USB Flash Drive Locked Up

[Just17]

OK, this is a 4 GB flash stick which has been working for many months, but has gone faulty.
Not my own, so I do not know if anything wrong was done to it ...  but I doubt it.

It had one ext4 partition on it.

The partition will not mount.
It shows as present when using fdisk or gparted ......  but the stick cannot be written to ......  either to change the filesystem on the partition, or even to change the partition table.

I tried to zero the MBR using dd ....  and it appeared to write but nothing is actually written to the device.

I can read the MBR .....  but not write to it.


dd if=/dev/sdi  count=1 | xxd -g1 -u

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0000000: EB 48 90 00 00 00 47 52 55 42 00 00 8E D8 8E C0  .H....GRUB......
0000010: FB BE 00 7C BF 00 06 B9 00 02 F3 A4 EA 21 06 00  ...|.........!..
0000020: 00 BE BE 07 38 04 75 0B 83 C6 10 81 FE FE 07 75  ....8.u........u
0000030: F3 EB 16 B4 02 B0 01 BB 00 7C B2 80 8A 74 03 02  .........|...t..
0000040: FF 00 00 20 01 00 00 00 00 02 FA 90 90 F6 C2 80  ... ............
0000050: 75 02 B2 80 EA 59 7C 00 00 31 C0 8E D8 8E D0 BC  u....Y|..1......
0000060: 00 20 FB A0 40 7C 3C FF 74 02 88 C2 52 BE 7F 7D  . ..@|<.t...R..}
0000070: E8 34 01 F6 C2 80 74 54 B4 41 BB AA 55 CD 13 5A  .4....tT.A..U..Z
0000080: 52 72 49 81 FB 55 AA 75 43 A0 41 7C 84 C0 75 05  RrI..U.uC.A|..u.
0000090: 83 E1 01 74 37 66 8B 4C 10 BE 05 7C C6 44 FF 01  ...t7f.L...|.D..
00000a0: 66 8B 1E 44 7C C7 04 10 00 C7 44 02 01 00 66 89  f..D|.....D...f.
00000b0: 5C 08 C7 44 06 00 70 66 31 C0 89 44 04 66 89 44  \..D..pf1..D.f.D
00000c0: 0C B4 42 CD 13 72 05 BB 00 70 EB 7D B4 08 CD 13  ..B..r...p.}....
00000d0: 73 0A F6 C2 80 0F 84 EA 00 E9 8D 00 BE 05 7C C6  s.............|.
00000e0: 44 FF 00 66 31 C0 88 F0 40 66 89 44 04 31 D2 88  D..f1...@f.D.1..
00000f0: CA C1 E2 02 88 E8 88 F4 40 89 44 08 31 C0 88 D0  ........@.D.1...
0000100: C0 E8 02 66 89 04 66 A1 44 7C 66 31 D2 66 F7 34  ...f..f.D|f1.f.4
0000110: 88 54 0A 66 31 D2 66 F7 74 04 88 54 0B 89 44 0C  .T.f1.f.t..T..D.
0000120: 3B 44 08 7D 3C 8A 54 0D C0 E2 06 8A 4C 0A FE C1  ;D.}<.T.....L...
0000130: 08 D1 8A 6C 0C 5A 8A 74 0B BB 00 70 8E C3 31 DB  ...l.Z.t...p..1.
0000140: B8 01 02 CD 13 72 2A 8C C3 8E 06 48 7C 60 1E B9  .....r*....H|`..
0000150: 00 01 8E DB 31 F6 31 FF FC F3 A5 1F 61 FF 26 42  ....1.1.....a.&B
0000160: 7C BE 85 7D E8 40 00 EB 0E BE 8A 7D E8 38 00 EB  |..}.@.....}.8..
0000170: 06 BE 94 7D E8 30 00 BE 99 7D E8 2A 00 EB FE 47  ...}.0...}.*...G
0000180: 52 55 42 20 00 47 65 6F 6D 00 48 61 72 64 20 44  RUB .Geom.Hard D
0000190: 69 73 6B 00 52 65 61 64 00 20 45 72 72 6F 72 00  isk.Read. Error.
00001a0: BB 01 00 B4 0E CD 10 AC 3C 00 75 F4 C3 00 00 00  ........<.u.....
00001b0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 51 C3 04 00 00 00 80 01  ........Q.......
00001c0: 01 00 83 FE 7F F7 3F 00 00 00 B9 8B 7B 00 00 00  ......?.....{...
00001d0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ................
00001e0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ................
00001f0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 55 AA  ..............U.
1+0 records in
1+0 records out
512 bytes (512 B) copied, 0.000995715 s, 514 kB/s


dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdi bs=1M count=1

Code: [Select]

