Can't mount DVD, CD-ROMs work. Bad /etc/fstab?

Issues & Assistance Unsupported hardware | Dual boot
1

I’m not sure if I’ve got something messed up with my /etc/fstab or whatever, but for some reason I can’t seem to get any of the DVDs I burned under Windows, or store-bought DVD video, mounted/read. I haven’t tried burning discs on Linux because I don’t have any blanks and I’m between jobs and too poor to afford any. Besides, I think I’m configured wrong. However, CD-R and CD-ROMs work, so it’s at least partially working. The eject command works. I’m 99.9% certain that it’s not hardware failure, because I can read discs on Windows. But I don’t WANT to run Windows. Here’s the line for my drive in /etc/fstab:

/dev/sr0 /mnt/cdrom udf,iso9660 user,noauto,ro 0 0

Obviously it needs to be read/write (rw?) for burnable media, but that’s what it’s like right now. It needs fixing. Maybe more than a little bit needs fixing here.

Here’s the relevant section from lshw:
*-cdrom
description: DVD-RAM writer
product: DVD A DS8A9SH
vendor: Slimtype
physical id: 0.0.0
bus info: scsi@5:0.0.0
logical name: /dev/cdrom
logical name: /dev/sr0
version: EP5B
capabilities: removable audio cd-r cd-rw dvd dvd-r dvd-ram
configuration: ansiversion=5 status=nodisc

But there is a disc in it at the moment. A store-bought, genuine DVD movie. When I try to mount it, I get this:

sudo mount /dev/cdrom
mount: /mnt/cdrom: fsconfig system call failed: /dev/sr0: Can’t open blockdev.
dmesg(1) may have more information after failed mount system call.

And when I try dmesg:

dmesg
dmesg: read kernel buffer failed: Operation not permitted

But if I insert a CD, it automounts and pops up the GUI dialog and gives me the option to browse the contents. And it knows if it’s blank or not. It makes a little noise if it’s a DVD, but it seems to have much more “try” (as well as success) if it’s a CD. But I know this drive works fine. Just not at the moment.

I’ve tried looking this issue up on search engines; nothing I do works. I was reluctant to come back to the Garuda forum because I’ve asked a few questions before (my mic is still broken in pipewire) and the community hadn’t helped me actually resolve any of my issues (they tried), then the topics closed themselves. I didn’t want a repeat of that, but here I am giving it another try. I’m using Garuda as a daily driver, and although I could dual-boot into Windows (despite what the inxi says) I don’t want to. I like Linux. I like it fine. It works for pretty much everything I do with a computer. I just wish I could get a few problems solved. But so far, no luck.

