NOOBS SD card partitions not detected in Linux

[Pirags]

Followed the instructions given in this link for preparing the SD card and booting the Raspberry Pi using NOOBS
http://qdosmsq.dunbar-it.co.uk/blog/201 ... pberry-pi/

I have installed raspbian OS and my raspberryPi boots without any issues. Running fdisk -l on Rpi board shows 6 partitions.
/dev/mmcblk0p1
/dev/mmcblk0p2
/dev/mmcblk0p3
/dev/mmcblk0p5
/dev/mmcblk0p6
/dev/mmcblk0p7

Now I want to replace the kernel.img file that I have cross compiled on Ubuntu 14.10 PC. When I insert this NOOBS partitioned SD card into my laptop powered by Ubuntu 14.10 only one partition is detected which is 3.6GB in size but no files are seen in the partition. How do I access all partitions in linux/Ubuntu to identify the location of kernel.img file and replace it with my version? I have tried googling but don't find any answers.

Surprisingly output from "fdisk -l" on Ubuntu laptop with SD card inserted shows all partitions:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disk /dev/mmcblk0: 15 GiB, 16130244608 bytes, 31504384 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x000c4ced

Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
/dev/mmcblk0p1 2048 1673828 1671781 816.3M e W95 FAT16 (LBA)
/dev/mmcblk0p2 1679360 31438847 29759488 14.2G 85 Linux extended
/dev/mmcblk0p3 31438848 31504383 65536 32M 83 Linux
/dev/mmcblk0p5 1687552 2736127 1048576 512M 83 Linux
/dev/mmcblk0p6 2744320 2867199 122880 60M c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/mmcblk0p7 2875392 31438847 28563456 13.6G 83 Linux

but the output from "lsblk shows only 1 partition:
--------------------------------------------------------------------
mmcblk0 179:0 0 15G 0 disk
└─mmcblk0p1 179:1 0 3.6G 0 part /media/<username>/43B6-F4CD

Also just one partition is seen under /dev
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 179, 0 Mar 25 17:46 /dev/mmcblk0
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 179, 1 Mar 25 17:46 /dev/mmcblk0p1

On a Windows 7 laptop I could see only recovery partition of the SD card along with all files within that partition.

[DougieLawson]

That's 100% normal.

Partition #1 (primary) has the boot code for the NOOBS recovery system in a FAT partition
Partition #2 is an extended partition
Partition #3 (primary) is the NOOBS ext4 recovery partition / data partition
Partition #5 (in #2) is Raspbian FAT /boot
Partition #6 (in #2) is Raspbian ext4 rootfs
Partition #7 (in #2) is your /data partition (created by NOOBS)

Windows can only see primary FAT partitions.

[Joe Schmoe]

Windows can only see primary FAT partitions.

Who said anything about "Windows" ?

[B.Goode]

Windows can only see primary FAT partitions.

Who said anything about "Windows" ?

@Pirags did in the original query: "On a Windows 7 laptop I could see only recovery partition of the SD card along with all files within that partition."

[Pirags]

Thanks for the reply. Yes I understand that windows sees only FAT partitions but wondering what's the issue with linux(Ubuntu laptop)? What needs to be done to see all SD card partitions and files on a linux machine.
Sorry for posting this as personal message. I have posted it on general forum now.

[rpdom]

It should work on any Linux system. I don't understand why Ubuntu would show it as different - unless there is another partition table somewhere that Ubuntu is picking up that it shouldn't?

[DougieLawson]

Is the hardware capable of reading an SDHC card? Or is it so old that it can only read SD or MMC?

[Joe Schmoe]

@Pirags did in the original query: "On a Windows 7 laptop I could see only recovery partition of the SD card along with all files within that partition."

Obviously irrelevant. I only go by what's written in the thread that I am reading.

OP clearly stated that he was using Linux. It's in the Subject: line and everything.

[Pirags]

Is the hardware capable of reading an SDHC card? Or is it so old that it can only read SD or MMC?

Yes it's capable because I have used the same laptop to prepare the NOOBS SDHC card (partitioning the SDHC card and unzipping the NOOBS zip file from http://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/).

[DougieLawson]

What does dmesg show when you insert the card in the reader?
Can you fsck all of the partitions?

