pcmcia cdrom not a valid block device

[Tkon]

Hi, I'm a new Linux user. I have installed Suse 8.1 Professional onto my Toshiba Portege 7020CT (pentium 366, 128mb ram) notebook. The install went well. I had to make the 5 boot disks with winrawrite, but that was none eventful. The pcmcia cdrom was started with the floppies, and I was able to install linux. After the install the problem happened. I can't mount the pcmcia cdrom. Linux reports /dev/cdrom is not a valid block device. I've spent the last four days reading about pcmcia cdrom problems in linux on the internet, and tried any solutions I read. I've gone as far as reading some of the manual which came with the OS. Still no luck. Below is a portion of the /var/log/messages file with was created once I inserted the pcmcia modem card. The slots are working, because I'm also using a pcmcia network card to connect to the internet.

Nov 7 12:45:51 linux cardmgr[457]: socket 1: ATA/IDE Fixed Disk
Nov 7 12:45:51 linux cardmgr[457]: executing: 'insmod -v /lib/modules/2.4.19-4GB//pcmcia/ide_cs.o'
Nov 7 12:45:51 linux cardmgr[457]: + Using /lib/modules/2.4.19-4GB//pcmcia/ide_cs.o
Nov 7 12:45:51 linux cardmgr[457]: + Symbol version prefix ''
Nov 7 12:45:53 linux cardmgr[457]: get dev info on socket 1 failed: Resource temporarily unavailable

Any ideas or thoughts about what I should try?

[gritseater]

Would it have anything to do with permissions on that device? Is this happening while you are root?

[Tkon]

It makes no difference, if I'm a user or Root. I get the same error whichever way I try.

[Tkon]

Bump - If I keep this on page 1, maybe I'll get some help.
I'm getting frustrated with this stupid problem - almost to the point of formating the drive and reinstalling Win2K :(

[Tkon]

I've decided the Technical Support forum was a better avenue for this question. So I've added onto an existing thread for a user who has the exact same problem. If you interested in helping, please see here (http://linuxnewbie.org/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=59970&highlight=pcmcia+cdrom)

[Tkon]

I don't want to sound too disappointed, but after 2 days of looking for help on this linuxnewbie board :rolleyes: , I only received one reply offering assistance. Thank you gritseater for you efforts.
It only took me 8 days, and I don't know what I learned from this ordeal, but the solution was found in the /etc/sysconfig/pcmcia file.

Here is the pertanent section from SuSE's webpage, which actually is for SuSE 8.0, and not listed for 8.1 :

Edit the file /etc/sysconfig/pcmcia and change the setting in the following line from

PCMCIA_SYSTEM="kernel"
to
PCMCIA_SYSTEM="external"
Save the file and restart the PCMCIA system with rcpcmcia restart.

Use the command cardctl ident to check if the card is now properly detected.