Unable to access USB floppy diskette drive or USB CD-ROM under SUSE LINUX v8.0 or v8.1 - Servers

Resolving The Problem

RETAIN tip: H067365

Unable to access an external or internal supported USB CD-ROM or USB floppy diskette drive under SUSE LINUX (using /media/cdrom or /media/floppy).

The system may be any of the following IBM eServer xSeries servers:

• An IBM eServer xSeries 440, type 8687, any model
• An IBM eServer xSeries 345, type 8670, any model
• An IBM eServer xSeries 335, type 8676, any model
• An IBM eServer xSeries 235, type 8671, any model
• An IBM eServer xSeries 205, type 8480, any model

- The following NOS(es) are affected:

• SUSE LINUX, version 8.0
• SUSE LINUX, version 8.1
  
  Note: This does not imply that the network operating system will work under all combinations of hardware and software. Click here to review the IBM compatibility pages for more information.

If you have non-USB media devices, use the following devices to access your CD-ROM and floppy:

• /media/sr0 CD-ROM
• /media/hd<letter> floppy

Where <letter> represents the drive letter for your floppy diskette drive, for example /dev/sda represents your A:\ drive.

If you have a USB CD-ROM or USB floppy diskette drive create a link to each device.

Creating a link to a USB CD-ROM drive

1. Open a command prompt
2. Type rm /dev/cdrom; ln -s /dev/sr0 /dev/cdrom and press Enter.
3. Open the /etc/fstab file in a text editor of your choice.
4. Edit the file /etc/fstab to include the following line of text:
   
   /dev/cdrom /media/cdrom auto ro,noauto,user,exec 0 0
   
   
5. Save the changes and exit your text editor.
   

Creating a link to a USB floppy diskette drive

1. Open the /etc/fstab file in a text editor of your choice.
2. Edit the file /etc/fstab to include the following line of text:
   
   /dev/sd<letter> /media/floppy auto noauto,user,sync 0 0
   
   Where <letter> represents the drive letter for your floppy diskette drive, for example /dev/sda represents your A:\ drive.
   
   Note: If you are unsure, review the floppy diskette drive entries in the /media directory, or type fdisk -l and press Enter to verify the correct device.
   
   
3. Save the changes and exit your text editor.
   
   

SUSE LINUX version 8.0 and 8.1 do not use /media/floppy and /media/cdrom links for USB storage devices, instead the following devices are used:

• /media/sr0 CD-ROM (listed as device /dev/sr0)
• /media/hd<letter> floppy (listed as device /dev/sd<letter>)
  
  Where <letter> represents the drive letter for your floppy diskette drive, for example /dev/sda represents your A:\ drive.
  
  
• Note: If you installed SUSE LINUX version 8.0 or 8.1 with the CD-ROM attached to your system, a link to your CD-ROM or to /media/cdrom may be created.