1+0 records in
1+0 records out
1048576 bytes (1.0 MB) copied, 0.0213418 s, 49.1 MB/s

I also ran testdisk on it ....  and it too failed to write to the device.

The dmesg output when the device is plugged in looks like this

Code: [Select]

usb 1-8.4.1: new high-speed USB device number 34 using ehci_hcd
usb 1-8.4.1: New USB device found, idVendor=058f, idProduct=6387
usb 1-8.4.1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
usb 1-8.4.1: SerialNumber: TE07R6AZJ2YM7R4OK47Q
scsi24 : usb-storage 1-8.4.1:1.0
scsi 24:0:0:0: Direct-Access     Flash    Drive AU_USB20   8.07 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
sd 24:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg9 type 0
sd 24:0:0:0: [sdi] 8101888 512-byte logical blocks: (4.14 GB/3.86 GiB)
sd 24:0:0:0: [sdi] Write Protect is off
sd 24:0:0:0: [sdi] Mode Sense: 03 00 00 00
sd 24:0:0:0: [sdi] No Caching mode page present
sd 24:0:0:0: [sdi] Assuming drive cache: write through
sd 24:0:0:0: [sdi] No Caching mode page present
sd 24:0:0:0: [sdi] Assuming drive cache: write through
 sdi: sdi1
sd 24:0:0:0: [sdi] No Caching mode page present
sd 24:0:0:0: [sdi] Assuming drive cache: write through
sd 24:0:0:0: [sdi] Attached SCSI removable disk





fdisk -l /dev/sdi

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Disk /dev/sdi: 4148 MB, 4148166656 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 504 cylinders, total 8101888 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0004c351

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdi1   *          63     8096759     4048348+  83  Linux


As far as I am concerned the device is borked .......  but I am interested in how it is so, if I can possibly determine that.

It is probably chip failure .....  but ......


So if anyone has any ideas I might not have tried ......  please post ......  anything goes on this ......  and if all else fails I intend to open the device to have a look inside too 

[horusfalcon]

Silly question time:  you can still read from the device at all?  (Wouldn't seem like it - you can't get it to mount.)

I'd think maybe a trace on the circuit board coming from the USB connector is cracked, maybe?

I'm presuming you'd like to recover the data from it?  If you decide to crack it open, check it with a good magnifying glass.  Might find a place you you could just resolder the trace and restore connection...

What kind of drive is this (who makes it)?  Under normal use, a flash drive should be good for several millions of read/write cycles.

Later On,
D

[Just17]

Silly question time:  you can still read from the device at all?  (Wouldn't seem like it - you can't get it to mount.)

True

I'd think maybe a trace on the circuit board coming from the USB connector is cracked, maybe?

If nothing else works, then opening and examining it will be on the cards

I'm presuming you'd like to recover the data from it? 

Probably not ....  wasn't mine so .....

If you decide to crack it open, check it with a good magnifying glass.  Might find a place you you could just resolder the trace and restore connection...

I will give it a good look if it comes to that 

What kind of drive is this (who makes it)?  Under normal use, a flash drive should be good for several millions of read/write cycles.

Later On,
D

4GB Super Talent ......  they were cheap at the time, but turned out to be very fast and very suitable for USB booting of PCLOS.
I bought three of them myself, and over-did it and borked one of them.

This one I intend to have a good look at 

[horusfalcon]

I tend to like SanDisk, but mainly because they're on the shelf at WallyWorld, are so cheap and work well enough for what I do (I haven't tried to create a USB flash boot drive yet, although I do have an 80GB USB hard drive that boots Full Monty.)