[Pirags]

>>>> After removing the SDHC card
[232444.517968] mmc0: card b368 removed

>>>> On inserting the SDHC card
[232462.063938] mmc0: new high speed SDHC card at address b368
[232462.064073] mmcblk0: mmc0:b368 SDC 15.0 GiB
[232462.065397] mmcblk0: [CUMANA/ADFS] p1 [ADFS] p1
[232462.280191] FAT-fs (mmcblk0p1): Invalid FSINFO signature: 0x00000000, 0x00000000 (sector = 1)
[232462.282332] FAT-fs (mmcblk0p1): Volume was not properly unmounted. Some data may be corrupt. Please run fsck.

This message is seen only on linux laptop but not with RPi board.
Since only one partition is shown under /dev/mmcblk0 i.e. /dev/mmcblk0p1 I tried running fsck on that partition and this is what I see:

fsck from util-linux 2.25.1
fsck.fat 3.0.26 (2014-03-07)
0x41: Dirty bit is set. Fs was not properly unmounted and some data may be corrupt.
1) Remove dirty bit
2) No action
?

If I run the "fsck /dev/mmcblk0p1 -y"

then as output a series of similar messages are thrown as output. No idea what it means
.....
Cluster 476934 out of range (2108974 > 949949). Setting to EOF.
Cluster 476935 out of range (2105376 > 949949). Setting to EOF.
Cluster 476936 out of range (2105376 > 949949). Setting to EOF.
Cluster 476937 out of range (3473408 > 949949). Setting to EOF.
Cluster 476938 out of range (108611193 > 949949). Setting to EOF.
Cluster 476939 out of range (3473408 > 949949).

[Pirags]

Some additional info

fsck from util-linux 2.25.1
fsck.fat 3.0.26 (2014-03-07)
0x41: Dirty bit is set. Fs was not properly unmounted and some data may be corrupt.
1) Remove dirty bit
2) No action
? 2
There are differences between boot sector and its backup.
This is mostly harmless. Differences: (offset:original/backup)
0:eb/00, 1:58/00, 2:90/00, 3:6d/20, 4:6b/00, 5:66/00, 6:73/00, 7:2e/40
, 8:66/00, 9:61/00, 10:74/00, 12:02/00, 13:08/00, 14:20/00, 16:02/00
, 21:f8/00, 24:10/00, 26:04/00, 33:30/00, 34:74/00, 36:fe/00, 37:1c/00
, 44:02/00, 48:01/00, 50:06/00, 64:80/00, 65:01/00, 66:29/00, 67:cd/00
, 68:f4/00, 69:b6/00, 70:43/00, 71:4e/00, 72:4f/00, 73:20/00, 74:4e/00
, 75:41/00, 76:4d/00, 77:45/00, 78:20/00, 79:20/00, 80:20/00, 81:20/00
, 82:46/00, 83:41/00, 84:54/00, 85:33/00, 86:32/00, 87:20/00, 88:20/00
, 89:20/00, 90:0e/00, 91:1f/00, 92:be/00, 93:77/00, 94:7c/00, 95:ac/00
, 96:22/00, 97:c0/00, 98:74/00, 99:0b/00, 100:56/00, 101:b4/00, 102:0e/00
, 103:bb/00, 104:07/00, 106:cd/00, 107:10/00, 108:5e/00, 109:eb/00
, 110:f0/00, 111:32/00, 112:e4/00, 113:cd/00, 114:16/00, 115:cd/00
, 116:19/00, 117:eb/00, 118:fe/00, 119:54/00, 120:68/00, 121:69/00
, 122:73/00, 123:20/00, 124:69/00, 125:73/00, 126:20/00, 127:6e/00
, 128:6f/00, 129:74/00, 130:20/00, 131:61/00, 132:20/00, 133:62/00
, 134:6f/00, 135:6f/00, 136:74/00, 137:61/00, 138:62/00, 139:6c/00
, 140:65/00, 141:20/00, 142:64/00, 143:69/00, 144:73/00, 145:6b/00
, 146:2e/00, 147:20/00, 148:20/00, 149:50/00, 150:6c/00, 151:65/00
, 152:61/00, 153:73/00, 154:65/00, 155:20/00, 156:69/00, 157:6e/00
, 158:73/00, 159:65/00, 160:72/00, 161:74/00, 162:20/00, 163:61/00
, 164:20/00, 165:62/00, 166:6f/00, 167:6f/00, 168:74/00, 169:61/00
, 170:62/00, 171:6c/00, 172:65/00, 173:20/00, 174:66/00, 175:6c/00
, 176:6f/00, 177:70/00, 178:70/00, 179:79/00, 180:20/00, 181:61/00
, 182:6e/00, 183:64/00, 184:0d/00, 185:0a/00, 186:70/00, 187:72/00
, 188:65/00, 189:73/00, 190:73/00, 191:20/00, 192:61/00, 193:6e/00
, 194:79/00, 195:20/00, 196:6b/00, 197:65/00, 198:79/00, 199:20/00
, 200:74/00, 201:6f/00, 202:20/00, 203:74/00, 204:72/00, 205:79/00
, 206:20/00, 207:61/00, 208:67/00, 209:61/00, 210:69/00, 211:6e/00
, 212:20/00, 213:2e/00, 214:2e/00, 215:2e/00, 216:20/00, 217:0d/00
, 218:0a/00, 440:ed/00, 441:4c/00, 442:0c/00, 444:00/c0, 445:00/05
, 446:00/74, 448:01/09, 449:20/34, 450:0e/d0, 451:03/00, 452:d0/13
, 453:ff/09, 455:08/02, 456:00/01, 457:00/52, 458:65/20, 459:82/00
, 460:19/01, 461:00/03, 462:00/e7, 463:03/02, 464:d0/00, 465:ff/00
, 466:85/60, 467:03/e8, 468:d0/67, 469:ff/83, 470:00/52, 471:a0/49
, 472:19/53, 473:00/43, 474:00/4f, 475:18/53, 476:c6/70, 477:01/69
, 478:00/0d, 479:03/00, 480:d0/00, 481:ff/00, 482:83/00, 483:03/00
, 484:d0/00, 485:ff/00, 487:b8/00, 488:df/00, 490:00/07, 497:00/08
, 510:55/00, 511:aa/29
1) Copy original to backup
2) Copy backup to original
3) No action


