[NTLUG:Discuss] can't boot
Tom Adelstein
adelste at netscape.net
Wed Jul 16 10:24:27 CDT 2003
Before going any further, I suggest you read
http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-fs7
This should help you understand ext3 and the various problems solutions.
I don't know what resources you have available, but if you can download
the gentoo 3stage.iso,
ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/gentoo/releases/1.4_rc4/x86/x86/livecd
and you will have a linux distribution running from a CD Rom. You'll get
a full OS and you can add a passwd to root and use all of your virtual
terminals.
Otherprocedures to consider:
You can mount ext3 files systems as ext2 - but only do it as read only
(my suggestion).
You can run
fsck -t ext3 -V -a /dev/hda2 and see if that will run.
You might consider tune2fs -j /dev/hda for each parition
and tune2fs -i 0 /dev/hda fo each.
work at myverse.net wrote:
>Actually, it is not possible to mount the drive or copy the data. The only
>way to get the machine up is using Knoppix or the RH9 CD, but in either case
>it can't mount or read hda2 at all.
>
>Here's the partition info:
>
>Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
>/dev/hda1 * 1 13 104391 83 Linux
>/dev/hda2 14 985 7807590 83 Linux
>/dev/hda3 986 1021 289170 82 Linux swap
>
>It is not dual boot.
>
>-Jeff
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: discuss-bounces at ntlug.org [mailto:discuss-bounces at ntlug.org] On Behalf
>Of Tom Adelstein
>Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2003 8:48 AM
>To: NTLUG Discussion List
>Subject: Re: [NTLUG:Discuss] can't boot
>
>
>fchk is an ext2 utility. I thought you had just installed the system.
>
>We need more information so you may need to print out the partition
>table. Hopefully you have a rescue disk or bootable floppy. You seem to
>be able to boot the system, but it may be safer to boot up without
>mounting your hard drive.
>
>You can use fdisk /dev/hda/ and then use "p" from th menu. We're
>looking for the number and types of partitions. Also, do you "dual
>boot" this system? sometimes the partition table gets corrupted when
>vfat and ntfs partitions reside on the same HD.
>
>It's still possible to mount the drive and copy the data.
>
>No one knows more about this situation than you. Consider going to
>Google and select groups. Then search on the error message. A plethora
>of posts exists about this problem.
>
>We can still troubleshoot it if you don't find any relevant information.
>Chances are people have already run across this problem before.
>
>
>
>work at myverse.net wrote:
>
>
>
>>Just to follow up again.
>>
>>Finally figured out Knoppix wanted me to use "rootme" to gain root
>>permissions, and ran fsck. It is saying that "the superblock could not
>>be read or does not describe a correct ext2 filesystem..."
>>
>>-Jeff
>>
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: discuss-bounces at ntlug.org [mailto:discuss-bounces at ntlug.org] On
>>Behalf Of Jeff Demel
>>Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2003 12:09 AM
>>To: 'NTLUG Discussion List'
>>Subject: RE: [NTLUG:Discuss] can't boot
>>
>>
>>It's formatted ext3. The kernel does support it, as hda1 is the same.
>>Plus, it's been up and running for a month or two now.
>>
>>I don't know fchk and it doesn't appear to be a command Knoppix
>>understands, but when I try and run fsck it gives me a permission
>>denied error. I believe this is something with Knoppix that I don't
>>understand. I don't know why I'm not root automatically, but that's
>>apparently the way it is, and I have no idea what root password it's
>>looking for. The original root password doesn't appear to work.
>>
>>I really don't want to zero out the drive and start over. Maybe as a
>>last resort, but there's data on there I don't really want to lose.
>>
>>-Jeff
>>
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: discuss-bounces at ntlug.org [mailto:discuss-bounces at ntlug.org] On
>>Behalf Of Tom Adelstein
>>Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2003 10:38 PM
>>To: NTLUG Discussion List
>>Subject: Re: [NTLUG:Discuss] can't boot
>>
>>
>>some possibilities:
>>
>>1. Which file system are you using? You may not have support for it in
>>the kernel.
>>2. Is hda2 swap? You may not have initialized it if you partitioned the
>>dive by hand.
>>3. If it's the boot partition, which it doesn't appear to be, which
>>file system did you use? If you used ext2, then you can fchk it. 4. If it's
>>a bad section of disk, you should hear the read arm thrashing
>>about. If not, it probably isn't the hard drive.
>>5. You may need to zero out you drive and start over. Try
>>http://diskzapper.com/download and you can find a free utility to clear
>>the disk completely.
>>
>>someone else may need to weigh in on this.
>>
>>work at myverse.net wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>>Just to follow up.
>>>
>>>I booted up Knoppix (STD, by the way), and when I try to access hda2 I
>>>get the following error:
>>>
>>>"Could not mount device.
>>>Mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/hda2 Or too
>>>many mounted file systems."
>>>
>>>hda1 seems to work fine.
>>>
>>>I'm guessing something got corrupted on the hda2 partition. Are there
>>>any utilities out there that will help me recover from this?
>>>
>>>-Jeff
>>>
>>>
>>>-----Original Message-----
>>>From: discuss-bounces at ntlug.org [mailto:discuss-bounces at ntlug.org] On
>>>Behalf Of Jeff Demel
>>>Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2003 10:00 PM
>>>To: 'NTLUG Discussion List'
>>>Subject: [NTLUG:Discuss] can't boot
>>>
>>>
>>>Okay, so there I was playing GTali in Gnome and the damn thing froze.
>>>I couldn't get it to do anything.
>>>
>>>So I rebooted the box, and it won't come back up. It seems to boot
>>>normally until this error:
>>>
>>>mount: error 2 mounting ext3
>>>
>>>Then everything fails:
>>>
>>>Pivotroot: pivot_root(/sysroot,/sysroot/initrd) failed: 2 Umount
>>>/initrd/proc failed: 2 Freeing unused kernel memory: 132k freed Kernel
>>>panic: No init found. Try passing init= option to kernel.
>>>
>>>Then nothing. It just stops.
>>>
>>>Is this telling me that it cannot mount ext3, and therefore is unable
>>>to boot? If so, is there some kind of disk recovery app or something?
>>>What's error 2? I'm pretty much a newbie, and have never seen Linux
>>>fail like this. Feels like I'm back in Windows.
>>>
>>>By the way, it's Red Hat 9 on a P2 350mhz with 144MB RAM.
>>>
>>>Any advice would be appreciated. For now, I'm going to try booting
>>>with my Knoppix disk and see what I can see.
>>>
>>>-Jeff
>>>
>>>
>>>
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