Can't format nor access a detected USB key... "No medium found"

I've an USB key that I want to format, but I can't :

format it in command line :

Results:

mint@mint ~ $ sudo mkfs.ext2 /dev/sdb
mke2fs 1.42.9 (4-Feb-2014)
/dev/sdb is entire device, not just one partition!
Proceed anyway? (y,n) y
mkfs.ext2: Permission denied while trying to determine filesystem size
mint@mint ~ $ sudo mkfs.ext2 /dev/sdb1
mke2fs 1.42.9 (4-Feb-2014)
Could not stat /dev/sdb1 --- No such file or directory

The device apparently does not exist; did you specify it correctly?

create a partition :

Results:

mint@mint ~ $ sudo fdisk /dev/sdb
fdisk: unable to open /dev/sdb: No medium found

see it in GParted or in USB Stick Formatter
see a the partition with ls -l /dev/sd*

Results:

mint@mint ~ $ ls -l /dev/sd*
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8,  0 Jan  4 14:43 /dev/sda
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8,  1 Jan  4 12:07 /dev/sda1
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8,  2 Jan  4 14:43 /dev/sda2
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8,  5 Jan  4 11:22 /dev/sda5
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 16 Jan  4 12:30 /dev/sdb

read from it

Results:

mint@mint ~ $ sudo dd if=/dev/sdb of=/tmp/xxx bs=512 count=1
dd: failed to open ‘/dev/sdb’: No medium found
mint@mint ~ $ sudo dmesg | tail
[22002.140008] usb 2-1.4: new high-speed USB device number 12 using ehci-pci
[22002.238743] usb 2-1.4: New USB device found, idVendor=090c, idProduct=3000
[22002.238748] usb 2-1.4: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[22002.238750] usb 2-1.4: Product: SM3252A MEMORY BAR  
[22002.238752] usb 2-1.4: Manufacturer: Silicon Motion,Inc. 
[22002.239190] usb-storage 2-1.4:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[22002.239430] scsi37 : usb-storage 2-1.4:1.0
[22003.238585] scsi 37:0:0:0: Direct-Access              USB MEMORY BAR   1000 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS
[22003.241074] sd 37:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
[22003.246714] sd 37:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk

find it using fdisk :

Results:

mint@mint ~ $ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x2aa8f047

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *        2048   362375167   181186560    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2       362378205   823732874   230677335    f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
Partition 2 does not start on physical sector boundary.
/dev/sda5       362378268   823732874   230677303+   7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
Partition 5 does not start on physical sector boundary.

fdisk -l /dev/sdb

mint@mint ~ $ sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdb
Cannot open /dev/sdb

see it with sudo cat /proc/partitions

Results :

mint@mint ~ $ sudo cat /proc/partitions
major minor  #blocks  name

   7        0    1548652 loop0
   8        0  488386584 sda
   8        1  181186560 sda1
   8        2          1 sda2
   8        5  230677303 sda5
  11        0    1593088 sr0

find any errors with dmesg | tail :

Results:

mint@mint ~ $ sudo dmesg | tail
[ 5519.189351] usb 2-1.4: new high-speed USB device number 10 using ehci-pci
[ 5519.288491] usb 2-1.4: New USB device found, idVendor=090c, idProduct=3000
[ 5519.288498] usb 2-1.4: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[ 5519.288502] usb 2-1.4: Product: SM3252A MEMORY BAR  
[ 5519.288505] usb 2-1.4: Manufacturer: Silicon Motion,Inc. 
[ 5519.289008] usb-storage 2-1.4:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[ 5519.289150] scsi35 : usb-storage 2-1.4:1.0
[ 5520.292225] scsi 35:0:0:0: Direct-Access              USB MEMORY BAR   1000 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS
[ 5520.292771] sd 35:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
[ 5520.294124] sd 35:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk

And yet I see all the proper information (Manufacturer, ...) about it...

Any suggestions?

R3uK

Posted 2017-01-04T16:17:39.913

Reputation: 190

You are not using sudo in your second fdisk command or in the mkfs commands – golimar – 2017-01-04T16:22:44.013

@golimar : I've got the same answers with sudo : No medium found... – R3uK – 2017-01-04T16:33:53.357

What happens when you try to read from it? E.g. sudo dd if=/dev/sdb of=/tmp/xxx bs=512 count=1 (copy a block of 512 bytes to /tmp/xxx). Any error messages in dmesg or syslog after that? My best guess so far: something is wrong with your stick, it gets enumerated by USB, but doesn't react correctly when trying to access it. – dirkt – 2017-01-04T17:02:00.373

what about /proc/partitions? – golimar – 2017-01-04T17:05:44.910

@dirkt : still got no medium found, I added the output of dmesg | tail in OP – R3uK – 2017-01-04T17:12:23.410

@golimar : It doesn't seem to list the USB as no sdb appears... – R3uK – 2017-01-04T17:12:52.887

1If there are no partitions on the USB stick, then of course the kernel will detect no partitions. Googling "no medium found" block device linux USB` indicates that possibly this is a cheap Chinese fake stick, which doesn't work properly. – dirkt – 2017-01-04T17:29:37.410

Can't format nor access a detected USB key... "No medium found"

Answers