# HAL stopped working & mount problems

## mattemod

Hi all.

Since a couple weeks my HAL (or my KDE part that "talks" with HAL) seems to not work anymore.

I don't know what caused this problem because I didn't notice it immediately and I don't remember what I did: most probably I upgraded some packages, but I surely didn't touch any config file (except with etc-update maybe).

I'm using KDE 4.4.3 with HAL 0.5.14-r2 (it didn't work with 0.5.13-r2 so I tried to upgrade but nothing changed).

The problem is that when I plug in a USB key or a CD/DVD, it doesn't notify me anymore and the "Device notifier" is always empty. Also, I can't use K3b: it says that there are no devices in my pc and to be sure that the HAL daemon is running.

I can manually mount my USB keys and CDs/DVDs, so that's not the problem.

I did a emerge @system @world -eq 3 days ago to see if that would solve the problem, but it didn't.

Here are some outputs:

```
$ k3b

QStringList Solid::Backends::Hal::HalManager::findDeviceByDeviceInterface(const Solid::DeviceInterface::Type&)  error:  "org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.AccessDenied"
```

```
# rc-config show boot

Status of init scripts in runlevel "boot"

  alsasound                 [started]

  bootmisc                  [started]

  checkfs                   [started]

  checkroot                 [started]

  clock                     [started]

  consolefont               [started]

  hostname                  [started]

  keymaps                   [started]

  localmount                [started]

  modules                   [started]

  net.lo                    [started]

  rmnologin                 [started]

  urandom                   [started]

# rc-config show default

Status of init scripts in runlevel "default"

  acpid                     [started]

  cpufrequtils              [started]

  dbus                      [started]

  hald                      [started]

  hotplug                   [started]

  local                     [started]

  netmount                  [started]

  net.wlan0                 [started]

  ntp-client                [started]

  ntpd                      [started]

  numlock                   [started]

  syslog-ng                 [started]

  udev                      [stopped]

  udev-mount                [stopped]

  udev-postmount            [started]

  vixie-cron                [started]
```

(I put the *asterisks* in place of my user name for security reasons)

```
$ ps aux | grep hal

102       3207  0.0  0.1  31124  2196 ?        Ss   14:27   0:00 /usr/sbin/hald --use-syslog --verbose=no

root      3208  0.0  0.0  17856   740 ?        S    14:27   0:00 hald-runner

root      3240  0.0  0.0  19976   652 ?        S    14:27   0:01 hald-addon-storage: polling /dev/hdb (every 2 sec)

root      3242  0.0  0.0  19988   528 ?        S    14:27   0:00 /usr/libexec/hald-addon-cpufreq

102       3243  0.0  0.0  23872   596 ?        S    14:27   0:00 hald-addon-acpi: listening on acpid socket /var/run/acpid.socket

root      6047  0.0  0.0  19976   792 ?        S    17:10   0:00 hald-addon-storage: polling /dev/sdb (every 2 sec)

root      6064  9.8  6.0 213872 123752 pts/4   S+   17:16   0:29 /usr/bin/python2.6 /usr/bin/emerge hal-info hal kdelibs -1D

*******  23405  0.0  0.0   7960   892 pts/5    S+   17:21   0:00 grep --colour=auto hal

$ ps aux | grep dbus

101       3146  0.0  0.0  19320  1272 ?        Ss   14:27   0:00 /usr/bin/dbus-daemon --system

*******   4435  0.0  0.0  34480   400 tty1     S    14:33   0:00 /usr/bin/dbus-launch --sh-syntax --exit-with-session

*******   4436  0.0  0.0  19316   892 ?        Ss   14:33   0:00 /usr/bin/dbus-daemon --fork --print-pid 5 --print-address 7 --session

*******  23422  0.0  0.0   7960   896 pts/5    S+   17:21   0:00 grep --colour=auto dbus
```

If you need any other information, just ask!

Thank you in advance!

----------

## mattemod

Okay, this is strange... Writing the previous post rang a bell, so I checked if I was in the "plugdev" group: I wasn't.

I'm pretty sure I was in it, even because HAL worked till 2 weeks ago...

What could have removed me from the plugdev group?!?

----------

## mattemod

Even more strange: now I can't mount any CD/DVD, even manually from shell!

(there is my UID in place of the 3 *asterisks*, I replaced it for security reasons)

(I translated to English to let you all understand)

```
# mount -t iso9660 -o noauto,user,uid=***,ro,async,exec /dev/hdb /mnt/cdrom

mount: wrong fs type, invalid option, damaged superblock on /dev/hdb,

       missing codepage or auxiliary program, or another error.

       Sometimes you can find useful informations in syslog. Try

       'dmesg | tail' for example.

# mount -t auto -o noauto,user,uid=***,ro,async,exec /dev/hdb /mnt/cdrom

mount: a filesystem type must be specified
```

I had the 2nd rule in /etc/fstab and it worked like a charm. Today - after the problem showed up - I also tried the first one (obviously commenting out the other one), but it didn't work.

I didn't have any trouble mounting it before.

Does anyone know how to help me?

Thanks in advance!

----------

## Leocifre

I have exactly the same problem, did you fix yours?

----------

## gerard27

mattemod,

Both udev and udev-postmount are stopped!

Gerard.

----------

## lewisur

I am also having this problem. I cannot fathom it at all.

I can still mount manually in shell, but nothing will automount in kde. The same applies to usb drives too.

I am completely bemused.

**EDIT**

Okay, bizarrely, it has just started working now... I haven't changed anything - I haven't emerged anything. It hasn't worked for weeks - and suddenly it does.

I am now even MORE bemused...

----------

## mattemod

Sorry guys: when I said that I wasn't in the plugdev group, I forgot to say that adding my user in it made it work again. Anyway, it's weird that it didn't, because I'm pretty sure I already was in the group and because it worked until one week ago.

Then, I mentioned that I couldn't manually mount devices: today it works and I didn't touch anything... What the hell's goin' on?!? ^^

----------