System:
Kernel: 6.10.6-zen1-1-zen arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 14.2.1
clocksource: tsc avail: hpet,acpi_pm
parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-zen
root=UUID=b1270554-eee9-4e1e-86df-0fc6d4334e01 rw rootflags=subvol=@
quiet loglevel=3 ibt=off
Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.1.4 tk: Qt v: N/A info: frameworks v: 6.5.0
wm: kwin_x11 vt: 2 dm: SDDM Distro: Garuda base: Arch Linux
Machine:
Type: Desktop System: Dell product: OptiPlex 3020 v: 01
serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 15 serial: <superuser required>
Mobo: Dell model: 0WMJ54 v: A01 serial: <superuser required>
part-nu: OptiPlex 3020 uuid: <superuser required> BIOS: Dell v: A07
date: 01/14/2015
CPU:
Info: model: Intel Core i5-4590 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Haswell gen: core 4
level: v3 note: check built: 2013-15 process: Intel 22nm family: 6
model-id: 0x3C (60) stepping: 3 microcode: 0x28
Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 4 smt: <unsupported> cache: L1: 256 KiB
desc: d-4x32 KiB; i-4x32 KiB L2: 1024 KiB desc: 4x256 KiB L3: 6 MiB
desc: 1x6 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 3693 high: 3700 min/max: 800/3700 scaling:
driver: intel_cpufreq governor: performance cores: 1: 3683 2: 3700 3: 3700
4: 3692 bogomips: 26340
Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Vulnerabilities: <filter>
Graphics:
Device-1: NVIDIA GP107 [GeForce GTX 1050] driver: nvidia v: 555.58.02
alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm non-free: 545.xx+ status: current (as of
2024-06; EOL~2026-12-xx) arch: Pascal code: GP10x process: TSMC 16nm
built: 2016-2021 pcie: gen: 2 speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 16 ports: active: none
off: HDMI-A-1 empty: DP-1,DVI-D-1 bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:1c81
class-ID: 0300
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.13 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.2
compositor: kwin_x11 driver: X: loaded: nvidia unloaded: modesetting
alternate: fbdev,nouveau,nv,vesa gpu: nvidia,nvidia-nvswitch
display-ID: :0 screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 90 s-size: 542x301mm (21.34x11.85")
s-diag: 620mm (24.41")
Monitor-1: HDMI-A-1 mapped: HDMI-0 note: disabled model: Acer XF251Q
serial: <filter> built: 2019 res: 1920x1080 dpi: 90 gamma: 1.2
size: 544x303mm (21.42x11.93") diag: 623mm (24.5") ratio: 16:9 modes:
max: 1920x1080 min: 640x480
API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: nvidia platforms: device: 0 drv: nvidia device: 2
drv: swrast gbm: drv: nvidia surfaceless: drv: nvidia x11: drv: nvidia
inactive: wayland,device-1
API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: nvidia mesa v: 555.58.02
glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050/PCIe/SSE2
memory: 3.91 GiB
API: Vulkan v: 1.3.279 layers: 11 device: 0 type: discrete-gpu
name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 driver: nvidia v: 555.58.02
device-ID: 10de:1c81 surfaces: xcb,xlib
Audio:
Device-1: Intel 8 Series/C220 Series High Definition Audio vendor: Dell
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 chip-ID: 8086:8c20
class-ID: 0403
Device-2: NVIDIA GP107GL High Definition Audio driver: snd_hda_intel
v: kernel pcie: gen: 2 speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 01:00.1
chip-ID: 10de:0fb9 class-ID: 0403
API: ALSA v: k6.10.6-zen1-1-zen status: kernel-api with: aoss
type: oss-emulator tools: alsactl,alsamixer,amixer
Server-1: sndiod v: N/A status: off tools: aucat,midicat,sndioctl
Server-2: PipeWire v: 1.2.2 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
4: pw-jack type: plugin tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
vendor: Dell driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1
port: c000 bus-ID: 04:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
IF: enp4s0 state: down mac: <filter>
Device-2: Edimax EW-7822ULC 802.11ac Wireless Adapter [Realtek RTL8812AU]
driver: rtw_8822bu type: USB rev: 2.1 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0
bus-ID: 3-9:6 chip-ID: 7392:b822 class-ID: 0000 serial: <filter>
IF: wlp0s20u9 state: up mac: <filter>
Info: services: NetworkManager, systemd-timesyncd, wpa_supplicant
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 5.03 TiB used: 4.56 TiB (90.6%)
SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: TeamGroup model: T-FORCE 240GB
size: 223.57 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 4A0 scheme: GPT
ID-2: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: KLEVV model: NEO N610 SSD 1TB
size: 953.87 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 7D scheme: MBR
ID-3: /dev/sdc maj-min: 8:32 vendor: Seagate model: ST4000DM005-2DP166
size: 3.64 TiB block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B type: USB
rev: 3.1 spd: 5 Gb/s lanes: 1 mode: 3.2 gen-1x1 tech: HDD rpm: 5980
serial: <filter> scheme: GPT
ID-4: /dev/sdd maj-min: 8:48 vendor: Hitachi model: HTS545025B9SA00
size: 232.89 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B type: USB
rev: 3.1 spd: 5 Gb/s lanes: 1 mode: 3.2 gen-1x1 tech: HDD rpm: 5400
serial: <filter> scheme: GPT
ID-5: /dev/sde maj-min: 8:64 vendor: Verbatim model: STORE N GO
size: 14.45 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B type: USB
rev: 2.1 spd: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 tech: N/A serial: <filter>
fw-rev: 8.01 scheme: MBR
SMART Message: Unknown USB bridge. Flash drive/Unsupported enclosure?
Partition:
ID-1: / raw-size: 40 GiB size: 40 GiB (100.00%) used: 25.02 GiB (62.5%)
fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda4 maj-min: 8:4
ID-2: /home raw-size: 183.07 GiB size: 180.01 GiB (98.33%)
used: 117.37 GiB (65.2%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda3 maj-min: 8:3
ID-3: /var/log raw-size: 40 GiB size: 40 GiB (100.00%)
used: 25.02 GiB (62.5%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda4 maj-min: 8:4
ID-4: /var/tmp raw-size: 40 GiB size: 40 GiB (100.00%)
used: 25.02 GiB (62.5%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda4 maj-min: 8:4
Swap:
Kernel: swappiness: 133 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default) zswap: no
ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 15.57 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 100
comp: zstd avail: lzo,lzo-rle,lz4,lz4hc,842 max-streams: 4 dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 38.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: nvidia temp: 47 C
Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A gpu: nvidia fan: 20%
Info:
Memory: total: 16 GiB available: 15.57 GiB used: 5.18 GiB (33.3%)
Processes: 294 Power: uptime: 1h 29m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep
avail: s2idle wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown, reboot,
suspend, test_resume image: 6.18 GiB services: org_kde_powerdevil,
power-profiles-daemon, upowerd Init: systemd v: 256 default: graphical
tool: systemctl
Packages: 2160 pm: pacman pkgs: 2121 libs: 598 tools: octopi,paru
pm: flatpak pkgs: 39 Compilers: clang: 18.1.8 gcc: 14.2.1 Shell: garuda-inxi
default: fish v: 3.7.1 running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.35
Garuda (2.6.26-1):
System install date:     2024-06-09
Last full system update: 2024-08-26 ↻
Is partially upgraded:   No
Relevant software:       snapper NetworkManager dracut nvidia-dkms
Windows dual boot:       No/Undetected
Failed units:
2 
dmesg -h