Wondering what needs to be chosen for first option? Should it be 1)Remove dirty bit?

[DougieLawson]

You should reformat that SDCard and start with a fresh copy of Raspbian (or if you insist NOOBS). The partition table has been trashed.

[Pirags]

Well I tried reformatting the SD Card with gparted and the issue persisted. On RPi all the partitions are detected and listed under /dev and /dev/mmcblk0p6 is mounted as /boot but the same doesn't happen on my linux laptop.

I decided to play with this NOOBS partitioned SD card using gparted on my linux laptop.
When I tried listing the partitions of the SD card I could see an error symbol (red exclamatory icon) for most of the partitions although all partitions were listed as seen in RPi. So I ran the "check" option for the first partition and to my surprise all the partitions are now seen by kernel on my laptop and even listed under /dev. Then I went ahead to check if this has permanently fixed the issue by removing and re-inserting the SD card. The problem re-appeared and had to run through the process of using gparted to fix it again. Hence I would say it's a work around and the real problem isn't yet identified.

brw-rw---- 1 root disk 179, 0 Mar 27 10:20 /dev/mmcblk0
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 179, 1 Mar 27 10:20 /dev/mmcblk0p1
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 179, 2 Mar 27 10:20 /dev/mmcblk0p2
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 179, 3 Mar 27 10:20 /dev/mmcblk0p3
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 179, 5 Mar 27 10:20 /dev/mmcblk0p5
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 179, 6 Mar 27 10:20 /dev/mmcblk0p6
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 179, 7 Mar 27 10:20 /dev/mmcblk0p7

I suspect the problem happens after NOOBS re-partitions the SD card because after preparing the SD card with just 1 FAT32 partition (i.e. even before inserting it into RPi for NOOBS to repartition during boot) I have removed/inserted SD card on my laptop and checked the partition for errors using gparted and haven't seen any errors. I may be wrong but at the moment I don't see any other root cause.

[DigitalLumberjack]

Just for info, i just updated my ubuntu to 15.04, and i have exactly the same issue.
I just cannot mount partitions, and i have in dmesg :

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[  750.966075] mmc0: cannot verify signal voltage switch
[  751.078347] mmc0: new ultra high speed SDR104 SDHC card at address 59b4
[  751.078497] mmcblk0: mmc0:59b4 USDU1 14.7 GiB 
[  751.078973]  mmcblk0: [CUMANA/ADFS] p1 [ADFS] p1

fdisk -l shows all partitions, gparted too, but /proc/partitions only have one partition.

