Mounting USB wireless adapter and hard drive

grammjr

[file name=Screenshot_gnome_mount_2.png size=33078]http://www.linux.com/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/files/Screenshot_gnome_mount_2.png[/file]

grammjr

Same message with my usb hard drive.

jabirali

I'm glad the wireless is finally working! If you loaded a .inf-file with ndiswrapper, that means you made Linux load the Windows driver instead of using a native Linux driver. It seems like this solved your problems :-)

NetworkManager requires a system service in order to work; launch this system daemon before you try using NetworkManager again:

su -c "/etc/init.d/network-manager start"

As for the external harddrive, did you remember to install ntfs-3g? I'm not really sure why you're getting Access Denied errors, but since it's the second time we're having trouble with the automounting, I'm tempted to just create a static entry in /etc/fstab that explains once and for all how to mount your external harddrive ;-). Can you plug in the harddrive, and post the output of the following command:

ls -l /dev/disk/by-id/usb-*

There are two normal causes of audio problems. Install the package alsa-utils, and try running the command alsamixer in a terminal. If a volume control shows up, it means that your audio card is detected and probably just muted; in that case you can use the arrow keys to move between volume sliders (master, pcm, headphones, etc), and press the key "m" to mute/unmute and use up/down arrows to adjust the volume. If alsamixer fails, the problem is likely that the audio drivers aren't loaded yet.

OK, thanks so much for hanging in there with me.

No problem... And kudos to you too, you've been sticking at it for a week now. You don't seem like an easy quitter ;-)

[edit]
Another possible reason you're having problems with the audio, is that you're not in the audio group. Try giving yourself these rights the same way you gave yourself rights to control network devices:

su -c "usermod -G audio jim"

grammjr

debian:~# /etc/init.d/network-manager start
Starting network connection manager: NetworkManager.

still does not show up when I open the Network Manager Editor

This is not a BIG deal would just be nice to have it work.

Yes, I did install the ntfs-3g got that from the second or third reply here.

debian:~# ls -l /dev/disk/by-id/usb-*
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  9 2010-05-23 13:05 /dev/disk/by-id/usb-UT163_USB_Flash_Disk_00000000001055-0:0 -> ../../sda
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 2010-05-23 13:05 /dev/disk/by-id/usb-UT163_USB_Flash_Disk_00000000001055-0:0-part1 -> ../../sda1

still will not read my flashdrive or HD, it knows it is there, it IDs it fine even tells me the name of the drive.

Soundcard
Still does not work... it acts like it cannot find my sound card and this worked the first time I installed Linux.

debian:~# alsamixer
this seems to work.. but no sound.

When I click on the volume icon I get this.
[file name=Screenshot_gnome_volume_control_1.png size=11764]http://www.linux.com/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/files/Screenshot_gnome_volume_control_1.png[/file]

A quitter I am not, but do know when I have reached my end.. :cheer:
so am still hanging in here.....

grammjr

BTW I am having real problems with adding pictures and files here, when I add 2 or 3 they all change to the last one I pick... what am I doing wrong?

[file name=Screenshot_Wireless_Networks_1.png size=22278]http://www.linux.com/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/files/Screenshot_Wireless_Networks_1.png[/file]

marc

Did you try to install the gstreamer plugins?

By the way... have you tryed if it works login in as root? If so, it will be a permission related problem (very common managing audio...)

Have you added yourself to the audio, storage,video, games,network,optical groups? Those are usually the groups a typical user needs to be in to avoid permission problems with many things!

Regards

jabirali

I second what Marc said about checking what groups you are in. Try adding yourself to some common groups:

su -c "usermod -a -G adm,admin,cdrom,audio,video,games,users,netdev,plugdev,lpadmin,pulse-access,sambashare jim"

And then check the file /etc/group to see that you were added to all those groups. You have to re-login for the changes to take effect. Then test audio, network configuration and mounting of your external harddrive.

