Arch Linux

yvonney

Member

Registered: 2008-06-11

Posts: 671

External USB boot: "fs error - unable to read inode" occurs eventually

[ISSUE: on ONE PC only:  ALL external USB drives eventually give console readout like: "fs error - unable to read inode" - endlessly , and no longer accessible.]

I am BOOTING off of the drives  in question [ext2 formatted] which may be a large part of it though perhaps not.

PC spec:
- Older motherboard ASUS p4pe.
- has USB 2 though probably a bit iffy.
- Does NOT boot from USB so using the briilliant PloP bootmanager on CD to achieve external USB boot.

Of interest was comments found about the : the ehci_hcd module
which seems very likely that the motherboard I'm having problems with is because of the USB implimentation and this.

REALLY could use a fix for this one. At least, I need to understand what's happening.

OR:
I found this on the Ubuntu forum and was hoping it would be the FIX and that I could get a comment about how to try on my beloved ARCH systems.

------------ Script TEXT from forum over at ubuntu -----------
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=452246

The POSTER there replied saying the following:

problem: USB disk change to read only

Hi,

I solved this 7-8 months ago and haven't had any problems since.

Create a executable file for example /usb/bin/usbhdfix and place the following in it.
   

Code:

#!/bin/bash
echo 1024 > /sys/block/$1/device/max_sectors
echo 1 > /sys/block/$1/device/scsi_disk:*/allow_restart

1024 works for me but I've also heard about people going lower than default with good results.
I have a Seagate FreeAgent which also have the problem with restarting after spinning down so solution for that is added as well.

Then create a udev-rule.

Code:

# /etc/udev/rules.d/50-fix_usb_hd.rules
SUBSYSTEMS=="scsi", ATTRS{vendor}=="Seagate", ATTRS{model}=="FreeAgentDesktop", RUN+="/usr/bin/usbhdfix %k"

================== BUNCH of LINKS that seemed possibly relevant ==========

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour … +bug/88746
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=452246
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=991613
http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=63126
http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=53822

Last edited by yvonney (2009-03-29 20:11:19)