Re: floppy in kernel 2.6: is not a block device
On Wednesday 29 September 2004 21:53, Dan Jacobson wrote:
> Can't use my floppy drive in Linux 2.6.
> G> As root in /dev type: MAKEDEV floppy
> ./MAKEDEV: don't know how to make device "floppy"
> G> Another piece, is "udev" installed?
> OK, I installed it and rebooted.
> G> If it is, it should create those auto-magically.
> No it didn't. ls /dev/f* shows none. Now trying
> ./MAKEDEV fd0
> shows lots of supposed action, but ls doesn't show any changes.
> On a second run there is no output, so supposedly its changes are
> registered somewhere. Maybe I have to reboot to see them too...
> G> Or you can manually use "mknod" to create them.
> G> Here is my listing for /dev/fd0:
> G> brw-rw---- 1 root floppy 2, 0 2003-11-12 09:24 /dev/fd0
> G> That would be:
> G> mknod --mode=0660 /dev/fd0 b 2 0
> Done. However still,
> mount: /dev/fd0 is not a valid block device
> OK, that's better than the earlier
> mount: special device /dev/fd0 does not exist
> no help from modprobe ide-floppy and floppy either.
> I was able to use the floppy in Linux 2.4. Not in 2.6.
>
> In fact, I now notice using reboot(8) no longer reboots, just hangs
> ttys. pstree shows it is stuck doing "shutdown -r 0 w". I will remove
> udev forthwith. A second try hung my last tty and I had to walk over
> to press a hard reset. Geez. I notice purging udev leaves files
> behind. Their name flew off my screen and now I won't ever be able to
> find them without repeating an install/purge.
>
> Ok, now rebooting again, luckily with no filesystem damage after the
> hard reboot, I see all the /dev/fd* stuff is indeed there. However,
> as much as I try, /dev/fd0 is not a valid block device.
I use 2.6, and udev, and my floppy works with
the /lib/modules/2.6.6-1-686/kernel/drivers/block/floppy.ko module. Did
you try that module without using ide-floppy at the same time? When I try
"modprobe floppy ide-floppy" I get an error message indicating ide-floppy
is not a valid option for modprobe floppy. What is the output when you use
just modprobe floppy?
When your module initializes correctly, you'll get a message like this:
inserting floppy driver for <kernel version>
floppy drive(s): fd0 is 1.44M
FDC 0 is a post-1991 82077
If you didn't get that middle line, then your floppy drive won't work. Once
the module is loaded, udev will create the device node. I believe devfs
will as well. If you don't have either of those, then manually creating
the device node should work. You're getting errors with your device node
because your driver isn't working.
Note that the above is my guess that you need the floppy driver, not the
ide-floppy driver. Open your case and take a look: how is your floppy
connected? To its own bus, or to the ide bus? That will tell you what you
need.
Hope that helps,
Justin Guerin
p.s. I copied you because it's been so long since you posted. Hope that's
OK.
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