Problem Accessing CDROM drive 2

[xiskewl]

Hello there, got a problem here

I am running Mandrake 8.0

For the 3rd time(after reinstalling Mandrake8 3 times), i am having this problem of not being able to access my CDROM drive(with CD inside of course), when i actually *could* fresh after installation. But after some time, it juz seems to stop working.

I didn't do anything at all(such as tampering with the /etc/fstab file) coz i got this problem twice & now, here it is again.

Here is my current /etc/fstab:

/dev/hda5 / ext2 defaults 1 1
none /dev/pts devpts mode=0620 0 0
/dev/hda7 /home ext2 defaults 1 2
/mnt/cdrom /mnt/cdrom supermount exec,dev,suid,ro,fs=iso9660 0 0
/mnt/floppy /mnt/floppy supermount fs=vfat,dev=/dev/fd0 0 0
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/hda8 /usr ext2 defaults 1 2
/dev/hda6 swap swap defaults 0 0

I notice on booting, the cdROM works, as when i pop a linux installation cd in, it reads proper. But after this, it doesn't work anymore.

Also, i am noticing in all 3 cases that, when i tried to access /dev/cdrom, an error msg appears saying:

***Unable to enter file:/mnt/cdrom/.
***You do not have access rights to this location.

Doing this as root makes.no difference.

Going into BASH as root & trying to access /mnt/cdrom gives:

**bash: cd: /mnt/cdrom: Input/output error

Furthermore, upon trying to access it, it accesses the Floppy Drive instead(the LED lights up & can hear the sound of the floppydrive being accessed). But nothing was being referenced to my floppy drive in the configurations !!!
Then after trying, an error msg says: Could not enter directory /mnt/cdrom

I am getting rather disappointed with Mandrake 8 with this problem. Hope somebody can please help me solve it, Or....it's onto another reinstallation again. Or no CD access while in Linux =(

Sometimes i think Windoze is more stable when it comes to daily usage. But i like Linux...Sigh...

 

[amikeliunas]

Hi xiskewl:

Have you tried a manual mount in a DIFFERENT directory? Do you have a /mnt/cdrom ???
TRY THE FOLLOWING:
mkdir /cdrom
mount /dev/cdrom /cdrom
ls -lR /cdrom
DOES THIS WORK????

The problem is really supermount making some interesting assumptions for you. Don't forget that you're dealing with MDK 8.0 (most .0 have bugs). From the behaviour you describe
supermount is not behaving properly. There is nothing wrong with your CD or Linux, just a misbehaved utility. My /etc/fstab for the CDrom is very simple: /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom iso9660 noauto,owner,ro 0 0
and I have created an icon on my desktop (under KDE, right click and select New, file system device) that I can right click and select "mount". Under Linux, your mount has to exist before you can mount stuff to. Good luck!

 

[MrTom]

sounds like strange behaviour.

the fact that your problem makes the floppy lights go suggests that the /dev/cdrom is wrong. i can't remember how mandrake does things but /dev/cdrom is sometimes (always?) just a symlink to the actual cdrom device - that is the file just points to another that is the real device.

if you do an ls -l /dev/cdrom you'll see what it points to. it is most likely pointing to the wrong place - this could happen if you changed some bios setting or moved some hardware around and mandrake hasn't adapted.

instead of issuing a mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/...

umount /mnt/cdrom then try mounting all ide devices starting with /dev/hdb then hdc and so on. eventually you should have a succesful mount. most common ide desktops will have the cdrom at /dev/hdc

 

[xiskewl]

Alright!!
Thanks amikeliunas & MrTom, u have pointed me in the correct direction,indeed it is the supermount that is the culprit.

Removing supermount & mounting manually works perfect now

Now my fstab for the cdrom drive is juz:

/dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom auto user,noauto,exec,ro 0 0

Doing this with the floppydrive works perfect too

/dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto user,noauto,exec,rw 0,0

***Question is: Why is it that supermount messes it all up??

(supermount instead of auto in /etc/fstab)

 

[GeraldnBR]

I have the old computer Win 3.1. I formatted it and all. I reinstalled MS-DOS 6 and the CDROM drive is not working any more. Help! I have no idea what brand of CDROM drive is.

 

[ErikZ]

You're asking DOS questions on the Linux forum? Not only that, but you added to a completed thread instead of starting your own!