"mount: /dev/hdc(or cdrom) Is Not A Valid Block Device"

From: Fatos Berisha (exec_at_cyberisha.com)
Date: 04/07/04

  • Next message: Nico Kadel-Garcia: "Re: Package Managers" 
    Date: Wed, 07 Apr 2004 12:57:40 +0100

    Hiya,

    I presume that this is the archetypal newbie problem, so no need to
    inform you of my level of expertise. I've just installed Rehhat 9 on my
    laptop and my CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive fails to mount, either on start-up or
    using the mount command (mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom), that actually
    yields the "not a valid block device" error message. Mounting /dev/hdc
    does the same. All these files exist in their respective directories.

    Here's the output from my /etc/fstab, /etc/mtab and /proc/mounts:

    [root@FB_LAPTOP cyberisha]# cat /etc/fstab
    LABEL=/ / ext3 defaults 1 1
    LABEL=/boot /boot ext3 defaults 1 2
    none /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620 0 0
    none /proc proc defaults 0 0
    none /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0
    /dev/hda8 swap swap defaults 0 0
    /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom udf,iso9660 noauto,owner,kudzu,user,ro 0 0
    /dev/hda2 /mnt/windows ntfs ro,umask=0222 0 0
    /dev/hda5 /mnt/mydocs ntfs ro,umask=0222 0 0

    (I do have a /etc/fstab.REVOKE file present too, but it's empty.)

    [root@FB_LAPTOP cyberisha]# cat /etc/mtab
    /dev/hda7 / ext3 rw 0 0
    none /proc proc rw 0 0
    usbdevfs /proc/bus/usb usbdevfs rw 0 0
    /dev/hda6 /boot ext3 rw 0 0
    none /dev/pts devpts rw,gid=5,mode=620 0 0
    none /dev/shm tmpfs rw 0 0
    /dev/hda2 /mnt/windows ntfs ro,umask=0222 0 0
    /dev/hda5 /mnt/mydocs ntfs ro,umask=0222 0 0

    [root@FB_LAPTOP cyberisha]# cat /proc/mounts
    rootfs / rootfs rw 0 0
    /dev/root / ext3 rw 0 0
    /proc /proc proc rw 0 0
    usbdevfs /proc/bus/usb usbdevfs rw 0 0
    /dev/hda6 /boot ext3 rw 0 0
    none /dev/pts devpts rw 0 0
    none /dev/shm tmpfs rw 0 0
    /dev/hda2 /mnt/windows ntfs ro 0 0
    /dev/hda5 /mnt/mydocs ntfs ro 0 0

    The dmesg command does show that /dev/hdc is correct:

    hdc: QSI CD-RW/DVD-ROM SBW-241, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive

    So I am stumped! I hope someone can help...

    Thanks a million in advance,

    c.

    P.S. And yes, my /dev/cdrom DOES point to /dev/hdc, ...

  • Next message: Nico Kadel-Garcia: "Re: Package Managers"

    Relevant Pages