USB Drive Not Detected in Device Management (Flint 2)

[execsumo]

Subject: USB Drive Not Detected in Device Management (Flint 2, FW 4.8.3) - block ubus object missing

Hardware & Environment:

• Router Model: GL.iNet Flint 2 (GL-MT6000)
• Firmware Version: 4.8.3 (release)
• USB Capacity: 128MB
• Drive Format: FAT32 (Verified Healthy)

Problem Description:
The USB drive is not appearing in the router's Web UI under Device Management (reads "No Device Detected"). However, the drive is physically detected by the kernel and works perfectly when mounted manually via SSH.

It appears the communication layer between the system and the UI (ubus) is failing to report the drive status.

Reproduction Steps:

1. Plug the USB drive into the USB 3.0 port.
2. Navigate to the Web UI Device Management -> USB Recognition.
3. The page displays "No Device Detected."

Troubleshooting Performed:

1. File System Integrity: Checked the drive on Windows; reported healthy. Reformatted to FAT32 to ensure compatibility.
2. Kernel Detection: dmesg shows the device is detected successfully (sdc connected, sdc1 partition identified).
3. Manual Mount: Successfully mounted the drive manually using mount -t vfat /dev/sdc1 /mnt/sdb1. I could read/write files (tested touch).
4. Configuration: Ran block detect, which generated valid UUID and mount options. Imported config using uci import fstab and restarted the service.
5. Service Status:
   • opkg list-installed | grep block confirms block-mount is installed.
   • However, running ubus call block list returns: Command failed: Not found.
   • ubus list shows hotplug.block is present, but the generic block object is missing from the list.
   • The binary exists at /sbin/block, but the service does not seem to be exposing itself to ubus.

Relevant Logs:

1. Kernel Detection (dmesg) - Earlier Connection Attempt:

[20101.213386] usb 1-2: USB disconnect, device number 2
[20706.680439] 7986@C08L2,ap_peer_disassoc_action() 3645: ASSOC - 1 receive DIS-ASSOC request
[20706.688806] 7986@C01L2,wifi_sys_disconn_act() 1002:  wdev_idx=0
[20706.694975] 7986@C08L3,hw_ctrl_flow_v2_disconnt_act() 172: wdev_idx=0
[20706.702037] 7986@C13L2,MacTableDeleteEntry() 1938: Del Sta:[REDACTED]
[20706.709294] 7986@C08L2,ap_peer_disassoc_action() 3645: ASSOC - 1 receive DIS-ASSOC request
[20901.003480] usb 1-2: new high-speed USB device number 3 using xhci-mtk
[20901.156405] usb-storage 1-2:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[20901.162733] scsi host1: usb-storage 1-2:1.0
[20902.183819] scsi 1:0:0:0: Direct-Access     General  UDisk            5.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[20902.192654] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] 245760 512-byte logical blocks: (126 MB/120 MiB)
[20902.200006] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
[20902.204795] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 0b 00 00 08
[20902.209958] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] No Caching mode page found
[20902.215265] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[20902.222777]  sdb: sdb1
[20902.226565] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
[21145.869806] FAT-fs (sda1): FAT read failed (blocknr 6336)

1b. Kernel Detection (dmesg) - Latest Attempt (Fresh Plug-in):

[21953.357878] usb 1-2: USB disconnect, device number 4
[21963.905731] usb 1-2: new high-speed USB device number 5 using xhci-mtk
[21964.058636] usb-storage 1-2:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[21964.065049] scsi host2: usb-storage 1-2:1.0
[21965.086062] scsi 2:0:0:0: Direct-Access     General  UDisk            5.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[21965.094800] sd 2:0:0:0: [sdc] 245760 512-byte logical blocks: (126 MB/120 MiB)
[21965.102145] sd 2:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off
[21965.106939] sd 2:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 0b 00 00 08
[21965.112119] sd 2:0:0:0: [sdc] No Caching mode page found
[21965.117429] sd 2:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
[21965.124891]  sdc: sdc1
[21965.128220] sd 2:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI removable disk

2. Configuration (block detect output):

config 'mount'
        option  target  '/mnt/sdc1'
        option  uuid    '9A84-35A9'
        option  enabled '1'

3. Ubus Status Check:

root@GL-MT6000:~# ubus call block list
Command failed: Not found

root@GL-MT6000:~# ls -l /sbin/block
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root         45075 Oct 15 21:05 /sbin/block

Suspected Root Cause:
The block-mount package is installed and the binary exists, but it is not starting correctly or failing to register with the ubus system daemon. Consequently, the UI cannot list the drives, even though the kernel supports the device.

[will.qiu]

Hi

I’m not entirely sure what “Device Management” feature you’re referring to.

However, ubus block is provided by blockd, and we do not include it by default.
You can install it manually with the following command:

opkg update && opkg install blockd

After that, you can check the relevant information with ubus call block info.

[execsumo]

I meant “disk management” in GLiNet’s UI.

As mentioned, I fixed it with the help of LLMs, but that doesn’t mean GLiNet should give up on the CX… I’m a resourceful power-user, probably a small % of the population. And only empowered by LLMs recently… Why should every fix become the users problem? This is the 2nd feature I’ve tried to use on my router that’s required searching the forums and at least an hour of diagnosing to make work.

[will.qiu]

Do you mean the Disk Management feature within the GL Admin Panel - Application - Network Storage?
This feature does not rely on ubus block for operation either. It should be ready to use straight out of the box.

Could you please provide further details:

1. Please share relevant screenshots of the issue so we may better understand the problem;
2. What is the model of the USB storage device experiencing the issue?
3. What steps need to be taken to resolve this issue?