parted -l wastes time searching for /dev/fd0

[Erick Brunzell]

Binary package hint: parted

Quite some time ago parted added the function to use "-l" to list all device specs rather than having to use "parted /dev/XYZ print" for each device and I've grown quite fond of using "parted -l".

I just noticed that using "parted -l" now seems so slow you'd almost think the terminal was frozen (or doing something bad),but when it does complete it appears that it's wasting time searching for a non-existent floppy:

lance@lance-desktop:~$ sudo parted -l
Model: ATA WDC WD5000AAKS-0 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 500GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
 1 32.3kB 43.3GB 43.3GB primary ext3 boot
 2 43.3GB 86.2GB 42.8GB primary ext3
 3 86.2GB 129GB 43.0GB primary ext3
 4 129GB 500GB 371GB extended
18 129GB 151GB 21.8GB logical ext4
14 151GB 172GB 21.1GB logical ext4
15 172GB 193GB 21.1GB logical ext4
16 193GB 215GB 21.4GB logical ext4
17 215GB 236GB 21.4GB logical ext4
13 236GB 258GB 22.0GB logical ext4
12 258GB 280GB 21.6GB logical ext3
11 280GB 301GB 21.7GB logical ext4
10 301GB 323GB 21.8GB logical ext4
 5 323GB 378GB 55.1GB logical ext3
 6 378GB 432GB 53.6GB logical ext3
 7 432GB 487GB 54.9GB logical ext3
 8 487GB 498GB 10.7GB logical ext3
 9 498GB 500GB 2517MB logical linux-swap(v1)

Model: ATA WDC WD800JB-00JJ (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 80.0GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
 1 1049kB 67.3GB 67.3GB primary ext4
 2 67.3GB 80.0GB 12.7GB extended
 6 67.3GB 75.8GB 8455MB logical ext4
 7 75.8GB 77.9GB 2132MB logical linux-swap(v1)
 5 77.9GB 80.0GB 2136MB logical linux-swap(v1)

Warning: Unable to open /dev/fd0 read-write (Read-only file system). /dev/fd0
has been opened read-only.
Error: /dev/fd0: unrecognised disk label

Possibly look for a regression related to bug 757201.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: parted 2.3-5ubuntu5
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-8.42-generic 2.6.38.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-8-generic i686
Architecture: i386
Date: Mon Apr 18 16:12:58 2011
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release i386 (20101007)
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_US:en
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: parted
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to natty on 2011-03-29 (20 days ago)

[Phillip Susi (psusi)]

This is a system configuration error, not a bug in parted. You need to go into your bios and configure it to not have a floppy. Parted is trying to read it because your kernel thinks you have one, and it thinks so because your bios tells it you do.

[Erick Brunzell (lbsolost)]

Thanks Phillip.

You're right, I recently had some hardware problems requiring that I clear the CMOS and restore the BIOS defaults. I then overlooked that one setting.

No fool like an old fool ;^)