(SOLVED) Cannot umount USB devices

[besonian]

A very annoying glitch has developed over the last couple of days - which may have nothing to do with the fact I've recently updated or even with Xfce for that matter. The system will not let me unmount any USB device. However long one has been lying idle, when I go to unmount it, I get two messages come up at the same time. The first says -

"Failed to eject 250.1 gb Media
DBus error org.gtk.Private. RemoteVolumeMonitor.Failed:
An operation is already pending"

And the second says -

"Writing data to device
There is data that needs to be written to the device "250.1 gb Media before it can be removed. Please
do not remove the media or disconnect the drive"

And however long I wait - like this evening I went out for a meal and came back - they're still there and I can't remove the drive unless I reboot. What's going on here? And what does 'DBus error org.grk etc.' mean?

[Just17]

Is this confined to one user?

What about trying a couple of commands from a terminal .....  as user and as root?

umount <dev>
eject     <dev>

What response is given in the terminal from those commands?

[besonian]

Just19 - no, it's not confined just to myself. In a terminal in root if I try the commands you mention - which I'd already done and should have mentioned - I get the same response, though in slightly different words. (I have no USB devices plugged in at the moment so can't give you the exact wording. But the gist is exactly the same).

However - I've now hit another problem which I suspect is related. On booting up this morning my Window manager settings have disappeared (so I have no window surround) and in the settings manager there is now a blank where once I changed those things. It means I can't move or manipulate windows and the cursor is forever in 'active' mode - if you know what I mean.

I suppose like a lot of others I took a chance with upgrading when the warnings were there. I think that rather than get involved in some possibly long discussion about how I might get out of these two problems, it's quicker to re-install and leave the upgrading till the all-clear is given by Sproggy, Tex etc.

But thank you for you input.

[Just17]

You haven't perhaps run out of room on a partition?

[besonian]

'Fraid not. I've got loads of room in them all, but thank you for the thought. I've now re-installed - less the upgrade - and all's working again as it should. I look forward now to the official go-ahead for 4.8.

[Crow]

Strange, that happened to me but in Windows with a protected SD memory, windows didn't let me unplug the device because it was trying to write a worm,

Since that is not the case, can you see the processes that Linux is running and kill (and maybe fix) the bad behaved?

[besonian]

Crow - I tried that too. But I could see nothing that to my knowledge at any rate could be using it. Just one of the reasons I decided in the end that a re-install back to the previous version was the best solution for the moment. At least now everything working properly and I can work again. Very odd. I've put it down in my own mind - rightly or wrongly - to its not being the final, approved version. But I'm just guessing really.

[GermanTux]

Have the same problem with 4.8, but I do not consider it a big deal. 

Ironically, if I just plug in, and unplug the device without unmounting it, things work fine. 

[besonian]

Yikes! I was under the impression that if you did things like that you stood a good chance of corrupting the data on the device. Is that not the case? If you're right, I'd be very pleased. Even on this re-install I've now got the same problem. PCLOS isn't treating me well today.  Please give me any info you have on this. Thank you.

[Just17]

Yikes! I was under the impression that if you did things like that you stood a good chance of corrupting the data on the device. Is that not the case? If you're right, I'd be very pleased. Even on this re-install I've now got the same problem. PCLOS isn't treating me well today.  Please give me any info you have on this. Thank you.

Unplugging a device which has not had all pending writes completed, will surely cause data corruption on the device.

There is no guarantee that all writes have been performed prior to unplugging, unless you safely remove or eject the device first.

[Crow]

Yikes! I was under the impression that if you did things like that you stood a good chance of corrupting the data on the device. Is that not the case? If you're right, I'd be very pleased. Even on this re-install I've now got the same problem. PCLOS isn't treating me well today.  Please give me any info you have on this. Thank you.

Unplugging a device which has not had all pending writes completed, will surely cause data corruption on the device.

There is no guarantee that all writes have been performed prior to unplugging, unless you safely remove or eject the device first.

+1

[Sproggy]

OK Lets break this down ...

Just19 - no, it's not confined just to myself. In a terminal in root if I try the commands you mention - which I'd already done and should have mentioned - I get the same response, though in slightly different words. (I have no USB devices plugged in at the moment so can't give you the exact wording. But the gist is exactly the same).

did you update the Kernel??? if not which Kernel are you on??? and if so which kernel did you go to???

However - I've now hit another problem which I suspect is related. On booting up this morning my Window manager settings have disappeared (so I have no window surround) and in the settings manager there is now a blank where once I changed those things. It means I can't move or manipulate windows and the cursor is forever in 'active' mode - if you know what I mean.

this problem is your update to the Nvidia current version of the driver ... for some reason the upgrade enable 3d (Compiz) ... this disables your settings in the XFCE Settings Manager ... the only way to get them back and i have confirmed this with a number of users is to open synaptic and install the Compiz and Compiz Fusion icon ... then run fusion icon ... right click the appearing icon and  choose Xfwm as your window manager ... then go into the PCLinuxOS Control Center ... Hardware ... and disable the 3d settings turnt on by your Nvidia update ... reboot ... you will see you default Window Decs ... you can then uninstall the Compiz stuff ... and re-enable the Xfce native compisitor through the Xfce Settings Manager

I suppose like a lot of others I took a chance with upgrading when the warnings were there. I think that rather than get involved in some possibly long discussion about how I might get out of these two problems, it's quicker to re-install and leave the upgrading till the all-clear is given by Sproggy, Tex etc.

But thank you for you input.

When you upgrade you have to upgrade everything ... you also have to be aware that Xfce does not like cross polination of the desktops ... and Xfce 4.8 is more stringent in this than any before it ... those must have KDE/Gnome apps can and will do some strange crap to your XFCE install ... this is why i personally have put so much time into ensuring that nearly 100% of the native apps for XFCE have been packaged up to ensure that we avoid this kinda stuff ...

Kori

[GermanTux]

Yikes! I was under the impression that if you did things like that you stood a good chance of corrupting the data on the device. Is that not the case? If you're right, I'd be very pleased. Even on this re-install I've now got the same problem. PCLOS isn't treating me well today.  Please give me any info you have on this. Thank you.

Unplugging a device which has not had all pending writes completed, will surely cause data corruption on the device.

There is no guarantee that all writes have been performed prior to unplugging, unless you safely remove or eject the device first.

Oh, well aware of that.  That's why i write data to the drive, and close the programs that are writing the data before unplugging it. 

[besonian]

Sproggy - thank you for a wealth of info I didn't know. The crucial bit for me is your last para -

"When you upgrade you have to upgrade everything ... you also have to be aware that Xfce does not like cross polination of the desktops ... and Xfce 4.8 is more stringent in this than any before it ..."

Firstly I did upgrade everything. And as a matter of interest, I was using kernel 2.6.33.7. But I had no idea of the situation re cross-pollination. I have no 'must have' KDE apps in the usual sense of the word. But being, amongst other things, a photographer, I need Digikam. OK, I could use Photoshop I suppose, in Windows in a virtual box, but I know Digikam now inside out and everything I do with photographs I do on that. So I think that's going to keep me from Xfce - certainly at least on my main machine. But as I've now successfully installed it on a machine I use for testing I shall be using it often and will be in a position to test it out thoroughly and without pulling in any KDE stuff. And I'll upgrade and see how that goes!!  

Thank you for your very full post. I think on that basis I should mark this as solved. Much appreciated.