and tried again... nothing

That is not a matter of what fs in on the disk, it is the USB disk interface itself that is not detected (as you say that nothing new appears at the system log after plugging the drive)

Do you have access to any PC with linux just to see if the drive is detected?

[Anne Ftl]

I was on Alt-f 4.1 and upgraded to RC6
The Ext HD formatted to Ext4  is recognized on my system that has  Mint 18
The Ext HD formatted to Ext4  is recognized on my system using Windows and running Ext2FS
The Ext HD formatted to NTFS  is recognized on my system using Windows

Anne

[Anne Ftl]

What do you mean,  no hope for my particular drive ?
The drive was working on Alt-f 4.1, and it still works on everything except Alt-f RC6..
Anne

[João Cardoso]

On Wednesday, 7 June 2017 22:34:31 UTC+1, Anne Ftl wrote:

What do you mean,  no hope for my particular drive ?
The drive was working on Alt-f 4.1, and it still works on everything except Alt-f RC6..

What I intended to say was "no hope under RC6". I already knew that the USB disk was working under MS-Windows.

Now I know that it works on Mint18 and was working under Alt-F-RC4.1, which uses linux-3.10.32.

RC5 uses linux-3.18.28 and RC6 uses linux 4.4.45. That is a different linux kernel and many things have changed on it meanwhile.

Mint18 says that it also uses linux-4.4, the same as RC6,  so either something is misconfigured under Alt-F or Mint applied some patch that allows it to recognize your drive. Without knowing what, I can't integrate it on Alt-F (an no, I can't adopt any other distro kernel configuration, as they are huge and not appropriate for a low memory, ARM based embedded device).

See https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt-f/nfA1zIAdrSY/z6d6kJpQCAAJ for identical problems related with Seagate USB drives under RC5

[João Cardoso]

On Thursday, 8 June 2017 17:06:22 UTC+1, João Cardoso wrote:

On Wednesday, 7 June 2017 22:34:31 UTC+1, Anne Ftl wrote:

What do you mean,  no hope for my particular drive ?
The drive was working on Alt-f 4.1, and it still works on everything except Alt-f RC6..

What I intended to say was "no hope under RC6". I already knew that the USB disk was working under MS-Windows.

Now I know that it works on Mint18 and was working under Alt-F-RC4.1, which uses linux-3.10.32.

RC5 uses linux-3.18.28 and RC6 uses linux 4.4.45. That is a different linux kernel and many things have changed on it meanwhile.

Mint18 says that it also uses linux-4.4, the same as RC6,  so either something is misconfigured under Alt-F or Mint applied some patch that allows it to recognize your drive. Without knowing what, I can't integrate it on Alt-F (an no, I can't adopt any other distro kernel configuration, as they are huge and not appropriate for a low memory, ARM based embedded device).

See https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt-f/nfA1zIAdrSY/z6d6kJpQCAAJ for identical problems related with Seagate USB drives under RC5

Anne, do you mind trying the solution posted here to see if it solves your problem?

Attaching the full kernel log obtained after applying the fix and plugging the USB drive can also be useful.

Thanks