[arch-general] Another 'gotta be something idiotic': trying to create bootable USB thumb drive

[Jan Alexander Steffens]

On Fri, Apr 12, 2013 at 2:41 AM, David Benfell
<benfell at parts-unknown.org> wrote:
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> Hash: SHA1
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> Hi all,
>
> I can't believe I'm having trouble with this. I'm trying to follow the
> directions at https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/USB_Installation_Media
>
> Specifically:
>
> dd bs=4M if=/path/to/archlinux.iso of=/dev/sdx
>
> Which I translate to:
>
> sudo dd bs=4M if=Downloads/archlinux-2013.04.01-dual.iso of=/dev/sdb
> dd: failed to open ‘/dev/sdb’: No medium found
>
> And you see the result. /dev/sdb does indeed exist and is writable.
> It's a brand new 4GB flash drive and I moved the crap that came
> preloaded on it somewhere else before dismounting it. Here's the dmesg
> snippet:
>
> [151086.251674] usb 2-3.1.4: new high-speed USB device number 5 using
> ehci-pci
> [151087.600267] Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...
> [151087.600770] scsi6 : usb-storage 2-3.1.4:1.0
> [151087.601106] usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage
> [151087.601112] USB Mass Storage support registered.
> [151088.603391] scsi 6:0:0:0: Direct-Access     SanDisk  Cruzer Glide
>     1.26 PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
> [151088.606083] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] 7821312 512-byte logical blocks:
> (4.00 GB/3.72 GiB)
> [151088.608130] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
> [151088.608149] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 43 00 00 00
> [151088.611180] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Write cache: disabled, read cache:
> enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
> [151088.632405]  sdb: sdb1
> [151088.637930] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
> [151129.666614] usb 2-3.2: new high-speed USB device number 6 using
> ehci-pci
> [152047.595383] ------------[ cut here ]------------
> [152047.595438] WARNING: at drivers/usb/host/ehci-hcd.c:1054
> ehci_endpoint_reset+0x113/0x120 [ehci_hcd]()
> [152047.595444] Hardware name: p2-1120
> [152047.595449] clear_halt for a busy endpoint
> [152047.595453] Modules linked in: usb_storage tun nls_cp437 vfat fat
> fuse joydev acpi_cpufreq mperf evdev kvm radeon ttm microcode
> drm_kms_helper pcspkr psmouse drm snd_hda_codec_realtek snd_hda_intel
> serio_raw sp5100_tco i2c_piix4 snd_hda_codec k10temp i2c_algo_bit
> snd_hwdep snd_pcm i2c_core atl1c snd_page_alloc snd_timer snd
> soundcore button video processor vboxnetadp(O) vboxdrv(O) ext4 crc16
> jbd2 mbcache hid_generic usbhid hid sr_mod cdrom sd_mod ahci libahci
> ohci_hcd ehci_pci ehci_hcd libata usbcore scsi_mod usb_common
> [152047.595550] Pid: 30474, comm: pool Tainted: G           O
> 3.8.6-1-ARCH #1
> [152047.595556] Call Trace:
> [152047.595574]  [<ffffffff81057190>] warn_slowpath_common+0x70/0xa0
> [152047.595584]  [<ffffffff8105720c>] warn_slowpath_fmt+0x4c/0x50
> [152047.595612]  [<ffffffffa0043645>] ? usb_control_msg+0xe5/0x130
> [usbcore]
> [152047.595628]  [<ffffffffa0178cf3>] ehci_endpoint_reset+0x113/0x120
> [ehci_hcd]
> [152047.595650]  [<ffffffffa00422b5>] usb_hcd_reset_endpoint+0x25/0x70
> [usbcore]
> [152047.595670]  [<ffffffffa0044558>] usb_reset_endpoint+0x28/0x40
> [usbcore]
> [152047.595690]  [<ffffffffa00445de>] usb_clear_halt+0x6e/0x80 [usbcore]
> [152047.595710]  [<ffffffffa004f305>] usbdev_do_ioctl+0xba5/0x1050
> [usbcore]
> [152047.595730]  [<ffffffffa004f7de>] usbdev_ioctl+0xe/0x20 [usbcore]
> [152047.595741]  [<ffffffff81199775>] do_vfs_ioctl+0x2e5/0x4d0
> [152047.595750]  [<ffffffff811999e1>] sys_ioctl+0x81/0xa0
> [152047.595762]  [<ffffffff814c735d>] system_call_fastpath+0x1a/0x1f
> [152047.595769] ---[ end trace a5c78ffe5f331d3c ]---
> [152047.599593] usb 2-3.2: usbfs: process 30321 (events) did not claim
> interface 0 before use
> [152051.469939] sdb: detected capacity change from 4004511744 to 0
> [152062.408991] usb 2-3.2: USB disconnect, device number 6

Googling a bit, I found this:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1273928

Also looking at the SanDisk "Cruzer Glide" product page, it seems
SanDisk thumbdrives often have various fancy features that rely on
firmware support (the page notes that "some capacity is not available
for data storage.")

It's possible the drive just can't be used for anything but what
SanDisk intended (and support will just tell you that "Linux is not
supported by SanDisk.") Trying to manipulate the MBR or any other
sector outside the main data partition immediately causes the drive to
shut down, maybe to protect its functionality. At least I believe
that's what I'm seeing here.