cannot access rhl5 server.
 

Hi All!
I urgently need your help.
I cannot access my RHL5 neither directly, nor ssh, nor putty console.
All the time i insert passwd it says Access denied.
I tried to login with different users including root. Passwords are 100% correct.
Nobody can change passwords except me.
Please help to resolve. what might be the cause of the problem?
I also dont want to reboot the server because i'm afraid it might not restart. Currently DB residing on that server is working OK though. The problem now is with access.

This isn't urgent for anyone here. We volunteer our time, and if you need **URGENT** help, why don't you then CALL REDHAT SUPPORT, since you're paying for it with your RHEL subscription????

And there's no way anyone here can answer this question, based on the information you provided. How, exactly, are you changing passwords if you're not able to log in? If you can't SSH into the box, can you access it via console?

If things were working, and then stopped working, then something changed...what was it? Have you tried to boot from CD/DVD, or boot into single-user mode, to check things out? Do you have access to any remote log files?

hi. I know that it's voluntary help provided here. what i meant by urgent is that this problem needs urgent attention. and this is in no way ORDER to you or anybody else to help me right away. this is just a statement of importance of this problem for me.
it is written in the post that i cannot access server neither via ssh, nor via console, nor any other method.
what is interesting is that nothing has been changed in the system. another problem is that i cannot reboot the system for the reason stated in the original post.
as for changing passwords. the passwords havent been changed since the startup of the system 1 year ago. i'm telling that the problem is that i'm unable to use any means of access to the server successfully. each time i get "access denied"
i stated that nobody cannot change passwords except me, to indicate that i'm inserting CORRECT password because noone knows passwords and didnt change them so that i'm now inserting wrong passwords and getting that 'Access denied' message.

Ok, again from my first post:
And again, have you CALLED REDHAT SUPPORT, since this is 'urgent'??? You're paying for it with your RHEL subscription. If you're not going to answer questions or provide more information when asked, there's not much point in posting.

This problem is going to be difficult to troubleshoot without access to /var/log/secure (which you can't see, unless you happen to be pushing syslog chatter to a remote logging host).

DB access over the network, and authentication dialogs (which fail), work - that suggests you're not having a network problem.

At this point we can only speculate. Unless/until you are able to plan a reboot (NB: it is important to coordinate this with customers and have contingency plans in place in the event of problems) I don't think the problem cause will be easy to determine.

Look if your CAPS/Lock-key is activated, if it is not then call for support.