Mysterious USB key issue

[edgedemon]

Right, Im a bit of a linux noob but will try and hopefully give enough information for someone to help.
I have taken the plunge and installed kubuntu and have to say Im impressed. everything works fine, even my ipod and camera, but strangely I have one usb key (sods law - the one I need) that takes about 5 mins before I can see the files, and what I see in the file manager bears no relation to what is on the key. The key has 3 folders and one document on it, and Dolphin file manager claims to see 43 folders and 46 files!!
The key things I think are the amount of time to access the key, and the output I get from the Dolphin File Manager

Looking in system messages, the device is seen and mounted

Jan 4 09:09:32 CJN3H2J kernel: [ 2097.728000] usb 5-4: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 7
Jan 4 09:09:32 CJN3H2J kernel: [ 2097.860000] usb 5-4: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
Jan 4 09:09:32 CJN3H2J kernel: [ 2097.868000] scsi4 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
Jan 4 09:09:37 CJN3H2J kernel: [ 2102.872000] scsi 4:0:0:0: Direct-Access Kingston DataTraveler 2.0 1.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
Jan 4 09:09:37 CJN3H2J kernel: [ 2102.872000] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] 2007040 512-byte hardware sectors (1028 MB)
Jan 4 09:09:37 CJN3H2J kernel: [ 2102.872000] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
Jan 4 09:09:37 CJN3H2J kernel: [ 2102.876000] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] 2007040 512-byte hardware sectors (1028 MB)
Jan 4 09:09:37 CJN3H2J kernel: [ 2102.876000] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
Jan 4 09:09:37 CJN3H2J kernel: [ 2102.876000] sdb: sdb1
Jan 4 09:09:37 CJN3H2J kernel: [ 2102.984000] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
Jan 4 09:09:37 CJN3H2J kernel: [ 2102.984000] sd 4:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0

But it is seeing it as 1028Mb, not 1024Mb!! I can also see some messages about trying to access beyond the end of the drive...

Jan 4 08:41:55 CJN3H2J kernel: [ 439.068000] sd 3:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
Jan 4 08:45:37 CJN3H2J kernel: [ 661.972000] attempt to access beyond end of device
Jan 4 08:45:38 CJN3H2J kernel: [ 661.972000] sdb1: rw=0, want=2023120, limit=2006800
Jan 4 08:45:38 CJN3H2J kernel: [ 661.976000] attempt to access beyond end of device
Jan 4 08:45:38 CJN3H2J kernel: [ 661.976000] sdb1: rw=0, want=2023096, limit=2006800

This key is formatted as FAT and was used in my XP box and I can confirm that it is not corrupted in any way as I can still access it if I plug back into XP.
I can confirm vfat is loaded

mmacleod@CJN3H2J:~$ lsmod|grep vf
vfat 14080 1
fat 54300 1 vfat

I think it is mounted correctly...

mmacleod@CJN3H2J:~$ mount
/dev/mapper/CJN3H2J-root on / type ext3 (rw,errors=remount-ro)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
/sys on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
varrun on /var/run type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,mode=0755)
varlock on /var/lock type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,mode=1777)
udev on /dev type tmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
devshm on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,gid=5,mode=620)
lrm on /lib/modules/2.6.22-14-generic/volatile type tmpfs (rw)
/dev/sda1 on /boot type ext3 (rw)
securityfs on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw)
/dev/sdb1 on /media/KINGSTON type vfat (rw,nosuid,nodev,noatime,flush,uid=1000,utf8,short name=lower)

I can also see a 'BROKEN TRANSLATION 1 Item' message on the bottom menu bar of the file manager window.
I have just about used my entire linux knowledge up now and would be grateful if someone could help me with some other commands for diagnosing the problem as I have used up all the commands I know.


Cheers

Martin

[Qqmike]

Re: Mysterious USB key issue

I would first try file manager Konqueror to see what it sees.

[edgedemon]

Re: Mysterious USB key issue

Just tried that and I get even less - 10 mins so far, the USB key activity light is flashing, but I get a 'stalled' message at the bottom of the Konqueror window...

[Snowhog]

Re: Mysterious USB key issue

Dolphin. Not the preferred File Manager (although in Gutsy it is), and has it's problems. I (as well as many others) prefer to use Konqueror as our file manager. You can reset Konqueror to be the default FM as follows:

With Konqueror running, click Settings | Configure Konqueror | File Associations | inode | system_directory | Application Preference Order click on Konqueror and click the Move Up button to put it at the top of the list. Click Apply and your done. Konqueror is now the default file manager.

Then try opening your USB key again, with Konqueror.

[edgedemon]

Re: Mysterious USB key issue

Set it as the default file manager, but it made no difference. Ended up copying the files to a window box, formatting the key in Linux and then copying them back...

Cheers for the help