Re: USB stick umount locks up machine
On Sun, Feb 24, 2008 at 09:11:34PM +0000, postid wrote:
> When I unmount a USB memory stick my machine becomes completely
> unresponsive. I can't access a console and even the sysreq key sequences
> don't work. I end up shutting it down with the power button.
>
> My /etc/fstab has this line:
>
> # <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
> /dev/sda1 /media/usb auto rw,user,noauto 0 0
>
> This is an IBM R40 laptop running Sarge.
>
> Any ideas for using USB sticks successfully?
>
> (Yes, I'll upgrade to Etch eventually, but right now I'm too busy for that.)
>
> Please CC me as I'm not currently subscribed.
[done]
Since this is Sarge, is it safe to assume that this is all being done
manually, or there some HAL or other auto-mount daemon involved?
Assuming manual: (never having used an amd I'd be lost)
You need to see the syslog at the same time as the unmount happens.
Whenever I'm diagnosing a system freeze like this, I stop X to to take a
big variable out of the picture. That leaves you at a VT.
Ideally, you'd set up a serial console to log everything going to the
console, and using sysctl.conf, allow all kernel messages to be printed
on the console. Then from a VT, issue the umount command (of course
ensuring that the stick is free) and watch the console.
If you can't hook up a serial console, I'd try using either 'at' or even
sleep 1m; umount [stick] on one VT while you switch to the VT running
tail -f /var/log/syslog and watch what happens.
I didn't get anything USB until after I was running Etch so I don't know
how well Sarge handled things like USB sticks. Are modules being loaded
or unloaded properly?
Good luck.
Doug.
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