If the harddrive is still not automatically mounted, we at least know how the system sees the harddrive, so we can create a static entry in the file /etc/fstab describing how to mount it - without having to rely on automatic configuration. Create a mountpoint where you want the contents of your external harddrive to appear:

su -c "mkdir /mnt/usb"

Then modify the file /etc/fstab:

su -c "nano -w /etc/fstab"

And add the following line to the file:

/dev/disk/by-id/usb-UT163_USB_Flash_Disk_00000000001055-0:0-part1 /mnt/usb ntfs-3g users,rw,noauto,umask=000,relatime,silent 0 0

Save the file. Then try reconnecting your external harddrive. Hopefully, HAL will notice the entry in /etc/fstab and automatically know what to do with the harddrive. If not, you can at least mount your harddrive manually by using the following command:

su -c "mount /mnt/usb"

The easiest way to configure your wireless is likely to use nm-applet. Can you try starting NetworkManager again, and then run nm-applet from a terminal and post any errors you get here?

su -c "/etc/init.d/network-manager start"
nm-applet

The last command should bring up an icon in your system tray that lets you select wireless networks.

mfillpot

In light of all of the work on this thread, I would like to thank Mac and Jabir for jumping in on this thread and others in the forum to assist others. Your contributions noticed and appreciated.

grammjr

I must say my thanks also and it was and is very much appreciated, my wife is always mad at her XP machine and wanted to go to Linux, so here I am caught in middle of that controversy trying to learn Linux and preparing myself to support her computer once we go that direction. So believe me when I say THANKS and VERY MUCH APPRECIATED.
I am still not done yet but hopefully getting there.
Jim

grammjr

Sound

Did you try to install the gstreamer plugins?

Yes one of the first things tried.

debian:~# usermod -a -G adm,admin,cdrom,audio,video,games,users,netdev,plugdev,lpadmin,pulse-access,sambashare jim
usermod: unknown group admin
usermod: unknown group pulse-access
usermod: unknown group sambashare
debian:~# 

Logged out and back in and I now have sound :cheer:

Kind of weird because the first install it worked right away and this second I have to do all this extra stuff. But the complete sound device works, records plays back etc..

HD

OK I made the su -c "mkdir /mnt/usb"
fstab:

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
proc            /proc           proc    defaults        0       0
/dev/hda1       /               ext3    errors=remount-ro 0       1
/dev/hda5       none            swap    sw              0       0
/dev/hdc        /media/cdrom0   udf,iso9660 user,noauto     0       0
/dev/fd0        /media/floppy0  auto    rw,user,noauto  0       0
/dev/disk/by-id
/usb-UT163_USB_Flash_Disk_00000000001055-0:0-part1 /mnt/usb ntfs-3g users,rw,no$,rw,noauto,umask=000,relatime,silent 0 0

debian:~# mount /mnt/usb
ntfs-3g: Failed to access volume '/usb-UT163_USB_Flash_Disk_00000000001055-0:0-part1': No such file or directory
Please type '/sbin/mount.ntfs-3g --help' for more information.
debian:~# 

Again on the first install I did not have this issue, once I installed ntfs-3g I was able to look at the HD, the thumbdrive worked from the get go with no intervention.


NetworkManager
Tried the suggested and it still did not work, but we can work on that later, this HD thing is more important

jabirali

Sound

Logged out and back in and I now have sound

Great! One down, two to go...

Kind of weird because the first install it worked right away and this second I have to do all this extra stuff.

Actually, I think that's my fault... I noticed that I forgot to put '-a' (for "append"\) in the first usermod command - meaning that you were removed from every other group than netdev when you ran the command.

External Harddrive
I see the problem with the USB harddrive. You put this in /etc/fstab:

/usb-UT163_USB_Flash_Disk_00000000001055-0:0-part1 /mnt/usb ntfs-3g users,rw,no$,rw,noauto,umask=000,relatime,silent 0 0

It's supposed to be the following:

/dev/disk/by-id/usb-UT163_USB_Flash_Disk_00000000001055-0:0-part1 /mnt/usb ntfs-3g users,rw,noauto,umask=000,relatime,silent 0 0

[edit]
Upon closer inspection, I see that the contents of your /etc/fstab is in fact this:

/dev/disk/by-id
/usb-UT163_USB_Flash_Disk_00000000001055-0:0-part1 /mnt/usb ntfs-3g users,rw,noauto,umask=000,relatime,silent 0 0

You just have to remove all the whitespace between /dev/disk/by-id and /usb-(...)
[/edit]

Network

Tried the suggested and it still did not work, but we can work on that later, this HD thing is more important

OK, then we'll get back to that when the harddrive is working

mfilpot wrote:

In light of all of the work on this thread, I would like to thank Mac and Jabir for jumping in on this thread and others in the forum to assist others. Your contributions noticed and appreciated.

