[Bug 1101328] [NEW] Hangs scanning non-existent floppy if USB drive is present

[jimav]

Public bug reported:

If a USB external drive is plugged in, gparted hangs at startup
"scanning" for all devices.   This happens even if a device is specified
as a command-line argument.    Repeated errors are written to
/var/log/kern.log forever, like this:

    Buffer I/O error on device fd0, logical block 0
    end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 0
    ...

There is no actual floppy on my system.  I think my motherboard has a
floppy controller, though, which may be why udev created the device file
/dev/fd0, and gparted seems to be trying to read from it.   Apparently
gparted ignores the errors and keeps trying forever.

For some reason this does not happen if a USB drive isn't plugged in!  Strange.
(Note: There is an old thread reporting a similar problem with a USB flash drive at http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=12461074#post12461074)

SUGGESTIONS:

1.  If device arg(s) are specified on the command line, don't touch any
other devices (eg don't scan at start-up).

2. If an i/o error occurs repeatedly, stop trying to access that device.

3. Figure out why the floppy device is accessed only when a USB device
is present, and fix that (I'm assuming they should be unrelated)

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: gparted 0.11.0-2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-29.46-generic 3.2.24
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-29-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: fglrx
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu15.1
Architecture: amd64
Date: Fri Jan 18 10:26:02 2013
InstallationMedia: Xubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" - Release amd64 (20111012)
MarkForUpload: True
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: gparted
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to precise on 2012-08-10 (160 days ago)

** Affects: gparted (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New


** Tags: amd64 apport-bug precise

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1101328

Title:
  Hangs scanning non-existent floppy if USB drive is present

Status in “gparted” package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  If a USB external drive is plugged in, gparted hangs at startup
  "scanning" for all devices.   This happens even if a device is
  specified as a command-line argument.    Repeated errors are written
  to /var/log/kern.log forever, like this:

      Buffer I/O error on device fd0, logical block 0
      end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 0
      ...

  There is no actual floppy on my system.  I think my motherboard has a
  floppy controller, though, which may be why udev created the device
  file /dev/fd0, and gparted seems to be trying to read from it.
  Apparently gparted ignores the errors and keeps trying forever.

  For some reason this does not happen if a USB drive isn't plugged in!  Strange.
  (Note: There is an old thread reporting a similar problem with a USB flash drive at http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=12461074#post12461074)

  SUGGESTIONS:

  1.  If device arg(s) are specified on the command line, don't touch
  any other devices (eg don't scan at start-up).

  2. If an i/o error occurs repeatedly, stop trying to access that
  device.

  3. Figure out why the floppy device is accessed only when a USB device
  is present, and fix that (I'm assuming they should be unrelated)

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
  Package: gparted 0.11.0-2
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-29.46-generic 3.2.24
  Uname: Linux 3.2.0-29-generic x86_64
  NonfreeKernelModules: fglrx
  ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu15.1
  Architecture: amd64
  Date: Fri Jan 18 10:26:02 2013
  InstallationMedia: Xubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" - Release amd64 (20111012)
  MarkForUpload: True
  ProcEnviron:
   LANGUAGE=
   TERM=xterm
   PATH=(custom, no user)
   LANG=en_US.UTF-8
   SHELL=/bin/bash
  SourcePackage: gparted
  UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to precise on 2012-08-10 (160 days ago)

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