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Alagris

Member

Registered: 2015-12-27

Posts: 4

USB stick dead after burning iso with dd [(kinda) SOLVED]

Recently I tried to recover my windows 8 tablet so I burned windows 8 iso image to my dual pendrive using this command:
dd bs=4M if=/path/to/windows8.iso of=/dev/sdc status=progress && sync
and now this pendrive is not detected by my (half dead) tablet, other windows PC and my ArchLinux computer. It doesn't show up in neither lsusb nor lsblk. Computers don't see it even in booting phase. The only ray of hope is that when I plug it to some (not all) usb ports in my windows xp PC it shows a notification like "unknown device connected" but it still cannot be accessed/mounted anyhow.
Pls help me wise people. It is my newly bought usb stick.

Last edited by Alagris (2016-05-09 20:28:54)

ugjka

Member

From: Latvia

Registered: 2014-04-01

Posts: 1,808

Website

Re: USB stick dead after burning iso with dd [(kinda) SOLVED]

AFAIK you can't dd windows iso to usb sticks, you need to create a filesystem and rsync all the contents of the iso to the stick and then you need to create a boot record with ms-sys tool (available in AUR)

Regarding whether your stick is dead, run dmesg -w and plug you stick in and see if anything apears in dmesg output.

Last edited by ugjka (2016-05-09 16:14:05)

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alphaniner

Member

From: Ancapistan

Registered: 2010-07-12

Posts: 2,810

Re: USB stick dead after burning iso with dd [(kinda) SOLVED]

Sorry, sounds like your USB stick is dead.

Also I doubt dd can be used to create a bootable USB from a Windows disc image. It shouldn't kill a USB; it just wouldn't result in making it bootable. I'd suggest researching proper process while awaiting a replacement USB.

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But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain - that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist.
-Lysander Spooner

ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 19,789

Re: USB stick dead after burning iso with dd [(kinda) SOLVED]

You may be out of luck.  My inclination would be to write all zeros to the drive.  For your input file, use /dev/zero
YMMV.

Edit:  Never mind.  Your drive is not even recognized.  More coffee before posting.

Last edited by ewaller (2016-05-09 16:17:19)

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Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature -- Michael Faraday
Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. -- Alan Turing
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Alagris

Member

Registered: 2015-12-27

Posts: 4

Re: USB stick dead after burning iso with dd [(kinda) SOLVED]

I tried dmesg -w and it didn't react at all. But even if my USB is dead there still must be a way to fix it, right? The hardware itself is untouched. All that matters are ones and zeroes saved in the memory. What do they do in the factory to produce a usabe sticks? Factories probably use some fancy machines for it but maybe I could perform something simillar with just my PC?

ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 19,789

Re: USB stick dead after burning iso with dd [(kinda) SOLVED]

It is possible that there is a microprocessor on the device that used to have some firmware to run it over in the corner of the flash array in some little private partition.  It is possible you overwrote that corner of the flash when you wrote to the entire device -- something that the device firmware would not have done normally. 

A lot of embedded controllers have means to bring them up from scratch.  Often this is an internal boot loader allowing you to send stuff over a serial link.  Other times it might be a JTAG port.
These don't often work through the USB port of the device.   Some do http://www.atmel.com/devices/AT90USB128 … b=overview. But not many.

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Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature -- Michael Faraday
Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. -- Alan Turing
---
How to Ask Questions the Smart Way

mich41

Member

Registered: 2012-06-22

Posts: 796

Re: USB stick dead after burning iso with dd [(kinda) SOLVED]

I tried dmesg -w and it didn't react at all.

Sorry, your hardware is screwed. There is no way to talk to a device over USB before it attaches to the bus and if your device attached, you would see a message like:

usb 5-4: new full-speed USB device number 4 using ohci-pci

I produced the above just by shorting USB D+ line to 5V with a 10kΩ resistor. If your device can't even do that, it must be seriously braindamaged.

As ewaller said, it may have destroyed its firmware due to software bug or maybe flash memory programming fault. Or it could be hardware damage, caused by some random bullshit - I'm not even sure what.

It's strange that it (somewhat) works on this XP box. How does it look in XP's Device Manager? I mean, things like device type, vendor and product name, driver in use, etc.

Last edited by mich41 (2016-05-09 17:57:33)

ugjka

Member

From: Latvia

Registered: 2014-04-01

Posts: 1,808

Website

Re: USB stick dead after burning iso with dd [(kinda) SOLVED]

I would check what voltage is coming out of you usb ports, maybe you have a faulty power supply or something that fried your stick

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https://ugjka.net
paru > yay | webcord > discord
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mount /dev/disk/by-...

Alagris

Member

Registered: 2015-12-27

Posts: 4

Re: USB stick dead after burning iso with dd [(kinda) SOLVED]

It's strange that it (somewhat) works on this XP box. How does it look in XP's Device Manager? I mean, things like device type, vendor and product name, driver in use, etc.

I checked it but there wasn't much information. It just says the device is unknown and there are no drivers installed/available for it.

I would check what voltage is coming out of you usb ports, maybe you have a faulty power supply or something that fried your stick

I really doubt the problem is on PC side. All other usb sticks/devices work like a charm. Only this particular stick seems to be damaged.

Anyway, I read a little about restoring firmware (as ewaller said) and I simply decided to buy another stick. This seems to be way too much work that will not pay off.
I guess I will have to be a bit more careful with dd next time. Fortunately it was the cheapest stick in the store, so not so much loss.

alphaniner

Member

From: Ancapistan

Registered: 2010-07-12

Posts: 2,810

Re: USB stick dead after burning iso with dd [(kinda) SOLVED]

You get what you pay for. That said, if it's new enough you may be able to get it replaced, or return it for credit.

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But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain - that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist.
-Lysander Spooner

Alagris

Member

Registered: 2015-12-27

Posts: 4

Re: USB stick dead after burning iso with dd [(kinda) SOLVED]

Oh shit. ugjka was actually right! All the ports of that old XP computer work fine... except for one which fries everything that is plugged to it. I know because I have just fried another stick XD .