Thanks for the generous words

grammjr

Thumb drive and HD

OK, maybe my fault here.

What I have is 4G TD that is FAT32, one my first install this was recognized and accesses with no intervention on my part. This time it is not.
I also have a USB external HD that is NTFS.

Upon closer inspection, I see that the contents of your /etc/fstab is in fact this:
/dev/disk/by-id
/usb-UT163_USB_Flash_Disk_00000000001055-0:0-part1 /mnt/usb ntfs-3g users,rw,noauto,umask=000,relatime,silent 0 0
You just have to remove all the whitespace between /dev/disk/by-id and /usb-(...)

Did this, but still not working.
This is with the TD:

debian:~# mount /mnt/usb
NTFS signature is missing.
Failed to mount '/dev/sda1': Invalid argument
The device '/dev/sda1' doesn't have a valid NTFS.
Maybe you selected the wrong device? Or the whole disk instead of a
partition (e.g. /dev/hda, not /dev/hda1)? Or the other way around?

This is with the HD:

debian:~# mount /mnt/usb
ntfs-3g: Failed to access volume '/dev/disk/by-id/usb-UT163_USB_Flash_Disk_00000000001055-0:0-part1': No such file or directory
Please type '/sbin/mount.ntfs-3g --help' for more information.

As you can see when I plug them all in I have the TD, the USB we set up and HD (Jim Backup). The USB is there all the time with or without a drive installed.

[file name=Screenshot_gnome_mount.png size=39123]http://www.linux.com/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/files/Screenshot_gnome_mount.png[/file]

jabirali

Replace the previous entry in /etc/fstab with this:

/dev/sda1 /mnt/usb vfat,ntfs-3g users,rw,noauto,umask=000,relatime,silent 0 0

That should create a more general entry that works with both your external harddrives. If you intend to work with both harddrives at the same time, you can create another mountpoint and /etc/fstab-entry:

su -c "mkdir /mnt/usb2"

/dev/sdb1 /mnt/usb2 vfat,ntfs-3g users,rw,noauto,umask=000,relatime,silent 0 0

The reason it didn't work out of the box this time, must either be due to permissions issues, or due to problems with HAL. We might be able to fix the automounting; could you post the contents of the file /etc/group so we can check if these are more permissions-issues?

grammjr

OK, made the changes

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
proc            /proc           proc    defaults        0       0
/dev/hda1       /               ext3    errors=remount-ro 0       1
/dev/hda5       none            swap    sw              0       0
/dev/hdc        /media/cdrom0   udf,iso9660 user,noauto     0       0
/dev/fd0        /media/floppy0  auto    rw,user,noauto  0       0
/dev/sda1 /mnt/usb vfat,ntfs-3g users,rw,noauto,umask=000,relatime,silent 0 0
/dev/sdb1 /mnt/usb2 vfat,ntfs-3g users,rw,noauto,umask=000,relatime,silent 0 0

HD is working :cheer: The TD seems to be having a permissions issue.

debian:~# mount /mnt/usb
NTFS signature is missing.
Failed to mount '/dev/sda1': Invalid argument
The device '/dev/sda1' doesn't have a valid NTFS.
Maybe you selected the wrong device? Or the whole disk instead of a
partition (e.g. /dev/hda, not /dev/hda1)? Or the other way around?

debian:~# mount /mnt/usb2
debian:~# 

TD permisions:



Also the Jim Backup is now showing as a HD. I can access the Jim Backup , but I cannot open either of the usb/usb2 drives, I get the same permission denied as above when I try to access the TD.
[file name=Screenshot_Computer.png size=34550]http://www.linux.com/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/files/Screenshot_Computer.png[/file]

could you post the contents of the file /etc/group so we can check if these are more permissions-issues?

 GNU nano 2.0.7              File: /etc/group                                  
root:x:0:
daemon:x:1:
bin:x:2:
sys:x:3:
adm:x:4:
tty:x:5:
disk:x:6:
lp:x:7:
mail:x:8:
news:x:9:
uucp:x:10:
man:x:12:
proxy:x:13:
kmem:x:15:
dialout:x:20:
fax:x:21:
voice:x:22:
cdrom:x:24:
floppy:x:25:

We are one step closer..... :woohoo:

jabirali

It seems like only ntfs-3g understands the mount option silent, which made the system assume that none of your harddrives were formatted with vfat... Replace your fstab entries with these:

/dev/sda1 /mnt/usb vfat,ntfs-3g users,rw,noauto,umask=000,relatime 0 0
/dev/sdb1 /mnt/usb2 vfat,ntfs-3g users,rw,noauto,umask=000,relatime 0 0

After running both mount /mnt/usb and mount /mnt/usb2 as root, do you also get permission errors when you try to manually open the folders /mnt/usb and /mnt/usb2 in your file manager?