Patriot, Corsair, and OCZ make good stuff too.

Good luck with fixin' that ol' Super Talent. (Really sounds like that's what it'll take).

Later On,
D

[Just17]

I opened it to have a look.

Nothing obvious ...  no bad joints, damaged tracks or other physical signs of anything possibly related.

I am now of the opinion that it is a chip failure .......

[horusfalcon]

I opened it to have a look.

Nothing obvious ...  no bad joints, damaged tracks or other physical signs of anything possibly related.

I am now of the opinion that it is a chip failure .......

I guess that could happen... have you tried to mount it manually, from the shell?  If you do that, it should return at least some sort of error code that might lead you to a more solid conclusion.

Does the activity indicator light up when you plug this beastie in?

Later ON,
D

[Just17]

Yes it is seen and the light flashes; the device is recognised .....  just not writeable ...  so the partition table cannot be altered; the filesystem cannot be changed and the partition cannot be mounted.


fsck /dev/sdi1

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fsck from util-linux-ng 2.18
e2fsck 1.42 (29-Nov-2011)
PCLinuxOS-Live: recovering journal
fsck.ext4: unable to set superblock flags on PCLinuxOS-Live


PCLinuxOS-Live: ********** WARNING: Filesystem still has errors **********

Zeroing using the  dd   command appears to work -- but it does not actually write to the device.


dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdi bs=1M count=2

Code: [Select]

2+0 records in
2+0 records out
2097152 bytes (2.1 MB) copied, 0.033772 s, 62.1 MB/s
fdisk -l /dev/sdi

Code: [Select]

Disk /dev/sdi: 4148 MB, 4148166656 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 504 cylinders, total 8101888 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0004c351

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdi1   *          63     8096759     4048348+  83  Linux

unable to set superblock flags on PCLinuxOS-Live

[/b]

That is the only failure message ....

[horusfalcon]

Yeah, that's looking like some kind of odd write failure of some sort, like maybe the write line on the chip is open or the junction itself has failed in the chip.  Not sure it's worth further time if other drives of the same type work properly. 

I'm sure you've tried using a different port on the computer in case it's something to do with the port, huh?

Huh... I wonder if write protection got set on the drive somehow?  (Or would dd bypass that?  Can't find it in either man or info systems.)

Not sure how to proceed here.  Perhaps attempt to mount it read-only and see if it can be read from (or, if it has any data presently - something past the superblock should still remain, I would think).  You may now have a Flash ROM on your hands.

Later On,
D

[Just17]

I wonder if write protection got set on the drive somehow?

From dmesg output in first post

sd 24:0:0:0: [sdi] 8101888 512-byte logical blocks: (4.14 GB/3.86 GiB)
sd 24:0:0:0: [sdi] Write Protect is off
sd 24:0:0:0: [sdi] Mode Sense: 03 00 00 00

You may now have a Flash ROM on your hands.

not even as useful as that  ........ it cannot be mounted to read the contents 

I don't think there is much else to be done ........  or anything else to be learned from this .........  so I think it is time to dump it  ..........  but if you have anything weird & wonderful I could try before this hits the waste then let me know 

[horusfalcon]

I wonder if write protection got set on the drive somehow?

From dmesg output in first post

sd 24:0:0:0: [sdi] 8101888 512-byte logical blocks: (4.14 GB/3.86 GiB)
sd 24:0:0:0: [sdi] Write Protect is off
sd 24:0:0:0: [sdi] Mode Sense: 03 00 00 00

You may now have a Flash ROM on your hands.

not even as useful as that  ........ it cannot be mounted to read the contents 

I don't think there is much else to be done ........  or anything else to be learned from this .........  so I think it is time to dump it  ..........  but if you have anything weird & wonderful I could try before this hits the waste then let me know 

Short of some Brain Salad Surgery, nope, and that would only be worthwhile as a practical exercise in micro-soldering technique.  That chip is very likely surface mounted.  Cheaper, and more time-effective to replace at this point.

Hey, the board might make a nifty tie-tack... 

Later On,
D

[Just17]

Yes the chips are surface mounted, but all connection appear fine ........  I reckon it is a chip that has failed .......