using external hd in Ubuntu

[BattleToad]

I have Ubuntu installed on a system and I want to use my IRiver H320 (20GB Multimedia Player) with it. It connects via USB.

The reason why I want to use it with it, is because until recently, the drive worked fine in windows, and then one day, window's failed to recognize it, tried everything, multiple machines, nothing, windows just wouldnt recognize it, would just come up as unknown USB device. I made a thread about it to try and resolve the issue, but no luck. Googled for weeks, did a fresh install, wiped the player, nothing resolved it.

So my only hope that my beloved investment isnt just a very expensive paperweight, is Linux.

I'm pretty much a Linux nub, so excuse me if I say anything dumb. I've read up on people using my same device with linux but cant seem to get it resolved, found out that when someone else connected the same player I had Ubuntu automounted it and just placed it on the desktop, which doesnt seem to be happening for me.

When I run lsusb I get this:

noah@tara:~$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

And this guy using Mandrake seemed to be getting similar output from running "tail /var/log/messages", for which I recieve:

noah@tara:~$ tail /var/log/messages
Jan 25 09:35:49 localhost -- MARK --
Jan 25 09:36:32 localhost kernel: [4334885.039000] usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 14
Jan 25 09:36:32 localhost kernel: [4334885.451000] usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 15
Jan 25 09:36:33 localhost kernel: [4334885.863000] usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 16
Jan 25 09:36:33 localhost kernel: [4334886.335000] usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 17
Jan 25 09:55:49 localhost -- MARK --
Jan 25 10:00:03 localhost kernel: [4336296.289000] usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 18
Jan 25 10:00:03 localhost kernel: [4336296.729000] usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 19
Jan 25 10:00:04 localhost kernel: [4336297.141000] usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 20
Jan 25 10:00:04 localhost kernel: [4336297.613000] usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 21

The person whos tail /var/log/messages output looked similar (to me at least) said he fixed the problem like this:

just so you all know.. and for future refference...
I've fixed it...

its a known problem with interrupt allocation between certain USB controllers and the APIC (advanced programmable interrupt controller?) subsystem. Some additional references, courtesy of Google:

http://seclists.org/lists/linux-kern.../May/2621.html
http://www.ussg.iu.edu/hypermail/lin...04.2/0476.html

the fix...??

in the boot options for linux append with the argument..

pci=noapic

If you guys think that his fix would solve my problem, then how might I edit my boot options so I can change the pci=noapic? Told you I was a linux nub, haha. Thanks in advance for the help. I'd be more than happy to run any commands and post output here if it would help, I want my mp3 player back!

[Epyon9283]

Were all those lines in /var/log/messages from connecting the device one time or did you try connecting it multiple times? Do you have another usb device to try connecting?

Using pci=noapic shouldn't hurt anything so you might as well try it. The file you'll have to edit is called menu.lst and it should be somewhere in /boot.
In that file you'll see a line that kind of looks like this:
kernel (hd0,1)/boot/vmlinuz

At the end of that line add pci=noapic.

[BattleToad]

i had plugged it in and unplugged it a few times, so thats from multiple. added the pci=noapic and rebooted. then plugged in my usb flash drive and ran a lsusb:

noah@tara:~$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0930:6532 Toshiba Corp.
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

then a tail /var/log/messages:

noah@tara:~$ tail /var/log/messages
Jan 25 14:02:37 localhost usb.agent[7686]: usb-storage: loaded successfully
Jan 25 14:02:42 localhost kernel: [4294878.463000] Vendor: Kingston Model: DataTraveler 2.0 Rev: 1.00
Jan 25 14:02:42 localhost kernel: [4294878.463000] Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Jan 25 14:02:42 localhost kernel: [4294878.677000] SCSI device sda: 494592 512-byte hdwr sectors (253 MB)
Jan 25 14:02:42 localhost kernel: [4294878.680000] sda: Write Protect is off
Jan 25 14:02:42 localhost kernel: [4294878.702000] SCSI device sda: 494592 512-byte hdwr sectors (253 MB)
Jan 25 14:02:42 localhost kernel: [4294878.705000] sda: Write Protect is off
Jan 25 14:02:42 localhost kernel: [4294878.705000] /dev/scsi/host0/bus0/target0/lun0: p1
Jan 25 14:02:42 localhost kernel: [4294878.717000] Attached scsi removable disk sda at scsi0, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
Jan 25 14:02:42 localhost scsi.agent[7745]: sd_mod: loaded sucessfully (for disk)

which seems to load right, attaches it as sda.

then plugged in my iRiver and ran lsusb:

noah@tara:~$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0930:6532 Toshiba Corp.
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

the flash drive is still plugged into port two, so, im guessing its not recognizing the drive since device 001 isnt changing?

the tail /var/log/messages report is:

noah@tara:~$ tail /var/log/messages
Jan 25 14:02:42 localhost kernel: [4294878.680000] sda: Write Protect is off
Jan 25 14:02:42 localhost kernel: [4294878.702000] SCSI device sda: 494592 512-byte hdwr sectors (253 MB)
Jan 25 14:02:42 localhost kernel: [4294878.705000] sda: Write Protect is off
Jan 25 14:02:42 localhost kernel: [4294878.705000] /dev/scsi/host0/bus0/target0/lun0: p1
Jan 25 14:02:42 localhost kernel: [4294878.717000] Attached scsi removable disk sda at scsi0, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
Jan 25 14:02:42 localhost scsi.agent[7745]: sd_mod: loaded sucessfully (for disk)
Jan 25 14:03:42 localhost kernel: [4294939.224000] usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 3
Jan 25 14:03:43 localhost kernel: [4294939.737000] usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 4
Jan 25 14:03:43 localhost kernel: [4294940.148000] usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 5
Jan 25 14:03:44 localhost kernel: [4294940.620000] usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 6

so the last 4 entries are for just the mp3 player, which its not recognizing? why is it showing up 4 times?

[BattleToad]

bumpage.