serious error msg on bootup
 

Hello All:

Using RH 7.3 (kernel 2.4-18_3) and get the following error message trying to boot up:

Inodes that were part of a corrupted orphan linked list found.

/: UNEXPECTED INCONSISTENCTY; RUN fsck MANUALLY (i.e., without -a or -p options)

***An error occured during filesystem check

Please help. I'm clueless here.

Thanks.

My guess is you have either bad software (the filesystem, something in the kernel, something else with the install) or bad hardware (bad HDD, bad RAM, power was removed during important disk write, etc.)

Why not follow the instructions suggested by the system? :p

A problem with your filesystem has been detected. The reasons can be any of those that Darin mentions. If the problem was caused by the system shutting down uncleanly (power failure, for example) then it could be solved with fsck.

Fsck must be run on a filesystem that's not mounted. Your problem seems to be in the root partition ( / ), this means that you must boot the system with some kind of rescue disk to resolve the problem. I don't know if RedHat 7.X CDs support booting in to a rescue mode, nut you could always do it with a tomsrtbt:
http://www.toms.net/rb/
You need to know where the root filesystem is on your disk. If your system still boots from hard disk, boot and run the command 'mount' from command line. Look for a line similar to this:
/dev/hda3 on / type ext2 (rw)

Boot the system with the tomsrtbt floppy and run this command:
e2fsck /dev/hda3
(or whichever partition you found from the mount command).

If your system doesn't boot at all, then you'll have to test all partitions, i.e. /dev/hda1 /dev/hda2 /dev/hda3 and /dev/hda4. If you have two or more hdd's, you may have to look at /dev/hdb1 and so on too.

Cross your fingers and follow fsck's instructions. :eek:

If your system still boots, it's a VERY good idea to back up files that you want to keep before fsck'ing

Good luck! Come back here and ask more questions if something is unclear.
Martin

Knoppix may also be an idea for a rescue CD. I keep it handy even for Windows repairs.

Thanks for the replies.

Re tomsrtbt: I'm now using a Windows box and cannot download tomsrtbt-2.0.103.tar.gz onto a floppy. However, upon boot failure my Linux box drops me into a command line, so I'll try your suggestions from there and will post back.

ergo_sum

I don't think you can run fsck on the system that you boot from. The partition needs to be unmounted and you can't unmount the root file system. But at least you can find out where the root partition is (probably /dev/hda-something).

In the FAQ on the tomsrtbt site, there is instructions for how to make a floppy from Windows 95/98. Otherwise, you may want to try the Knoppix live CD as suggested by scuzzman (quite a heavy download if you don't have broadband, though).

Martin

re: serious bootup problem
 

OK.
Here is the output from 'mount':

/dev/hda2 on / type ext 3 (rw)
none on /proc type proc (rw)
usbdevfs on /proc/bus/usb type usbdevfs (rw)
/dev/hda1 on /boot type ext 3 (rw)
none on /dev/pts type devpts (rw, gid=5, mode=620)
none on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw)
usbdevfs on /proc/bus/usb type usbdevfs (rw)

Now what? Since you (MartinN) suggest that I run fsck from a bootable floppy which I can't download since I'm using a Winbox what should I do?

Anxiously awaiting relevant replies.

ergo_sum

See above :D I replied while you were typing, I assume. At least you have found your root partition:
/dev/hda2 on / type ext 3 (rw)

If your (half-broken) Linux box still connects to the 'net, then you could get the rtbt-file with this command:
wget http://www.tux.org/pub/distributions/tinylinux/tomsrtbt/tomsrtbt-2.0.103.tar.gz
and follow the instructions for unpacking it to a floppy.

Martin

Well I guess it's the thought that counts!!

I can't run wget.

I have a rescue disk for Fedora 2. Do you think it could work?

Or if you have any ideas please let me know.

ergo_sum

Why not actually run the fsck command at the single user mode command prompt?

Regardless of what is being said, it will work. I've had to do it before and it usually means it has questions you will need to answer. Stuff like "map is wrong, correct y/n?" and you say yes and move on.

Not only have I used it before... but I also ran to check the man pages and found no indication that it could not be run on mounted disks... I mean, technically it is ALWAYS run on a mounted disk because / has to be mounted before the startup scripts can run... and they call it... and it must be on a disk that it can see... ( / in this case) and thus a disk needs to be mounted.

Just run the program without the options. Like it told you to. You will be fine.

http://oldfield.wattle.id.au/luv/boot.html

Here is a very brief overview of the Linux starting process. Look first in the section initrd:
And then /sbin/init
Note: / should be mounted Readonly during this original check. But it doesn't have to be.

The idea of not running fsck on a mounted partition is wise when in multi-user mode. fsck assumes it has the whole parition to itself. In single user mode, no one else will be trying to access that drive while the program runs.

Dude!

I sure will. And will post back w/ results.

ergo_sum

Dude!

I sure will. And will post back w/ results.


Let me just make sure:
to run fsck on my linuxbox would it be:

e3fsck /dev/hda2?


ergo_sum

Good luck. And I do recommend creating an emergency boot disk. There are very rare situations when you might need it. Chances are, you never will but if you do and you don't have one... you will be devastated.

But, anytime the boot process proceeds far enough along that it is able to dump you into a shell you are already past the point where a boot disk would be helpful. At that point you can check all the disks (if not done), mount them r/w, and fix any problems you might have.

It is when you screw up LILO or install a bad kernel or install a kernel without support for your filesystem that you really need a boot disk. Those are the times (when the boot will not proceed at all) when you seriously have no option.

Yep... run that command and it should go fine. Be sure to read the questions ... even though you will probably say yes to all of them. Just so you have an idea of what is going on.

Note: you can just type `fsck /dev/hda2` and it should automatically call the correct program to check that partition. Just so you know that remembering the exact executable name is not a requirement.