USB flash drive not automounting or mounting

[Rob Blomquist <rob.blomquist@verizon.net>]

I asked this earlier, and several asked for more information about what is 
going or not going on on my system. I am trying to figure out if something is 
missing, or if something needs manual configuration on my system.

Here's the output from lsmod | grep usb:
usb_storage            69056  0
usbserial              29896  1 visor
usbhid                 32224  0
usbcore               118980  8 
usb_storage,visor,usbserial,usbhid,ehci_hcd,ohci_hcd
ide_core              139940  5 
usb_storage,ide_cd,ide_generic,ide_disk,amd74xx
scsi_mod              125228  3 usb_storage,sd_mod,libata

Here's what happens when my PNY 256Mb flash drive is inserted:
Feb  5 13:16:31 localhost kernel: usb 3-5: new high speed USB device using 
address 31
Feb  5 13:16:31 localhost kernel: scsi6 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage 
devices
Feb  5 13:16:31 localhost kernel:   Vendor: PNY       Model: USB 2.0 FD        
Rev: 1.13
Feb  5 13:16:31 localhost kernel:   Type:   Direct-Access                      
ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Feb  5 13:16:31 localhost kernel: SCSI device sdb: 487424 512-byte hdwr 
sectors(250 MB)
Feb  5 13:16:31 localhost kernel: sdb: assuming Write Enabled
Feb  5 13:16:31 localhost kernel:  /dev/scsi/host6/bus0/target0/lun0: p1
Feb  5 13:16:31 localhost kernel: Attached scsi removable disk sdb at scsi6, 
channel 0, id 0, lun 0

And that's where it ends. I would think that something should now pick it up 
and automount it. Let me try to mount it:
# mount -t vfat /dev/sdb /media/flash
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sdb,
       missing codepage or other error
       In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
       dmesg | tail  or so

# dmesg | tail
usb 3-5: new high speed USB device using address 31
scsi6 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
  Vendor: PNY       Model: USB 2.0 FD        Rev: 1.13
  Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 02
SCSI device sdb: 487424 512-byte hdwr sectors (250 MB)
sdb: assuming Write Enabled
sdb: assuming drive cache: write through
 /dev/scsi/host6/bus0/target0/lun0: p1
Attached scsi removable disk sdb at scsi6, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
USB Mass Storage device found at 31

# mount -t ntfs /dev/sdb /media/flash
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sdb,
       missing codepage or other error
       In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
       dmesg | tail  or so

# dmesg | tail
  Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 02
SCSI device sdb: 487424 512-byte hdwr sectors (250 MB)
sdb: assuming Write Enabled
sdb: assuming drive cache: write through
 /dev/scsi/host6/bus0/target0/lun0: p1
Attached scsi removable disk sdb at scsi6, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
USB Mass Storage device found at 31
NTFS-fs error (device sdb): read_ntfs_boot_sector(): Primary boot sector is 
invalid.
NTFS-fs error (device sdb): read_ntfs_boot_sector(): Mount option 
errors=recover not used. Aborting without trying to recover.
NTFS-fs error (device sdb): ntfs_fill_super(): Not an NTFS volume.

Now, just for yucks I added the following line to /etc/fstab:
/dev/sdb       /media/flash     auto    rw,user,noauto 0 0

#mount /dev/sdb
mount: you must specify the filesystem type

Here's lsmod again just to compare:
# lsmod| grep usb
usb_storage            69056  0
usbserial              29896  1 visor
usbhid                 32224  0
usbcore               118980  8 
usb_storage,visor,usbserial,usbhid,ehci_hcd,ohci_hcd
ide_core              139940  5 
usb_storage,ide_cd,ide_generic,ide_disk,amd74xx
scsi_mod              125228  3 usb_storage,sd_mod,libata


Ok from all this, I wonder if the drive is corrupt. It is connected. Why can't 
I manually mount it? I don't know. Why doesn't something try to automount it 
for me?

Beyond this, I know not what to do other than to try it on another computer. 
Your suggestions would be appreciated.

Rob



-- 
Mountlake Terrace, WA, USA