Help! Cannot connect via mass storage mode anymore

[Butterfly]

When I connect via USB to my laptop andclick mass storage mode. I get the following message 'Unable to connect via USB. Device storage in use'
My N900 wont mount on my desktop so now I have no way of transfering music anymore. It has worked fine for the last fortnight so don't know what's changed. I cannot use PC suite as I am using a mac. Can anyone help? I have installed any applications on my N900 except for bounce.

[emesem]

Just make sure that no program is accessing your /home/user/MyDocs (shell, file manager, media player)... Then it should be possible. So If really no applications are running it should be definitely be possible to use it as mass storage device.

Another way is to use ssh.

[onutz]

also u can look for debian chroot image if you installed it already, it uses the mc too

[archebyte]

When I connect via USB to my laptop andclick mass storage mode. I get the following message 'Unable to connect via USB. Device storage in use'


On the N900, open a root terminal and type


lsof | grep MyDocs


This will give you a list of programs accessing the MyDocs folder. something like this:

Nokia-N900-42-11:~# lsof | grep MyDocs
sh 3474 user cwd DIR 179,1 65536 4326 /home/user/MyDocs/tmp


this is acutally an XTerminal program cd'ed into the tmp folder in MyDocs. Note the process-id (3474)

kill the offending program(s):

kill -9 3474


Try connecting the USB cable again. HTH

[Butterfly]

Thanks for your help guys. I tried restarting the phone (after you, Emesem, said something was trying to access the mydocs) and I also restarted my Mac and it's working again!!! I'm glad I didn't have to use terminal, it looks complicated. Anyway, I really appreciate everyone who's tried to help me. Thanks :)

[floffe]

archebyte: Good advice, but one should always try a kill <pid> before a kill -9 <pid> to let the app shut down gracefully if possible.

[Butterfly]

also u can look for debian chroot image if you installed it already, it uses the mc too

Thanks for your surgestion, but I've really no idea what debian chroot is...

[Butterfly]

archebyte: Good advice, but one should always try a kill <pid> before a kill -9 <pid> to let the app shut down gracefully if possible.

You guys have lost me! :confused:

[floffe]

The kill command from the terminal tells apps to shut down. The pid is short for process id, which archebyte mentioned above, and used to send the shutdown signal to the right process = app. Running kill process-id tells that app to shutdown pretty much the same way as clicking an X in the top corner (think ringing a doorbell and asking the person answering to please leave). kill -9 process-id kills the app immediately, not letting it save open stuff and so on (think smashing open the door and forcefully throwing out the person).

[j.s]

You guys have lost me! :confused:

The process id (PID) is like a serial number that uniquely and succinctly identifies an instance of a program that is running. (More than one instance of a program might be running at the same time.)

kill is an application that can be run by simply typing kill in a terminal. kill PID is like asking a troublesome guest with ID # PID to leave.

-9 is an option that modifies the behavior of the application kill. kill -9 PID is like cutting the head off a troublesome guest, possibly making a mess, and increasing risk of harm to yourself.

[pagesix1536]

Excellent descriptions...glad to see someone explaining things for people that arent Linux savvy... I'll have to remember to do the same when I can.

[optimaxxx]

umm, i tried all of you advice, did the ol' # sudo gainroot then # lsof | grep MyDocs

it displays nothing (as in no programs are accessing mydocs) but i still get this stupid error!!

[myk]

I also found nothing with lsof, so looked at the mounts.
The debian chroot is the problem for me. The "Close Debian" icon is not working, or at least not unmounting the debian filesystems.

I fixed it by manually running /sbin/closechroot , and now can use USB mass storage again.

[juahan]

I have the same problem, nothing comes up with lsof. But weirdly, everytime I have this problem and I run the application manager and remove something, it seems to fix the problem and unmount properly. Weird!

[atifhasan86]

Just make sure that no program is accessing your /home/user/MyDocs (shell, file manager, media player)... Then it should be possible. So If really no applications are running it should be definitely be possible to use it as mass storage device.

Another way is to use ssh.

cant use SSH as i have to transfer large video files,
but a simple reboot did the rick
thanks for the help though everyone

[atifhasan86]

Just make sure that no program is accessing your /home/user/MyDocs (shell, file manager, media player)... Then it should be possible. So If really no applications are running it should be definitely be possible to use it as mass storage device.

Another way is to use ssh.

cant use SSH as i have to transfer large video files,
but a simple reboot did the rick
thanks for the help though everyone

[sup]

If the device says it cannot be connected because it says it is in use and your /home/user/MyDocs cannot be unmounted and

lsof /home/user/MyDocs

gives you nothing (if it output something, that something would need to be stopped first), you can unmout it manually in terminal with:

umount -l /home/user/MyDocs

Took me two hours to learn this the other day.

[santiago]

format the mass memory and u have done, but format it using the osso-filemanager