Date: Wed, 23 Oct 2013 00:42:17 +0200 From: Polytropon <freebsd@edvax.de> To: leeoliveshackelford@surewest.net Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: click-click in floppy disk drive Message-ID: <20131023004217.09c11ef6.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: <20131022152620.DTC25273@ms5.mc.surewest.net> References: <20131021135605.DSZ95987@ms5.mc.surewest.net> <20131022230000.9bfa7add.freebsd@edvax.de> <20131022152620.DTC25273@ms5.mc.surewest.net>
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//* Re-adding the mailing list in CC, hope that's okay. On Tue, 22 Oct 2013 15:26:20 -0700 (PDT), leeoliveshackelford@surewest.net wrote: > Dear Polytropon, > Thank you so much for your very generous response to my inquiry. > I am, of course, aware that I can simply unplug the device; > however, the whole point of this exercise is to (a) get FreeBSD > correctly installed on my H.P. Z220 computer, and then (b) try > to gain sufficient understanding of FreeBSD to be able to use > it at some minimum level of competence. Goal "a" has proven, > thus far, to be a terribly frustrating and time-consuming effort. I don't think so. It seems that you have successfully finished the system installation (which is easy because you can follow The FreeBSD Handbook to achieve this goal). :-) However, the fact that a continuous clicking USB floppy drive is causing you problem _does_ indicate that there is something wrong. Unlike MICROS~1 products, FreeBSD offers you diagnostic tools to find out _what_ is wrong (instead of the "solution" of performing a full re-install and praying it doesn't happen again). As I said, check if there's some mount in your system that hasn't been resolved properly: # mount -v Check for the mountpoint where the floppy drive is to be mounted. Also check if something still tries to access files on a (not present) floppy disk: # lsof | grep <your mountpoint of floppy> If there is nothing suspicious - good. Next thing to try would be to reset the device to make it stop clicking. Determine the drive's "SCSI ID": # camcontrol devlist Use that ID to stop or reset the device: # camcontrol stop <b:t:l> # camcontrol reset <b:t:l> where <b:t:l> refers to the bus, target and LUN obtained from the "devlist" output above. Even though it is possible that the misbehaviour of the drive has probably been triggered by some /etc/periodic script, it's not clear yet _which one_ and _why_. I have named a few speculations, but there are probably other possibilities. What you are observing however is _not_ a normal system behaviour, so there _is_ a reason for that. In worst case, it's a "fat fingered command" or a "stupid thing" (TM) that has been performed by the operator - I _know_ this, I've made lots of really stupid mistakes in the past and then wondered why things started being strange. :-) > Although you did not ask, the floppy drive behaves perfectly > if I boot M.S. Windows. This doesn't have to say anything because "Windows" uses a very different driver. Maybe the manufacturer did supply it. So the driver could compensate a misbehaviour of the drive in case it violates USB standards... Depending on if you're using the computer for (server, work- station, desktop), there may even be another possibility: Maybe you are running a desktop environment that keeps polling the device continuously? In this case of course there would be no real connection to periodic scripts I assume... -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...
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