Bug 9904 - Installer (diskdrake) does not recognize removable drives
Summary: Installer (diskdrake) does not recognize removable drives
Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 14435
Alias: None
Product: Mageia
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Installer (show other bugs)
Version: Cauldron
Hardware: x86_64 Linux
Priority: Normal normal
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Mageia Bug Squad
QA Contact:
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2013-04-28 23:19 CEST by Frank Griffin
Modified: 2015-05-18 04:37 CEST (History)
3 users (show)

See Also:
Source RPM:
CVE:
Status comment:


Attachments
report.bug (141.29 KB, text/plain)
2013-04-30 20:55 CEST, Frank Griffin
Details

Description Frank Griffin 2013-04-28 23:19:11 CEST
I'm trying to install a bare-bones MGA system on a USB Flash Drive with two partitions: one small partition (to contain the installed system + grub), and one large one to (kater) contain a mirror of the cauldron/x86_64 distro tree.

I plug in the USB drive and the BIOS recognizes it, because I can go into the BIOS alternate boot menu and select the USB drive.  But if I boot isolinux from a hard disk parition and select "Custom" from the disk configuration choice menu, diskdrake comes up and soes not show the removable drive.

If I boot a current cauldron system from the laptop harddrive with the USB drive inserted, the disk and its partitions are seen just fine.

Why does the install not recognize removable drives as valid target locations for the install ?

Reproducible: 

Steps to Reproduce:
Comment 1 claire robinson 2013-04-29 01:19:08 CEST
Probably linked to bug 9697
Comment 2 Thierry Vignaud 2013-04-30 15:55:37 CEST
Please try again. Once you've got to the custom view with a USB key attached, go to second console (alt+ctrl+f2), then run the "bug" command.
You should then have a report.bug file on your USB key.
Please attach it to this report.

Keywords: (none) => NEEDINFO
CC: (none) => thierry.vignaud

Comment 3 Frank Griffin 2013-04-30 16:49:08 CEST
The install system seems to have lost USB recognition by that point.  When I either boot with the key plugged in, or remove it and re-plug it, when I type "bug" I get the following on tty2:

ask_from_list: empty list
interactive::ask_from_listf_raw() called from /usr/lib/libDrakX/interactive.pm:282
interactive::ask_from_listf() called from /usr/lib/libDrakX/install/commands.pm:404
install::commands::bug() called from /usr/bin/bug:16

Nothing is written to the USB key.  Prior to using it, I wrote an empty MBR with fdisk "o", and created and formatted as ext4 a new partition on the key.

tty3 has the same thing, preceded by 

* running: /sbin/modprobe floppy
* running: /sbin/modprobe -n floppy

and tty4 shows "no floppy controllers found", but no reaction at all to plugging or unplugging the USB key.

"lsmod | grep usb" on tty2 gives:

usbhid     0
hid        2 hid_generic,usbhid
usbcore    2 usbhid,xhci_hcd
usb-common 1 usbcore
Comment 4 Thierry Vignaud 2013-04-30 17:08:30 CEST
You can mount it manually (just load usb-storage) then copy /tmp/ddebug.log on it, then umount it
Comment 5 Frank Griffin 2013-04-30 17:46:59 CEST
I modprobe'd usb-storage and got:

   Initializaing USB Mass Storage driver
   usbcore: registered new interfce driver usb-storage
   USB Mass Storage support registered

on tty4, but no indication that any devices were created.

"ls /dev/sd*" only shows the partitions on the /dev/sda hard drive.  So there doesn't appear to be anything to mount !
Comment 6 Thierry Vignaud 2013-04-30 17:51:55 CEST
Either there's an issue with udev or your key isn't formated.

CC: (none) => mageia

Comment 7 Frank Griffin 2013-04-30 17:57:03 CEST
I formatted the key on a different cauldron system, and it is recognized fine there, by fdisk, diskdrake, File Manager, etc.  Also, KDE device notification detects the filesystem on /dev/sdb1.

Maybe if I loaded usb-storage earlier in the boot ?
Comment 8 Frank Griffin 2013-04-30 18:34:45 CEST
I've tried two separate keys, both of which work fine in the same USB socket on the same machine with cauldron booted, and also a USB Floppy Drive.

I also tried loading usb-storage right after the language panel came up.

Poking around in ddebug.log with "head", I see:

   * setting probeall usb-interface to xhci_hcd
   * running /sbin/modprobe ehci_pci
   modprobe: FATAL: module ehci_pci not found
   * setting probeall usb-interface to xhci_hcd ehci_pci

No other USB-related stuff.  Eventually, it runs "blkid" for /dev/loop0 and every partition on /dev/sda.

Oddly enough, when I try modprobe'ing ehci-hcd from BusyBox, it loads fine.  But nothing USB is seen.

It's got to be udev, because the /dev/sdb* devices aren't getting created.  If it were a formatting problem, the /dev/sdb device would at least be seen and created even if the MBR couldn't be read to see /dev/sdb1.
Thierry Vignaud 2013-04-30 18:46:08 CEST

CC: (none) => tmb

Comment 9 Frank Griffin 2013-04-30 19:34:45 CEST
OK, I think i've got it.

The problem is that I am booting isolinux directly from a hard drive partition.  If I boot boot.iso from a USB key, I get a bunch of the expected USB messages on tty4 about "new device found".  The devices are all found off of the EHCI Host controller.

The bit above about the failure to load ehci_hcd is significant.  Obviously, the set of available modules when that error occurred is not the same as the set available when I did the modprobe manually, and the core ofthe problem is that ehci_hcd is not available at the earlier time when booting isolinux, but *is* available when boot.iso is booted.

I'm not sure what accounts for the difference.
Comment 10 Thierry Vignaud 2013-04-30 20:31:25 CEST
What do you mean by "booting isolinux directly from a hard drive"?
Do you mean you added an entry to your bootloader with vmlinuz + all.rdz from isolinux/alt0/?
Note they must absolutely be in synch.
Comment 11 Frank Griffin 2013-04-30 20:53:16 CEST
You nailed it.

I mirror the cauldron/x86_64/isolinux directory on all of my systems, and use a grub entry like:

title isolinux
kernel (hd0,6)/cauldron/x86_64/isolinux/alt0/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=isolinux acpi=on resume=/dev/sda5 vga=791
initrd (hd0,6)/cauldron/x86_64/isolinux/alt0/all.rdz

The vmlinuz and all.rdz were absolutely in sync with each other, but not with the full mirror, as the isolinux sync had not been done recently.  So it was an outdated isolinux working with an up-to-date cauldron mirror.

I re-sync'd, and now "bug" finds the drive.

So, I've got a report.bug and will attach it.  But the original problem still occurs: diskdrake doesn't show the USB drive.
Comment 12 Frank Griffin 2013-04-30 20:55:39 CEST
Created attachment 3855 [details]
report.bug
Comment 13 Dick Gevers 2014-12-02 21:15:09 CET
'Needinfo' fulfilled !

Keywords: NEEDINFO => (none)

Comment 14 Thierry Vignaud 2015-05-18 04:37:39 CEST
Presumed to be fixed

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 14435 ***

Status: NEW => RESOLVED
Resolution: (none) => DUPLICATE


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