I can format in fat32 my sd card, but when noobs rearange the paritions, ubuntu doesn't detect anymore...

It worked so well in 14.10.

[Big_Mu5]

I can confirm the same problem on 15.04.
Currently I cannot access the SD card (8.0Gb) on my linux laptop running 15.04 but it works perfectly on the RPi.

[supasorn]

I'm having the same problem on Ubuntu 14.04.2 I use NOOB + raspbian. There are 5 final partitions and when inspected in gparted, partitions with fat32, fat15, ext4 all have exclamation marks in front of them.

I'm trying to use super-block backup with e2fsck command, but it never worked.

[rpdom]

Just for info, i just updated my ubuntu to 15.04, and i have exactly the same issue.
I just cannot mount partitions, and i have in dmesg :

Code: Select all

[  750.966075] mmc0: cannot verify signal voltage switch
[  751.078347] mmc0: new ultra high speed SDR104 SDHC card at address 59b4
[  751.078497] mmcblk0: mmc0:59b4 USDU1 14.7 GiB 
[  751.078973]  mmcblk0: [CUMANA/ADFS] p1 [ADFS] p1

The reference to "CUMANA/ADFS" seems odd. It sounds a bit like something to do with RISCOS to me. Have you ever had RISCOS on that card?

[tpylkko]

Oddly, I am now seeing this behavior on Debian 8.0. That is, the card works in RPi perfectly and it can recognize the partitions. However, Debian 8.0 (udev?) cannot populate the /dev. The partitions simply are not there, even as parted can see them.

[beta-tester]

hmm... i have similar behaviour here with ubuntu 15.04 on my desktpo PC.
maybe a driver issue for the USB/SD card reader or of a filesystem driver...

Code: Select all

[email protected]:~$ sudo lsusb -v
...
Bus 006 Device 008: ID 058f:6335 Alcor Micro Corp. SD/MMC Card Reader
Device Descriptor:
  bLength                18
  bDescriptorType         1
  bcdUSB               2.00
  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)
  bDeviceSubClass         0 
  bDeviceProtocol         0 
  bMaxPacketSize0        64
  idVendor           0x058f Alcor Micro Corp.
  idProduct          0x6335 SD/MMC Card Reader
  bcdDevice            1.02
  iManufacturer           1 Generic
  iProduct                2 Mass Storage Device
  iSerial                 3 058F011111B1
  bNumConfigurations      1
  Configuration Descriptor:
    bLength                 9
    bDescriptorType         2
    wTotalLength           32
    bNumInterfaces          1
    bConfigurationValue     1
    iConfiguration          0 
    bmAttributes         0x80
      (Bus Powered)
    MaxPower              250mA
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        0
      bAlternateSetting       0
      bNumEndpoints           2
      bInterfaceClass         8 Mass Storage
      bInterfaceSubClass      6 SCSI
      bInterfaceProtocol     80 Bulk-Only
      iInterface              0 
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x01  EP 1 OUT
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes
        bInterval               0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x82  EP 2 IN
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes
        bInterval               0
Device Qualifier (for other device speed):
  bLength                10
  bDescriptorType         6
  bcdUSB               2.00
  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)
  bDeviceSubClass         0 
  bDeviceProtocol         0 
  bMaxPacketSize0        64
  bNumConfigurations      1
Device Status:     0x0000
  (Bus Powered)
...

Code: Select all

[email protected]:~$ dmesg
...
[ 1950.783770] usb 6-1.7: new high-speed USB device number 9 using ehci-pci
[ 1950.878185] usb 6-1.7: New USB device found, idVendor=058f, idProduct=6335
[ 1950.878189] usb 6-1.7: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[ 1950.878192] usb 6-1.7: Product: Mass Storage Device
[ 1950.878194] usb 6-1.7: Manufacturer: Generic
[ 1950.878196] usb 6-1.7: SerialNumber: ...
[ 1950.878579] usb-storage 6-1.7:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[ 1950.878805] scsi host11: usb-storage 6-1.7:1.0
[ 1951.875376] scsi 11:0:0:0: Direct-Access     SD/MMC   Card  Reader     1.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0
[ 1951.875845] sd 11:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 0
[ 1952.107240] sd 11:0:0:0: [sdc] 31116288 512-byte logical blocks: (15.9 GB/14.8 GiB)
[ 1952.109482] sd 11:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off
[ 1952.109487] sd 11:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 03 00 00 00
[ 1952.111595] sd 11:0:0:0: [sdc] No Caching mode page found
[ 1952.111601] sd 11:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 1952.130749]  sdc: [CUMANA/ADFS] sdc1 [ADFS] sdc1
[ 1952.141717] sd 11:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI removable disk

