Help! Cannot connect via mass storage mode anymore
 

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.

Re: Help! Cannot connect via mass storage mode anymore
 

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.

Re: Help! Cannot connect via mass storage mode anymore
 

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

Re: Help! Cannot connect via mass storage mode anymore
 

On the N900, open a root terminal and type

This will give you a list of programs accessing the MyDocs folder. something like this:
this is acutally an XTerminal program cd'ed into the tmp folder in MyDocs. Note the process-id (3474)

kill the offending program(s):
Try connecting the USB cable again. HTH

Re: Help! Cannot connect via mass storage mode anymore
 

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 :)

Re: Help! Cannot connect via mass storage mode anymore
 

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.

Re: Help! Cannot connect via mass storage mode anymore
 

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

Re: Help! Cannot connect via mass storage mode anymore
 

You guys have lost me! :confused:

Re: Help! Cannot connect via mass storage mode anymore
 

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).

Re: Help! Cannot connect via mass storage mode anymore
 

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.

Re: Help! Cannot connect via mass storage mode anymore
 

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.

Re: Help! Cannot connect via mass storage mode anymore
 

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!!

Re: Help! Cannot connect via mass storage mode anymore
 

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.

Re: Help! Cannot connect via mass storage mode anymore
 

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!

Re: Help! Cannot connect via mass storage mode anymore
 

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

Re: Help! Cannot connect via mass storage mode anymore
 

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

Re: Help! Cannot connect via mass storage mode anymore
 

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.

Re: Help! Cannot connect via mass storage mode anymore
 

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

Re: Help! Cannot connect via mass storage mode anymore
 

Thank you for taking the time to post this... I suspect you've just saved me hours of frustration.

Re: Help! Cannot connect via mass storage mode anymore
 

This can happen in Windows when you have many "drives" assigned to the same Drive Letter. Windows sux... this is common when you have network drives mounted after you have connected and disconnected your N900.

what to do:
- connect n900 in mass storage
- your MyDocs will not be mounted in windows, dont worry
- go to start, run, and type "diskmgmt.msc"
- find your N900 partition, right click it and choose "Change drive letter"
- select something that is free
- say thank you Carloxic ;)