USB flash drive not identified

[nicrnicr]

dear All,
I have an unidentified flash drive again after I deleted its partition.
I looked at what you already wrote me here.
https://www.kubuntuforums.net/forum/...ger-identified


Qmike advised me to format it first, then to go to
https://www.kubuntuforums.net/forum/...ge4#post544663

#142

How can I format it when it is not detected please? If I could format it, I wouldn't be asking anything here.

And after I did what he wrote
I got

kubuntu@kubuntu:~$ sudo dd if=/home/kubuntu/Downloads/lubuntu-22.04-desktop-amd64.iso of=/dev/sdc bs=16M
dd: failed to open '/dev/sdc': No medium found

I wrote sdc because sda is the computer and sdb is the external hdd. But sdc is not shown when I write

lsblk

,

sudo fdisk -l

or when I use the Partition manager to see what it sees.

[Snowhog]

IF lsblk, fdisk -l, or a partition manager don't see it, it is likely/certainly 'dead'. Open Konsole. With the USB flash drive unplugged, type: sudo dmesg and press Enter. Note the last lines. Then plug in the USB flash drive and execute the command again and check the last lines. IF it is being detected, even at only the system level, you'll see it there. If there is nothing, then it is truly dead.

[claydoh]

if it is not showing in lsblk, or in Partition Manager, then As previously discussed, it may be a bad USB stick -- or perhaps a bad USB port on the computer, maybe?

Try different ports, and if it still does not show, see if the drive shows up in lsusb

[nicrnicr]

Thank you very much Snowhog.
Without Flash drive I get

[11485.164996] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: 0xC08861EC | stack pointer
[11485.165007] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: 0x0036019C | last host cmd
[11485.165017] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: 0x00000020 | isr status reg
[11485.165034] ieee80211 phy0: Hardware restart was requested
[13574.048387] usb 1-5: USB disconnect, device number 7

and with flash drive it is

[11485.164996] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: 0xC08861EC | stack pointer
[11485.165007] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: 0x0036019C | last host cmd
[11485.165017] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: 0x00000020 | isr status reg
[11485.165034] ieee80211 phy0: Hardware restart was requested
[13574.048387] usb 1-5: USB disconnect, device number 7
[13722.747494] usb 1-5: new high-speed USB device number 8 using xhci_hcd
[13722.895953] usb 1-5: New USB device found, idVendor=ffff, idProduct=1201
[13722.895965] usb 1-5: New USB device strings: Mfr=0, Product=0, SerialNumber=0
[13722.897166] usb-storage 1-5:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[13722.897589] scsi host4: usb-storage 1-5:1.0
[13723.924149] scsi 4:0:0:0: Direct-Access NAND USB2DISK 0.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 4
[13723.925494] sd 4:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
[13723.926324] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI removable disk

[Snowhog]

Are you using an external USB Hub? The second output of dmesg indicates that the USB flash drive is being detected:

[13723.926324] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI removable disk

IF this is a hub, try, as claydoh suggested, a different port.

[nicrnicr]

Dear Snowhog and Claydoh,
I'm very very sorry. I beg your pardon for my mistake. I began the topic this morning almost while still sleeping (and then I had to sleep further).

When I write

sudo fdisk -l

I get

kubuntu@kubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l
Disk /dev/loop0: 1.7 GiB, 1790558208 bytes, 3497184 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 /dev/sda: 465.8 GiB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0xf61f7603

Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
/dev/sda1 * 2048 1026047 1024000 500M 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2 1026048 136718182 135692135 64.7G 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3 975775744 976769023 993280 485M 27 Hidden NTFS WinRE
/dev/sda4 136718334 975775743 839057410 400.1G 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 136718336 234374585 97656250 46.6G 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 960151552 975775743 15624192 7.5G 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7 234377216 359950335 125573120 59.9G 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 812726272 960149503 147423232 70.3G 83 Linux
/dev/sda9 359952384 812724223 452771840 215.9G 83 Linux

Partition 4 does not start on physical sector boundary.
Partition table entries are not in disk order.


Disk /dev/sdb: 111.8 GiB, 120034123776 bytes, 234441648 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
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: CD34DFB5-AA4C-48D7-BBAA-28E0B8C93B6D

Device Start End Sectors Size Type
/dev/sdb1 119328768 234440703 115111936 54.9G Microsoft basic data
/dev/sdb4 503808 4216831 3713024 1.8G Linux filesystem
/dev/sdb5 4216832 119328767 115111936 54.9G Linux filesystem

Partition table entries are not in disk order.
kubuntu@kubuntu:~$

And I also have

kubuntu@kubuntu:~$ fdisk -l
fdisk: cannot open /dev/loop0: Permission denied
fdisk: cannot open /dev/sda: Permission denied
fdisk: cannot open /dev/sdb: Permission denied
kubuntu@kubuntu:~$

which means that the flash drive is detected.
Anyway, the partition manager don't see it and I'm only able to format with this software.

This message is the same when the flash drive is on another port.
Please excuse me for my previous bad decription of the problem

[nicrnicr]

Thank you Snowhog for your answer. I don't use any USB hub.

[nicrnicr]

And there is

kubuntu@kubuntu:~$ lsusb
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 8087:0a2b Intel Corp.
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 04f2:b5ab Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 059f:1001 LaCie, Ltd
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 05e3:0608 Genesys Logic, Inc. Hub
Bus 001 Device 010: ID ffff:1201
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
kubuntu@kubuntu:~$

[Snowhog]

which means that the flash drive is detected.

But it isn't being detected by these commands. Your outputs (post #6) show only a loop device (/dev/loop0) and your internal (/dev/sda) and external (/dev/sdb) drives. The only place that it is reported is in dmesg after it is plugged in.

[claydoh]

Bus 001 Device 010: ID ffff:1201

This is the USB device, and there is something wrong, as it should show some sort of extra info.
The ID looks wrong, or bad, but I can't immediately say why.

*every* report I see about this hardware ID involves a bad, corrupted, or non-mounting USB thumb drive.

As an example:
https://askubuntu.com/questions/1303...s-sdb-or-sdx-i

Another bad drive, or maybe one of those fakes drives that have been modified to read a larger capacity than they really have?

[nicrnicr]

Thank you Snowhog for your explication. Please would you know how to make this flash drive real for the computer?

[Snowhog]

Personally, as you deleted partition data on this drive, and that the system isn't seeing it 'normally', I'd toss it.

[nicrnicr]

Ok, thank you claydoh and Snowhog.
I will toss it.
As in the last case, this flash drive might be a cheap one, a fake drive that has been modified to read a larger capacity than it really has.

[MoonRise]

Just to note, I had similar issues before and it turned out it was truly dead. The chip that communicates between the USB port and the "memory" portion decided to go. It happens with these devices. Some last a very long time, others, go without warning. I doubt it was anything you did other than it had enough.