(SOLVED) Missing CD/DVD device in Squeeze

[MH]

I've been testing Squeeze to determine whether KDE4 is finally suitable for my primary machine. Everything seems to be working fine except for detection of IDE devices. My CD/DVD drive no longer automounts and the reason seems to be that no device is being created. My Lenny system detects the drive as /dev/hda, but no such device exists in Squeeze. During boot, Squeeze appears to detect the drive as /dev/sr0 (according to dmesg), but in fact that device does not exist either.

BTW--I'm actually running the Lenny kernel, as I am unable to compile my Ralink wireless driver (rt2860sta) using the Squeeze kernel. Also, for inquiring minds, I use removable HDD drive bays on my systems to simplify testing.

[mzilikazi]

What does this tell you?

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dmesg|grep CD-ROM

and/or

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dmesg|grep DVD

[MH]

I'm not currently running my test system, so I can't show you the exact output of dmesg, but as I noted in my <original> post, dmesg tells me the CD/DVD is using <sr0> but that device does not exist in /dev.

[MH]

Very strange stuff here. Still no CD/DVD devices. I even recompiled the kernel with ATA/IDE support built in, and double checked to see the module for IDE CDROM was included. I discovered that although the module "cdrom" exists, it is not being loaded. Unfortunately, manually loading doesn't result in a device being created (hda--my disk partitions are sda1, sda2, sda3).

My external USB device is no longer being detected either. It was hit or miss previously, but now nothing. I laugh whenever I read how debian testing is more stable than most other distros--not. Never had an installation of testing that didn't have serious problems.

BTW--grub2 is an abomination. Made my system unbootable, and of course I had no idea how to fix it other than by removing it, which was itself non trivial. Why is debian intent on forcing it down user's throats?

[MH]

I discovered that Ralink has released a new driver for my wireless card, so I decided to compile and reinstall the testing kernel, hoping that both the new driver would get my wireless backk and the newer kernel might get my CD/DVD and USB working again. Success with the former, failure with the latter. Still no device found for my CD/DVD. The kernel will mount a USB thumbdrive, but not my external USB HDD or my USB DVD. Mysterious stuff. I actually seem to have more kernel related problems than KDE related problems. That's something I certainly did not expect. I'm actually enjoying KDE 4.3.3. Takes a little getting used to, but it most ways it seems to be a step forward in interface design. It certainly looks nice! If I could solve the CD/DVD and USB issues I'd consider making the switch from Lenny.

[MH]

If not, I can't believe someone else hasn't experienced this problem. Anyway, for what it's worth, here's what I've been able to discover:

Immediately after boot dmesg shows the following:

jdoe@squeeze:~> dmesg | grep cdrom
jdoe@squeeze:~> dmesg | grep dvd
jdoe@squeeze:~>

And this is what's in my /dev directory:

jdoe@squeeze:~> ls /dev
adsp kmsg psaux tty11 tty31 tty51 vcs
audio log ptmx tty12 tty32 tty52 vcs1
autofs loop0 pts tty13 tty33 tty53 vcs2
block loop1 random tty14 tty34 tty54 vcs3
bsg loop2 root tty15 tty35 tty55 vcs4
bus loop3 rtc tty16 tty36 tty56 vcs5
char loop4 rtc0 tty17 tty37 tty57 vcs6
console loop5 sda tty18 tty38 tty58 vcs7
core loop6 sda1 tty19 tty39 tty59 vcsa
cpu_dma_latency loop7 sda2 tty2 tty4 tty6 vcsa1
disk MAKEDEV sda3 tty20 tty40 tty60 vcsa2
dsp mcelog shm tty21 tty41 tty61 vcsa3
fd mem snapshot tty22 tty42 tty62 vcsa4
fd0 mixer snd tty23 tty43 tty63 vcsa5
full net sndstat tty24 tty44 tty7 vcsa6
fw0 network_latency stderr tty25 tty45 tty8 vcsa7
hidraw0 network_throughput stdin tty26 tty46 tty9
vga_arbiter
hidraw1 null stdout tty27 tty47 ttyS0 xconsole
hidraw2 nvidia0 tty tty28 tty48 ttyS1 zero
hpet nvidiactl tty0 tty29 tty49 ttyS2
initctl port tty1 tty3 tty5 ttyS3
input ppp tty10 tty30 tty50 urandom