not all partitions are detected

Code: Select all

[email protected]:~$ cat /proc/partitions 
major minor  #blocks  name
...
   8       32   15558144 sdc
   8       33    3807232 sdc1

Code: Select all

[email protected]:~$ sudo blkid
...
/dev/sdc1: PTUUID="..." PTTYPE="dos"

but strangely fdisk shows the partitions all (on my desktop PC)...

Code: Select all

[email protected]:~$ sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdc
Disk /dev/sdc: 14,9 GiB, 15931539456 bytes, 31116288 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: ...

Device     Boot    Start      End  Sectors   Size Id Type
/dev/sdc1           2048   244140   242093 118,2M  e W95 FAT16 (LBA)
/dev/sdc2         245760 31050751 30804992  14,7G 85 Linux extended
/dev/sdc3       31050752 31116287    65536    32M 83 Linux
/dev/sdc5         253952   581631   327680   160M  c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sdc6         589824 13869055 13279232   6,3G 83 Linux
/dev/sdc7       13877248 14000127   122880    60M  c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sdc8       14008320 31047679 17039360   8,1G 83 Linux

Partition table entries are not in disk order.

same SD card plugged into a RPi with the same USB/SD card reader

Code: Select all

[email protected] ~ $ sudo blkid
...
[   34.758313] usb 1-1.2: new high-speed USB device number 5 using dwc_otg
[   34.860634] usb 1-1.2: New USB device found, idVendor=058f, idProduct=6335
[   34.860660] usb 1-1.2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[   34.860678] usb 1-1.2: Product: Mass Storage Device
[   34.860694] usb 1-1.2: Manufacturer: Generic
[   34.860711] usb 1-1.2: SerialNumber: ...
[   34.861908] usb-storage 1-1.2:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[   34.863885] scsi host1: usb-storage 1-1.2:1.0
[   35.859209] scsi 1:0:0:0: Direct-Access     SD/MMC   Card  Reader     1.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0
[   35.860849] sd 1:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg1 type 0
[   36.093906] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] 31116288 512-byte logical blocks: (15.9 GB/14.8 GiB)
[   36.095641] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
[   36.095666] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 03 00 00 00
[   36.097390] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] No Caching mode page found
[   36.097410] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[   36.131160]  sdb: sdb1 sdb2 < sdb5 sdb6 sdb7 sdb8 > sdb3
[   36.142180] sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
[   37.448403] EXT4-fs (sdb3): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode. Opts: (null)
[   38.850097] EXT4-fs (sdb8): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode. Opts: (null)
[   38.926312] EXT4-fs (sdb6): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode. Opts: (null)

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[email protected] ~ $ cat /proc/partitions 
major minor  #blocks  name
...
   8       16   15558144 sdb
   8       17     121046 sdb1
   8       18          1 sdb2
   8       19      32768 sdb3
   8       21     163840 sdb5
   8       22    6639616 sdb6
   8       23      61440 sdb7
   8       24    8519680 sdb8

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[email protected] ~ $ sudo blkid
...
/dev/sdb1: SEC_TYPE="msdos" LABEL="RECOVERY" UUID="..." TYPE="vfat" 
/dev/sdb3: LABEL="SETTINGS" UUID="..." TYPE="ext4" 
/dev/sdb5: SEC_TYPE="msdos" UUID="..." TYPE="vfat" 
/dev/sdb6: UUID="..." TYPE="ext4" 
/dev/sdb7: LABEL="boot" UUID="..." TYPE="vfat" 
/dev/sdb8: LABEL="root" UUID="..." TYPE="ext4" 

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[email protected] ~ $ sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdb
Disk /dev/sdb: 15.9 GB, 15931539456 bytes
4 heads, 16 sectors/track, 486192 cylinders, total 31116288 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: ...