Also, we only got the first few lines of /etc/group... Can you post the rest? You can get the entire contents at once like this:

cat /etc/group

grammjr

Well this change made both drives work....
Code:
/dev/sda1 /mnt/usb vfat,ntfs-3g users,rw,noauto,umask=000,relatime 0 0
/dev/sdb1 /mnt/usb2 vfat,ntfs-3g users,rw,noauto,umask=000,relatime 0 0

debian:~# cat /etc/group
root:x:0:
daemon:x:1:
bin:x:2:
sys:x:3:
adm:x:4:
tty:x:5:
disk:x:6:
lp:x:7:
mail:x:8:
news:x:9:
uucp:x:10:
man:x:12:
proxy:x:13:
kmem:x:15:
dialout:x:20:
fax:x:21:
voice:x:22:
cdrom:x:24:
floppy:x:25:
tape:x:26:
sudo:x:27:
audio:x:29:jim
dip:x:30:
www-data:x:33:
backup:x:34:
operator:x:37:
list:x:38:
irc:x:39:
src:x:40:
gnats:x:41:
shadow:x:42:
utmp:x:43:
video:x:44:
sasl:x:45:
plugdev:x:46:
staff:x:50:
games:x:60:
users:x:100:
nogroup:x:65534:
libuuid:x:101:
crontab:x:102:
scanner:x:103:
ssl-cert:x:104:
Debian-exim:x:105:
mlocate:x:106:
ssh:x:107:
messagebus:x:108:
avahi-autoipd:x:109:
avahi:x:110:
netdev:x:111:
lpadmin:x:112:
gdm:x:113:
stb-admin:x:114:
haldaemon:x:115:
powerdev:x:116:
jim:x:1000:
debian:~# 

I can now read both drives and have sound.. but WOW LOL

grammjr

The drives will mount if plugged in when I reboot, but if I unplug them and replug them back they will not remount.

marc

grammjr wrote:

The drives will mount if plugged in when I reboot, but if I unplug them and replug them back they will not remount.

Did you remember to unmount ("umount /mnt/usb/") before unplugging them?

grammjr

No I did not unmount them, on my first install, I was able to unplug them and plug them back in and it automatically accessed them. I did not have to do anything special.

The TD will remount if I

unmount

it before unplugging, but the HD I have to go to root and mount /mnt/usb to get it to mount again. It will not auto mount when I plug it in.

It is a required thing to unmount in Linux?

There is a ton of information here in this thread, I am tempted now that I have this stuff working to try a new install and see if this stuff will set up automatically. What do you think?

jabirali

It seems like one of the previous usermod commands didn't have any effect; you're not currently a member of e.g. the group plugdev, which is required to automatically mount storage devices...

Let's try to add you to these groups, and see if it fixes anything:

su -c "usermod --append --groups adm,cdrom,audio,video,plugdev,games,users,lpadmin,netdev,scanner jim"

After running this command, you will have to relogin for the changes to take effect. Does this make automatic mounting of storage devices work again?

Unmounting storage devices is similar to the "safe removal" option in Windows; it forces all unsynchronized data to be written to the device before making the device unavailable to the system. The device often needs some time to synchronize metadata after you have written anything to it, so unmounting it properly lowers the risk of corruption and is thus considered good practice. In Gnome, you should be able to unmount a device by right-clicking it's icon on the desktop or in the file manager, and then selecting "Unmount" or "Eject".

I am tempted now that I have this stuff working to try a new install and see if this stuff will set up automatically. What do you think?

That is an option, but I think we're close to solving this now, so let's give it a couple of more days :P

grammjr

That is an option, but I think we're close to solving this now, so let's give it a couple of more days

OK I will wait, was going wait, just thinking ahead.. I am learning Linux... boy oh boy.. I am a 59 yr old man learning a new trick. :laugh:

OK, I entered the command:

debian:~# usermod --append --groups adm,cdrom,audio,video,plugdev,games,users,lpadmin,netdev,scanner jim
debian:~# 

Rebooted, the TD came up automatically, but not the HD, I unmounted the TD unplugged it and plugged it back in and it mounted. So I think the TD is OK.

