Device Notifier on KDE 4.8.3 32 bit

[Just17]

I use Device Notifier Widget on my desktop (Desktop View) to display all the partitions in the system and mount and unmount individual partitions as they might be required.
In the settings I select to display all devices, and under Removable Device I have three or four marked for automatic mounting.

OK, this has been working for some time, but of late I have met with a problem ...

although the three devices chosen do get mounted and their contents are available, Device Notifier does not indicate it. The icons shown for all partitions are the same .....  the three mounted partitions should show an unmount icon.

Clicking on any of the icons will mount the specific partition, but again the icon does not change.

Should I delete the widget, and replace it with the same widget, everything works!
I can mount and unmount at will.

Anyone got a suggestion or three?

It is getting tiresome having to delete the widget and replace it at every log out/reboot.  

I noted the occurrence here
http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,108270.msg925530.html#msg925530

but later it had corrected itself by deleting and replacing the widget - once!
Now the problem is back again, but I can find no permanent cure 

[Just17]

Seems none of the 40 or so who read this have met with the problem 

[muungwana]

just tested it and this is my result.

clicked an an item to mount a volume and the volume got mounted and the icon changed to show the volume was mounted,things appear to work as expected.

I clicked the icon to unmount and the volume got unmounted and the icon went back to indicate the volume was unmounted.

I clicked the volume again to mount it and the volume got mounted but the icon did not change this time around.I saw the behavior you see. Now i can not unmount the volume because device notifier is still reporting it as not being mounted.

conclusion:
device notifier is not as stable as it could be

[Just17]

muungwana, thanks for testing this for me.

I was concerned it was some problem locally.

Strangely, if I add it when the desktop is up and running it appears to behave properly and does not fault as you have experienced, but when it is set on the desktop and I do a fresh boot it fails immediately.

EDIT:  Tested the actions again .....  and yes, repeated mount/unmount soon causes the complete failure of the functions.   

conclusion:
device notifier is not as stable as it could be

I concur .....  might even go a bit further than that.

Thanks again  

[muungwana]

Device notifier uses udisks as a back end to manage devices.

Synaptic says the version of udisks in the repository is 1.0.4. This version was released august of 2011.

The latest version of udisks is 1.99 and was released july of 2012.

I think updating udisks should be the first step in trying to find out where the problem is.

udisks download page: http://udisks.freedesktop.org/releases/

[Just17]

Device notifier uses udisks as a back end to manage devices.

Synaptic says the version of udisks in the repository is 1.0.4. This version was released august of 2011.

The latest version of udisks is 1.99 and was released july of 2012.

I think updating udisks should be the first step in trying to find out where the problem is.

udisks download page: http://udisks.freedesktop.org/releases/

Because this was working properly up 'til recently, I suspected something other than udisks as being the culprit.

[Just17]

Should this be reported as a 'Broken Package'?

The only posts are that it is not working; none claiming it is working properly.

[OldGuy]

Seems none of the 40 or so who read this have met with the problem  

A friend called me from Aspen CO in the US, seems he has the same problem.  I created a remaster of my system, and then created an account for him, deleted my home dir, so he would have the same stuff available as me, but his desktop and program icons are different from mine as he doesn't use the same programs.

He loaded it today and as we were looking for things to adjust, like getting his address book into thunderbird, or updating his bookmarks, he noticed that he didn't have the device notifier ticked as his usb being open, no safe unmount offered.

Yet mine at home works fine.  Go figure?

I used a fresh download from our site, and updated it before adding programs we both use.  It's a KDE 2012-08, we both run Dell desktop machines with 2gig ram.

[muungwana]

Seems none of the 40 or so who read this have met with the problem  

A friend called me from Aspen CO in the US, seems he has the same problem.  I created a remaster of my system, and then created an account for him, deleted my home dir, so he would have the same stuff available as me, but his desktop and program icons are different from mine as he doesn't use the same programs.

He loaded it today and as we were looking for things to adjust, like getting his address book into thunderbird, or updating his bookmarks, he noticed that he didn't have the device notifier ticked as his usb being open, no safe unmount offered.

Yet mine at home works fine.  Go figure?

I used a fresh download from our site, and updated it before adding programs we both use.  It's a KDE 2012-08, we both run Dell desktop machines with 2gig ram.

can you try it again, this time a bit systematically.

plug in a usb stick.
Use device notifier to mount it and check if the icon change to show the device is mounted.
Use device notifier to unmount and check if the icon change to show the device is unmounted.

The repeat the above 5 times and report if it still works as expected.

[OldGuy]

Seems none of the 40 or so who read this have met with the problem  

A friend called me from Aspen CO in the US, seems he has the same problem.  I created a remaster of my system, and then created an account for him, deleted my home dir, so he would have the same stuff available as me, but his desktop and program icons are different from mine as he doesn't use the same programs.

He loaded it today and as we were looking for things to adjust, like getting his address book into thunderbird, or updating his bookmarks, he noticed that he didn't have the device notifier ticked as his usb being open, no safe unmount offered.

Yet mine at home works fine.  Go figure?

I used a fresh download from our site, and updated it before adding programs we both use.  It's a KDE 2012-08, we both run Dell desktop machines with 2gig ram.

can you try it again, this time a bit systematically.

plug in a usb stick.
Use device notifier to mount it and check if the icon change to show the device is mounted.
Use device notifier to unmount and check if the icon change to show the device is unmounted.

The repeat the above 5 times and report if it still works as expected.

Sure - have to wait to talk with him on the morrow, he goes to bed early.  Thanks for the suggestion.

[muungwana]

OldGuy,
the test was for you 

you just said "it worked fine" but didnt clarify what you did to get the "it worked fun".

[OldGuy]

OldGuy,
the test was for you 

you just said "it worked fine" but didnt clarify what you did to get the "it worked fun".

On his system it didn't work.  On mine it always worked.  I thought it might be because he is using a different Dell model, the livecd burnt well, and loaded ok on his system when it came in the mail.  But I'm in Michigan, he's in Colorado, so we talk over Skype and use Teamviewer.

[Just17]

OldGuy .........  try using your Device Notifier to unmount a USB connected partition; then mount it again using Device Notifier .....  repeat this exercise taking note of the icon on Device Notifier .......  does it change with each use?

Please let us know your results.

[OldGuy]

OldGuy .........  try using your Device Notifier to unmount a USB connected partition; then mount it again using Device Notifier .....  repeat this exercise taking note of the icon on Device Notifier .......  does it change with each use?

Please let us know your results.

Yes, on mine it does.  I open it using the small right hand icon on the usb device it changes the icon to the triangle, i can close it with that icon too.  Did this several times.  Then I open it not using the icon, but instead with the 3rd choice open with file manager, and the icon changed and the directory was displayed.  So, as I mention on my system it works fine.  I'm getting ready to call my friend and see if I can use the icon to open his usb.

[OldGuy]

Just18, got a chance to talk with my friend and teamview with him.  It looks like there he's fixed too.  We could use both methods (icon, or choosing an action) to open the usb device and the mount/unmount icon worked.

Whereas yesterday it didn't, can't explain it.  So we boiled it down to magic or two old farts getting confused.

Thank you for your help, just to mention he has an ipod and that icon will always stay unmounted even when we use digicam to move pictures over.  But, that's another issue and not worthy of this thread.

Thanks again.  The forum always helps support users.