CentOS 4.3 - I cannot run fsck manually to correct a file system error because the root password is unknown. I have attempted to change the root password by booting in the single-user mode, however the file system error prevents me from accessing the root shell prompt where I would normally use the 'passwd' command. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Hi. It should still be possible from a live CD...

Could you kindly provide additional information regarding your suggestion?

Hmm, what additional information do you require? It would be easier to help if you were asking more precise questions, but in general the steps should be...
- Download an iso image of any distro that provides live images,
- use the dd command to create a bootable flash drive OR burn the iso to CD / DVD
- boot from the flash drive / CD / DVD into a live system
- make sure that the partition you want to run fsck on is not mounted
- read the fsck manual thoroughly (I did not have to use fsck so much myself, so I can't warn about particular pitfalls, but it certainly can create dataloss, your data is hopefully backed up?)
- run fsck

If you you need more detailed explanation on the above steps google is your friend. If you can't find useful answers feel free to ask... :-)

BobbyMac
you are aware that CentOS 4.3 is VERY dead and has been unsupported for a very long time
since Aug. of 2006 , when CentOS 4.4 came out
the very last Centos 4 series was 4.9
and the whole 4 series went Unsupported on Feb. 29 of 2012

CentOS4 ( like RHEL4 ) stopped receiving updates in Mar. or 2009 , and has not received any security updates or fixes since Feb. 29 of 2012

you do have a full back up of this install ?

being such an old OS , is the hardware also from about 2005
if so it might be a bad disk . Have you looked at the system logs

it might be easier to try a new drive and dd the back up image on to it
but centos 4.3 is unsupported

you would be better off to install the current CentOS 6.4 and import data from a known good back up of the centOS 4.3 install

Thanks!
I have downloaded the CentOS 4.3 LiveCD & have booted the system. Can you provide detailed instruction to run fsck? I am assuming this is done through the Termiinal window?

a live cd is not the best version of centos
it is after all only 486 meg ( the May of 2006 CentOS-4.3-i386-LiveCD.iso )
but

have a look at the man page
-- the live cd you are root so ...
but if this hardware is as old as the operating system
it might be a physical problem

At the Terminal window, I appear to be in a 'BASH' shell. "FSCK of not a recognized command"

using the install CentOS 4.3 dvd in "rescue" mode is the best option

but you should be able to mount the drive even on the live cd
remember the live cd dose not have many tools , it is very limited in what it can do .

can you run "fdisk -l " on the drive

From the Terminal screen, no I cannot run "fdisk -l" or any of the other commands like "fscK" as these commands return a "Not a recognized command" statement? Thanks!

As you do not seem to have many basic Linux skills (just an observation, nothing negative intended), I would suggest that you download a Gparted live CD and boot to that. From there you can do most hard drive tasks, including fsck, from the menu.

That would probably be easier.

Your observation is very accurate! I certainly appreciate your information regarding Gparted Live CD. I will be back onsite at this system in a couple of days & will let you know if I have any success using the CD. Thank you again!