Loading a CD/DVD into my local IDE CD/DVD-RW changes nothing, but when I turn
on my attached external USB HDD with CD/DVD-RW (IDE) these are the contents of
/dev:

jdoe@squeeze:~> ls /dev
adsp initctl psaux stdout tty29 tty50 vcs1
audio input ptmx tty tty3 tty51 vcs2
autofs kmsg pts tty0 tty30 tty52 vcs3
block log random tty1 tty31 tty53 vcs4
bsg loop0 root tty10 tty32 tty54 vcs5
bus loop1 rtc tty11 tty33 tty55 vcs6
cdrom3 loop2 rtc0 tty12 tty34 tty56 vcs7
cdrw3 loop3 scd0 tty13 tty35 tty57 vcsa
char loop4 sda tty14 tty36 tty58 vcsa1
console loop5 sda1 tty15 tty37 tty59 vcsa2
core loop6 sda2 tty16 tty38 tty6 vcsa3
cpu_dma_latency loop7 sda3 tty17 tty39 tty60 vcsa4
disk MAKEDEV sdb tty18 tty4 tty61 vcsa5
dsp mcelog sdb1 tty19 tty40 tty62 vcsa6
dvd3 mem sg0 tty2 tty41 tty63 vcsa7
dvdrw3 mixer sg1 tty20 tty42 tty7
vga_arbiter
fd net sg2 tty21 tty43 tty8 xconsole
fd0 network_latency shm tty22 tty44 tty9 zero
full network_throughput snapshot tty23 tty45 ttyS0
fw0 null snd tty24 tty46 ttyS1
hidraw0 nvidia0 sndstat tty25 tty47 ttyS2
hidraw1 nvidiactl sr0 tty26 tty48 ttyS3
hidraw2 port stderr tty27 tty49 urandom
hpet ppp stdin tty28 tty5 vcs

If I then insert a CD/DVD into my external USB combo device these are the
contents of /dev:

jdoe@squeeze:~> ls /dev
adsp initctl psaux stdout tty29 tty50 vcs1
audio input ptmx tty tty3 tty51 vcs2
autofs kmsg pts tty0 tty30 tty52 vcs3
block log random tty1 tty31 tty53 vcs4
bsg loop0 root tty10 tty32 tty54 vcs5
bus loop1 rtc tty11 tty33 tty55 vcs6
cdrom3 loop2 rtc0 tty12 tty34 tty56 vcs7
cdrw3 loop3 scd0 tty13 tty35 tty57 vcsa
char loop4 sda tty14 tty36 tty58 vcsa1
console loop5 sda1 tty15 tty37 tty59 vcsa2
core loop6 sda2 tty16 tty38 tty6 vcsa3
cpu_dma_latency loop7 sda3 tty17 tty39 tty60 vcsa4
disk MAKEDEV sdb tty18 tty4 tty61 vcsa5
dsp mcelog sdb1 tty19 tty40 tty62 vcsa6
dvd3 mem sg0 tty2 tty41 tty63 vcsa7
dvdrw3 mixer sg1 tty20 tty42 tty7
vga_arbiter
fd net sg2 tty21 tty43 tty8 xconsole
fd0 network_latency shm tty22 tty44 tty9 zero
full network_throughput snapshot tty23 tty45 ttyS0
fw0 null snd tty24 tty46 ttyS1
hidraw0 nvidia0 sndstat tty25 tty47 ttyS2
hidraw1 nvidiactl sr0 tty26 tty48 ttyS3
hidraw2 port stderr tty27 tty49 urandom
hpet ppp stdin tty28 tty5 vcs

Both the external HDD and external CD/DVD will automount, though I believe this
only happens when running the squeeze kernel. I don't think this was always
happening with the lenny kernel, but I've recompiled and swapped out kernels so
often I can't be sure. It may also have been a problem with the stock squeeze
kernel (I running a custom squeeze kernel now so as to accommodate my ralink
wireless card).

Note the missing devices in the first section above, the additon of /dev/sdb
and /dev/sdb1 in the second section, and the addition of /dev/sr0 in the third
section. Even more interesting is are the numerous links to /dev/sr0 including:

cdrom3
cdrw3
dvd3
dvdrw3

What happened to cdrom, cdrom0, cdrom1, cdrom2 and so on? Obviously, there is
one or more scripts being executed to set up these links and I'm guessing they
may be part of the problem. Still, nothing explains why my local IDE CDROM is
not detected at all under squeeze, but is with lenny. As I said, mysterious
stuff.

