[TriLUG] can't mount usb smartmedia card

[Jason Tower]

just got a non-usb digital camera off ebay, came with a generic usb
smartmedia reader.  i've plugged it in to two different linux systems and
get the same result: it appears to be recognized, the kernel usb modules
are there, but i can't mount it:

[root at holly root]# mount -t vfat /dev/sda /mnt/usbreader/
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sda,
       or too many mounted file systems

[root at holly root]# cat /proc/scsi/scsi
Attached devices:
Host: scsi0 Channel: 00 Id: 00 Lun: 00
  Vendor: General  Model: Flash Disk Drive Rev: 2.05
  Type:   Direct-Access                    ANSI SCSI revision: 02

a look at /var/log/messages yields this:

Oct 13 00:45:29 holly kernel: Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...
Oct 13 00:45:29 holly kernel: usb.c: registered new driver usb-storage
Oct 13 00:45:29 holly kernel: scsi0 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage
devices
Oct 13 00:45:29 holly kernel:   Vendor: General   Model: Flash Disk Drive 
Rev: 2.05
Oct 13 00:45:29 holly kernel:   Type:   Direct-Access                     
ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Oct 13 00:45:29 holly kernel: USB Mass Storage support registered.
Oct 13 00:47:12 holly kernel: Attached scsi removable disk sda at scsi0,
channel 0, id 0, lun 0
Oct 13 00:47:12 holly kernel: sda : READ CAPACITY failed.
Oct 13 00:47:12 holly kernel: sda : status = 1, message = 00, host = 0,
driver = 08
Oct 13 00:47:12 holly kernel: Current sd00:00: sense key Not Ready
Oct 13 00:47:12 holly kernel: Additional sense indicates Medium not present
Oct 13 00:47:12 holly kernel: sda : block size assumed to be 512 bytes,
disk size 1GB.
Oct 13 00:47:12 holly kernel:  sda: I/O error: dev 08:00, sector 0
Oct 13 00:47:12 holly kernel:  I/O error: dev 08:00, sector 0
Oct 13 00:47:12 holly kernel:  unable to read partition table
Oct 13 00:47:12 holly kernel: sda : READ CAPACITY failed.
Oct 13 00:47:12 holly kernel: sda : status = 1, message = 00, host = 0,
driver = 08
Oct 13 00:47:12 holly kernel: Current sd00:00: sense key Not Ready
Oct 13 00:47:12 holly kernel: Additional sense indicates Medium not present
Oct 13 00:47:12 holly kernel: sda : block size assumed to be 512 bytes,
disk size 1GB.
Oct 13 00:47:12 holly kernel: sda: Write Protect is off
Oct 13 00:47:12 holly kernel:  sda: I/O error: dev 08:00, sector 0
Oct 13 00:47:12 holly kernel:  I/O error: dev 08:00, sector 0
Oct 13 00:47:12 holly kernel:  unable to read partition table
Oct 13 00:47:12 holly kernel: Device not ready.  Make sure there is a disc
in the drive.
Oct 13 00:47:12 holly kernel: Device busy for revalidation (usage=1)
Oct 13 00:47:12 holly kernel: Device 08:00 not ready.
Oct 13 00:47:12 holly kernel:  I/O error: dev 08:00, sector 0
Oct 13 00:47:12 holly kernel: FAT: unable to read boot sector
Oct 13 00:47:12 holly kernel: Device not ready.  Make sure there is a disc
in the drive.

i think i'm looking at a bad device (same results with two different
cards, both work fine in the camera) but wanted a second opinion before i
shell out more $$$ for a new one.  also, when i plug it into a win2k box,
i get similar results, recognizes the device as removable media but
insists that no media is present.

any thoughts y'all?

------------------------
Jason Tower
Cerient Technologies
jason at cerient.net