Operation not permitted = sudo needed

3

oh, my bad. Of course, sudo. Yeah, here we go. I don’t know what you want me to grep for, so here’s my guess? You gave me a tutorial page with WAY too much information. I’m sure I’ll absorb and process it all eventually, but can we please stick to the problem at hand and give me a clue where to go next, if this isn’t useful?

sudo dmesg | grep sr0
[ 2.135722] sr 5:0:0:0: [sr0] scsi3-mmc drive: 24x/24x writer dvd-ram cd/rw xa/form2 cdda tray
[ 2.163940] sr 5:0:0:0: Attached scsi CD-ROM sr0

I don’t see how that’s particularly informative. And I’m pretty sure my /etc/fstab is wrong. I came here for actual HELP. You’ve not been very helpful. I made a good faith effort to provide all the information necessary to debug my problem. You have not reciprocated. All you did was tell me I was using dmesg without elevation. Okay. So what now?

4

So anyway, I read a bit more of the page from the link you sent me, and it occurred to me to do

sudo dmesg --follow

then open another terminal window and try

sudo mount /dev/sr0 /mnt/cdrom
mount: /mnt/cdrom: fsconfig system call failed: /dev/sr0: Can't open blockdev.
dmesg(1) may have more information after failed mount system call.

That’s from a commercial DVD video. Here’s the dmesg --follow output:

[ 4443.926530] sr 5:0:0:0: [sr0] CDROM not ready.  Make sure there is a disc in the drive.
[ 4445.793057] rtw_8822bu 3-9:1.0: firmware failed to leave lps state

however, if I insert a CD-ROM or burned CD-R, it works, automatically. Most of the time. Some of these discs are 20 years old. Or older. I can’t get DVD (video or data) working in any way.

I’ve searched on this issue and looked at some threads on LinuxQuestions.org, and they’re really not much more helpful there, either. What is the DEAL? Why is this so HARD???

5

Unfortunately, CDs and DVDs don’t last forever.
I do not know whether Linux is compatible with DVDs burned by M$. There are tools like ntfs-3g to be able to read M$ file system things, but they are part of the standard scope of delivery of Garuda.
I have no knowledge about this, and it has nothing to do with Garuda Linux in particular.
I hope someone from the community can help you here.:slight_smile:

6

Try changing this to auto (so systemd will attempt to automatically detect the filesystem) and see if it makes any difference.

/dev/sr0 /mnt/cdrom auto user,noauto,ro 0 0

Don’t forget to reload the daemon after modifying /etc/fstab.

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
1 Like
7

I would suggest trying several different Linux live environments to see if your DVD drive works correctly with any Linux boot disks.

Do you have the K3b CD/DVD software package installed?

Try reinstalling K3b, and be sure to install all the optional software packages it lists during the install.

If you know your way around the insides of your computer/mobo try swapping the DVD drives cable to the first sata port on the mobo.

4 Likes
8

Nope, changing to auto didn’t help.

9

I’ll try the Garuda live environment as a first step, since I already have it on a flash drive. Maybe something is amiss in my installed configuration and this will help rule out hardware issues. But does the live environment have enough requisite software and dependencies to test out a video DVD? I guess we’ll see.

Yes, I do have K3b. I may try to reinstall it as a troubleshooting step. But because the “autoplay” is working with CDs and not DVDs, it’s telling me that maybe it’s something deeper. I also know for a fact that I have libdvdcss installed, so DVD video should work. Like I said, AFAIK the drive works as a DVD-RW and it was working perfectly within Windows not too long ago. And K3b is working stunningly with CDs. Just not DVDs.