[craigevil]

Don't feel bad if I boot with the 2.6.32-3 kernel I have no DVD drive, if I boot with 2.6.32-2 or a liquorix kernel I have a DVD drive. Something in the 2.6.32-3 kernel is wacked. Plus when trying to boot with 2.6.32-3 I get a ton of messages about hdb not being ready.

With liquorix I get:

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$ dmesg|grep DVD
ata1.00: ATAPI: SONY DVD-ROM DDU1615, FDS2, max UDMA/33
ata1.01: ATAPI: PHILIPS DVD+/-RW DVD8801, 4D28, max UDMA/33
scsi 0:0:0:0: CD-ROM            SONY     DVD-ROM DDU1615  FDS2 PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
scsi 0:0:1:0: CD-ROM            PHILIPS  DVD+-RW DVD8801  4D28 PQ: 0 ANSI: 5

$ dmesg|grep CD-ROM
scsi 0:0:0:0: CD-ROM            SONY     DVD-ROM DDU1615  FDS2 PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
scsi 0:0:1:0: CD-ROM            PHILIPS  DVD+-RW DVD8801  4D28 PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
Uniform CD-ROM driver Revision: 3.20
sr 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi CD-ROM sr0
sr 0:0:1:0: Attached scsi CD-ROM sr1

craig@craigevil:~$ ls /dev
agpgart          input               sda2        tty17  tty42  ttyS1
audio            kmsg                sda3        tty18  tty43  ttyS2
block            log                 sda4        tty19  tty44  ttyS3
bsg              loop0               sda5        tty2   tty45  urandom
btrfs-control    MAKEDEV             sequencer   tty20  tty46  vcs
bus              mcelog              sequencer2  tty21  tty47  vcs1
cdrom            mem                 sg0         tty22  tty48  vcs2
cdrom1           mixer               sg1         tty23  tty49  vcs3
cdrw             net                 sg2         tty24  tty5   vcs4
char             network_latency     shm         tty25  tty50  vcs5
console          network_throughput  snapshot    tty26  tty51  vcs6
core             null                snd         tty27  tty52  vcs7
cpu              nvidia0             sndstat     tty28  tty53  vcsa
cpu_dma_latency  nvidiactl           sr0         tty29  tty54  vcsa1
disk             port                sr1         tty3   tty55  vcsa2
dri              ppp                 stderr      tty30  tty56  vcsa3
dsp              psaux               stdin       tty31  tty57  vcsa4
dvd              ptmx                stdout      tty32  tty58  vcsa5
dvd1             pts                 tty         tty33  tty59  vcsa6
dvdrw            ramzswap0           tty0        tty34  tty6   vcsa7
fd               random              tty1        tty35  tty60  vga_arbiter
fd0              root                tty10       tty36  tty61  xconsole
full             rtc                 tty11       tty37  tty62  zero
fuse             rtc0                tty12       tty38  tty63
hidraw0          scd0                tty13       tty39  tty7
hidraw1          scd1                tty14       tty4   tty8
hpet             sda                 tty15       tty40  tty9
initctl          sda1                tty16       tty41  ttyS0
 

$ inxi -F
System: Host craigevil Kernel 2.6.33-2.dmz.2-liquorix-686 i686 (32 bit) Distro Debian GNU/Linux squeeze/sid
CPU: Single core Intel Pentium 4 (UP) cache 1024 KB flags (lm nx sse sse2 sse3) bmips 5585.64
Clock Speeds: (1) 2792.822 MHz (2) 2792.822 MHz
Graphics: Card nVidia G96 [GeForce 9400 GT] X.Org 1.7.6 Res: 1280x1024@50.0hz
GLX Renderer GeForce 9400 GT/PCI/SSE2 GLX Version 3.2.0 NVIDIA 195.36.15 Direct Rendering Yes
Audio: Card Intel 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) High Definition Audio Controller driver HDA Intel BusID: 00:1b.0
Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Version 1.0.21
Network: Card Intel 82562ET/EZ/GT/GZ - PRO/100 VE (LOM) Ethernet Controller driver e100 v: 3.5.24-k2-NAPI at port dcc0 BusID: 03:08.0
Disks: HDD Total Size: 160.0GB (17.8% used) 1: /dev/sda WDC_WD1600JS 160.0GB
Partition: ID:/ size: 103G used: 27G (28%) fs: ext3 ID:swap-1 size: 5.25GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap
Info: Processes 110 Uptime 18:11 Memory 310.2/2016.4MB Runlevel 5 Client Shell inxi 1.4.8