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1            2048      244140      121046+   e  W95 FAT16 (LBA)
/dev/sdb2          245760    31050751    15402496   85  Linux extended
/dev/sdb3        31050752    31116287       32768   83  Linux
/dev/sdb5          253952      581631      163840    c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sdb6          589824    13869055     6639616   83  Linux
/dev/sdb7        13877248    14000127       61440    c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sdb8        14008320    31047679     8519680   83  Linux

EDIT: or does the new ubuntu/debian kernel needs the partitions to have in the right order to be detected correctly?!
because fdisk on the desktop PC has an additional note "Partition table entries are not in disk order.", thes fdisk on RPi does not show (Raspbian: 3.18.11-v7+ #781 SMP PREEMPT Tue Apr 21 18:07:59 BST 2015 armv7l)
and NOOBS put the SETTINGS partition physically to the very end of the disk but is logically the third one and breaks the expected order...
(the other logically higher partitions are physically in between the SETTINGS and BOOT partition)

[beta-tester]

EDIT2:
i just rebooted my desktop PC with a LiveDVD of ubuntu 12.04 LTS and LiveDVD of ubuntu 14.10 LTS...
on both times the NOOBS partitions were able to detect and mount by ubuntu...
booting with LiveDVD 15.04 again broke the detection of the NOOBS partitions.

so i guess the kernel changed its partition detections on newer distros of ubuntu 15.04
(on LiveDVD debian 8.0.0 LXDE are all NOOBS partitions detected and automounted)

[beta-tester]

very strange...
LiveDVD ubuntu 14.04 LTS (amd64) (from an older DVD ~2014)
--> all NOOBS partition are detected and mounted automatically

LiveDVD ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS (amd64) (the most recent one from 18-Feb-2015)
--> no NOOBS partitions are detected and none are able to mount.

... can somebody explain, whats going on here?

[el_Salmon]

very strange...
LiveDVD ubuntu 14.04 LTS (amd64) (from an older DVD ~2014)
--> all NOOBS partition are detected and mounted automatically

LiveDVD ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS (amd64) (the most recent one from 18-Feb-2015)
--> no NOOBS partitions are detected and none are able to mount.

... can somebody explain, whats going on here?

Running ElementaryOS based on 14.04.2 LTS (amd64) gets the same issue.

[beta-tester]

Running ElementaryOS based on 14.04.2 LTS (amd64) gets the same issue.

yeah, this will happen with ALL newer kernels, where the "Acorn" driver is enabled by default.
(i am sure, t will happen with other linux distros as well, where that driver is enabled)
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour ... ug/1457526
https://github.com/raspberrypi/noobs/issues/262

NOOBS writes an msdos partition table AND an RsicOS blob (partitiontable?) to the SD card at the same time, even you don't have any RISC OS installed.
(i don't know, if the RiscOS blob is needed for any other purpos than for RISC OS)
the existence of these two concurrent information
and the enabled "acron" driver on newer kernels is a bad combination.
the "acorn" driver will catch the RiscOS blob first and does not recognize the msdos partition table anymore.

but with fdisk -l, you can show the msdos partition table... and take that listed start values, to mount the partition with using an offset of the start value.
but it is very unconfortable
for example...

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sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdc

Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdc1            2048      242187      120070    e  W95 FAT16 (LBA)
/dev/sdc2          245760   124669951    62212096   85  Linux extended
/dev/sdc3       124669952   124735487       32768   83  Linux
/dev/sdc5          253952      376831       61440    c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sdc6          385024   124669951    62142464   83  Linux

to mount the /dev/sdc6 partition, you can do this
you can see, the partition starts at 385024 and each unit is 512 bytes.

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sudo mount /dev/sdc /mnt/ -o offset=$((385024*512))

maybe disabling the acorn driver in the kernel
or event changing order of drivers will be a solution to fix that behaviour...

[Chalisque]

My solution for now is to get dhex (a hex editor sudo apt-get install dhex), put the sd card in my ubuntu laptop, run

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sudo dhex /dev/mmcblk0

move down a short step till I see

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RISCOSpi

and then zeroing from the 0xC0 just before, to the 0x29 just after. Quit and save changes. Then ubuntu recognises the sd card properly (that is, the ADFS driver no longer finds the RISCOS partition table thing).