In order to get HD to mount I have to go to root and command line it. It will still not do it automatically.

debian:~# mount /mnt/usb2
debian:~#

It mounts and I can access, I unmount it and unplug it and plug it back in it will not remount, until I do it from the command line then it will mount.

jabirali

Hmm... Usually, placing users in the /etc/fstab entry (like we did) should let you mount it without root permissions, but it seems like ntfs-3g is a special case since it is a FUSE module (Filesystem in Userspace) and not a regular filesystem driver.

Since the automounting is now working again, we could try commenting out the lines in /etc/fstab and pass all control over mounting back to HAL again and see if it works:

su -c "nano -w /etc/fstab"

#/dev/sda1 /mnt/usb vfat,ntfs-3g users,rw,noauto,umask=000,relatime 0 0
 #/dev/sdb1 /mnt/usb2 vfat,ntfs-3g users,rw,noauto,umask=000,relatime 0 0

grammjr

OK commented out the lines

#/dev/sda1 /mnt/usb vfat,ntfs-3g users,rw,noauto,umask=000,relatime 0 0 
 #/dev/sdb1 /mnt/usb2 vfat,ntfs-3g users,rw,noauto,umask=000,relatime 0 0

and the TD and HD automatically mount. All seems to be working.
Even a hot unplug, unplugging without unmounting is working just like in the first install.
Did not even have to reboot.

jabirali

That's great news! Now we're finally back to the problems on page 2 of the thread, haha :P

So, where were we regarding the wireless network... Does iwlist wlan0 scan still work?

marc

grammjr wrote:

OK commented out the lines

#/dev/sda1 /mnt/usb vfat,ntfs-3g users,rw,noauto,umask=000,relatime 0 0 
 #/dev/sdb1 /mnt/usb2 vfat,ntfs-3g users,rw,noauto,umask=000,relatime 0 0

and the TD and HD automatically mount. All seems to be working.
Even a hot unplug, unplugging without unmounting is working just like in the first install.
Did not even have to reboot.

I seriously encourage you to umount/eject the device before unplugging it.

grammjr

Yes the iwlist wlan0 scan works and I am sending through the wireless adapter, how ever it still does not show in NETWORK MANAGER. The RADAR tool will pick up the sites so that one works.
So I still have a problem with it being detected by NETWORK MANAGER. I have 2 routers to get the signal through the house so the scan was correct.
What do you need to see?

debian:~# iwlist wlan0 scan
wlan0     Scan completed :
          Cell 01 - Address: 00:02:6F:61:7F:D7
                    ESSID:"Hey"
                    Mode:Master
                    Channel:9
                    Frequency:2.452 GHz (Channel 9)
                    Quality=46/100  Signal level=-82 dBm  
                    Encryption key:on
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s
                              11 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s
                              48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Extra:tsf=0000008fde4e56aa
          Cell 02 - Address: 00:24:01:72:92:29
                    ESSID:"Hey"
                    Mode:Master
                    Channel:9
                    Frequency:2.452 GHz (Channel 9)
                    Quality=54/100  Signal level=-36 dBm  
                    Encryption key:on
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s
                              9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s
                              48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Extra:tsf=000000a7eff6df68

I seriously encourage you to umount/eject the device before unplugging it.

I hear you but I had to test it to see if it would work as if should and it did. unmount/reject is the best and safest way to do it, I agree.

jabirali

I'm sorry about the late reply, I've been busy with my exams lately

Network-manager should come with a system tray applet that lets you select wireless networks from a drop-down list. Are you sure that the package network-manager-gnome is installed? You could always try reinstalling it just in case

su -c "apt-get install network-manager-gnome"

Then try logging out and in again. Does that make a network management applet show up in your system tray? In that case, left-clicking on that icon should give you a list of available wireless networks

If that applet doesn't show up by itself, you can try running it manually:

nm-applet

If the command gives an error, please post it here. If it doesn't, but the applet still won't show up in the system tray, the system tray might actually be missing; in that case, it can be re-added by right-clicking your panel, clicking Add Applet or something like that and selecting Notification Area.