fstab

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$ cat /etc/fstab
# /etc/fstab - static information about the filesystems - fstab(5)
#
# /etc/fstab is only read by programs, and not written; it is the duty of the
# system administrator to properly maintain this file.
#
# Instead  of giving the device explicitly, one may indicate the filesystem
# that is to be mounted by its UUID or VOLUME label. This will make the
# system more robust: adding or removing a disk changes the disk device name
# but not the filesystem UUID or VOLUME label.
#
# <filesystem>	<mountpoint>	<type>		<options>	<dump>	<pass>

# automatically added, WDC_WD1600JS-75N-WD-WCANMF031969-part2, /dev/sda2
UUID=5603c42b-2d73-4b60-a954-ad232cf5c0de	/	ext3	defaults,noatime,errors=remount-ro	0	1

# automatically added, WDC_WD1600JS-75N-WD-WCANMF031969-part1, /dev/sda1, LABEL=DellUtility
/dev/disk/by-uuid/07D7-0508	/media/disk0	vfat	noauto,users,exec,shortname=lower,quiet,umask=000,utf8	0	0

# automatically added, WDC_WD1600JS-75N-WD-WCANMF031969-part4, /dev/sda4, LABEL=Swap
UUID=f4900aaa-31e6-4531-8f64-2e9bfe096bf3	none	swap	sw	0	0	

# automatically added, WDC_WD1600JS-75N-WD-WCANMF031969-part5, /dev/sda5, LABEL=Backup
UUID=43309b15-bcf2-42f3-b2a5-73b6470ed0b3	/media/disk2	ext3	defaults,noatime,errors=remount-ro	0	1

# automatically added, PHILIPS_DVD+-RW_DVD8801_VA155S61665391
/dev/cdrom	/media/cdrom	udf,iso9660	user,noauto	0	0

# automatically added, SONY_DVD-ROM_DDU1615
/dev/cdrom1	/media/cdrom1	udf,iso9660	user,noauto	0	0

# temporary filesystem in virtual memory
tmpfs	/tmp	tmpfs	defaults	0	0
 

I pretty much gave up on using a Debian kernel months ago, I keep one installed but use the liquorix kernel 99% of the time.

[MH]

Glad to hear I'm not alone on this. I figured something was borked with the squeeze kernel/init scripts, but it was worrisome that no one else seemed to be having the same problem. I was beginning to think there might be something peculiar with my system, even though I haven't had any issues with any iteration of lenny. I think I prefer the old days, when change was more gradual. Now it seems everything is in a state of constant flux, not just the GUIs. I was happy with LILO, and only grudgingly migrated to GRUB, which was too bad once I became familiar with how to edit it. Now it's GRUB2 and it seems the developers have purposely limited the user's ability to configure it. Big mistake in my opinion. It's already cost me many hours of lost labor recovering from an unbootable system because I couldn't figure out how to fix it. And whatever happened to the --initrd flag when compiling debian kernels with make-kpkg? It's been broken for some time now. I think that's what borked GRUB2 when I installed a new kernel. Change is inevitable, but too much change too fast is a very bad thing.

[mzilikazi]

Now it's GRUB2 and it seems the developers have purposely limited the user's ability to configure it. Big mistake in my opinion. It's already cost me many hours of lost labor recovering from an unbootable system because I couldn't figure out how to fix it.

Of the many machines I have running *nix not a single one uses grub2. There just isn't a good reason (for me) to change that. I typically wait on things like boot loaders or radical changes to X or similar and only test it out on a single machine first AND in this case I'll definitely have a bootable USB drive w/ grub already on it becasue I don't want to waste a day learning about grub2 the hard way..

[MH]

I posted a bug report on this and immediately received a response from one of the developers suggesting I recompile my kernel from unstable source (2.6.32-11). Did so. Problem solved. Apparently, the kernel source I was using (2.6.32-9) had issues.