There’s no reason why Windows-burned DVDs should be incompatible as they’re just UDF format discs, not NTFS. Besides, I can read/write NTFS - my 4TB data drive was formatted NTFS in Windows and I haven’t converted it. The optical drive picks up on ISO9660 CDs burned with Windows. Again, some of these discs are 25-30 years old, and some still work, while others are unreadable (and I chalk that up to damage, mostly). But if it looks like it should read, mostly they DO read. As long as they’re CDs, not DVDs. This is just straight WEIRD.

And yes, I physically know my way around the system; I recently replaced the motherboard (because I was clumsy and somehow bent the pins in the socket) which is about the most involved thing that you can do to a PC. I’m a hardware guy from WAY back, built my first PC clone 30 years ago. But I fail to see how switching ports would be of any help. If it’s a port issue, it will either work, or it will NOT work, but switching ports won’t make DVDs magically work again. If anything, it will just make my SSD slower, because there’s only one SATA-3 port on the board, the other is SATA-2, and the optical drive only needs SATA-1. So, and I say this with all the respect I can muster in this situation, NO, I’m not trying that.

10

That’s fine, but if you’re booting from a live disk it won’t matter if you swap sata ports temporarily. You don’t even need a hard drive installed to boot a live environment.

I’ve experienced issues like yours before, and sometimes changing the hardware’s port or slot on the mobo can help. Putting the optical drive on the first sata port sometimes makes it more recognizable to the bios especially if you want your optical drive to be your first choice when booting. In the old Windows days IRQ issues were common. Even today, sometimes an IRQ problem in Linux prevents hardware from working properly. Sometimes juggling PCI slots fixes these types of issues. Sometimes bizarrely, simply booting from a live disk is enough to initialize a piece of hardware correctly and then it will function correctly on the OS installed to metal.

If I had to wager a guess, I’d put my money on a missing package preventing correct DVD playback. It’s been a while since I’ve experienced this issue as optical drives are not so common in computers these days. These types of problems were more common in the in the past. Unfortunately, my memory fails me now as to how I’ve overcome these issues long ago.

When I get on my home computer I’ll search for some old notes on this issue to see what I might be able to find for you.

11

I may have solved the issue. Maybe “solved” isn’t the right term. More like “identified.”

I tried in a live environment, and saw the same behavior as I had seen in my installed OS. Couldn’t get VLC to play a DVD, it threw an error. So I thought about it, and realized that I had said “it worked in Windows,” and just on a lark I booted into Windows 10 (as I hadn’t wiped the partition and it’s an option in GRUB) to test whether or not that’s true still, and lo and behold, I couldn’t read DVDs on Windows EITHER. Explorer sees the drive as a DVD-RW, but no matter what DVD I put in the drive (I had tried a couple of movies, as well as discs I’d burned on other drives in the past through Windows) nothing read. I tried this through DVD Decrypter which is usually very good about seeing media. However, it didn’t have trouble with CD-ROMs, so it was doing the EXACT SAME THING as it was doing in Linux. The drive is connected to the same port it was connected to from the factory, so that’s probably not it.

My guess is that since CDs and DVDs work with different wavelength lasers, the “DVD” laser in my unit is broken. Not terribly surprised since the drive is very old (like nearly 10 years). But dang, it worked not too long ago; I guess I killed it somehow and never noticed. It’s a slimline drive, as this is a Dell Optiplex 3020 SFF, and it takes what are basically laptop drives. Not sure if it’s 9.5 or 12.7mm in height. I think it’s the former, but could be wrong.

I have found on Amazon a number of different compatible replacement units - one as cheap as $7 (refurb) and up to about $30 new for DVD-RW drives. Blu-Ray drives are also available but relatively expensive, like $70, and I have very little media currently to test that with, so maybe, maybe not. I will acquire and give one of those a go once funds allow for it. Honestly, I’m a tightwad and poor so I’ll probably give the $7 unit a whirl first. I’m starting a new job Monday and it’ll be a couple of weeks before I get a paycheck.

Thank you all for your help on this matter, but in the end, I think I was wrong and indeed my hardware is (at least partially) broken. At least it works for CDs, so I can still mount most old games if I have to with my existing drive.

Would it be acceptable to bump this topic during the next couple of weeks to keep it alive just in case my hardware purchase solves nothing? Or is that against the rules and we should consider the matter closed for now?

12

I copied to iso files a bunch of dvds from my collection recently using a usb player and k3b for reference.

13

No problem to reopen the topic if it closes before you have a chance to add an update or solution. Just shoot one of the mods a message, or flag the post and choose “something else”.

1 Like
14

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