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Mandriva 2009 won't boot completely

Hi there,

I recently had to shut down my computer manually, and since then Mandriva can't boot completely. When it tries to, it will get to booting ethernet stuff, and right around the end of that (usually after booting snort, and then wine, though sometimes just one of those), it will just stop booting. If I press the power button, it will proceed to shutdown normally, so I don't have to just power off, and it will also drop me into a shell. So I figure it's not frozen. Looking through dmesg and system logs doesn't show any errors. Further diagnosing can be found on my previous post in a different forum:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...9/#post3486919

The person there outlined how to edit the init scripts, to try and skip whatever is hanging up during boot, but he was unsure and recommended I talk to experts on Mandriva. I'm very new to linux, so if someone can walk me through commands and/or offer suggestions as to what might be causing this, that would be fantastic.

Please help me! I need to get Mandriva up and running again as soon as possible...

If your system is hanging but you still have keyboard control, cycling through the function keys may reveal what process is causing the system to hang. Basically start with Alt & Ctrl & F1 after that do Alt & F2 and so on. When you reach a login prompt again you can stop checking the other function keys. If possible post the output of the last screen with info on it to this thread. If you can't copy and paste the info, write it down before relaying it.

All the function keys, except for F8 and F12 gave me a login prompt. F8 returned me to the screen I had before. F12 showed me interesting stuff:

Mar 31 20:01:33 localhost kernal:wlan0:no IPv6 routers present
Mar 31 20:02:01 localhost CROND[4498]: (root) CMD ( /usr/share/msec/promisc_check.sh)
Mar 31 20:03:01 localhost CROND[8336]: (root) CMD ( /usr/share/msec/promisc_check.sh)
Mar 31 20:04:01 localhost CROND[10915]: (root) CMD ( /usr/share/msec/promisc_check.sh)
Mar 31 20:05:01 localhost CROND[14756]: (root) CMD ( /usr/share/msec/promisc_check.sh)
Mar 31 20:06:01 localhost CROND[18597]: (root) CMD ( /usr/share/msec/promisc_check.sh)
Mar 31 20:07:01 localhost CROND[22441]: (root) CMD ( /usr/share/msec/promisc_check.sh)
Mar 31 20:08:01 localhost CROND[26282]: (root) CMD ( /usr/share/msec/promisc_check.sh)
Mar 31 20:09:01 localhost CROND[30123]: (root) CMD ( /usr/share/msec/promisc_check.sh)
Mar 31 20:10:01 localhost CROND[801]: (root) CMD ( /usr/share/msec/promisc_check.sh)
Mar 31 20:11:01 localhost CROND[4174]: (root) CMD ( /usr/share/msec/promisc_check.sh)

And it would add another entry every minute. What does this mean? And how do I stop it?

First off, have you checked the file: /usr/share/msec/promisc_check.sh) which is a bash script, to see what it is? It looks like you have this script set to run every minute in a cron entry ( CROND )?? I'd at least take a look at the 'promisc_check.sh' script. I'm not really sure what this is but it wouldn't hurt anything to check your cron entries for root, log in as root user and run command 'crontab -l'. Check to see if you have an entry as above there.

msec is Mandriva's security software. If promisc_check.sh is running each minute, you have enabled Ethernet cards promiscuity check (MCC > Security > Set up Security Level and Audit > Network Options tab). The default setting is no.

HTH,

Thank you! Could you tell me how to disable the check from command prompt?

Log in to a console screen as root.

You can disable promiscuity checking in one of three ways:

1. Set Security Level with msec

Execute the following command:

Code:

msec x

where x = security level (numbered 0 - 5). See /usr/share/doc/msec/security.txt for detailed definitions. The following information is copied from the GUI configuration utility:

Quote:

1. Poor: This is a totally unsafe but very easy to use security level. It should only be used for machines not connected to any network and that are not accessible to everybody.

2. Standard: This is the standard security recommended for a computer that will be used to connect to the Internet as a client.

3. High: There are already some restrictions, and more automatic checks are run every night.

4. Higher: The security is now high enough to use the system as a server which can accept connections from many clients. If your machine is only a client on the Internet, you should choose a lower level.

5. Paranoid: This is similar to the previous level, but the system is entirely closed and security features are at their maximum

Notes: Level 0 (zero) = off (no checks).

Mandriva sets the default level to 3 (High). I find level 2 (Standard) to be adequate for home desktop workstation use. Levels 4 and 5 enable promiscuity checks by default. If you want either of these levels of security, choose one of the two options listed below.

2. Edit /etc/security/msec/level.local

2-A. Remove the line

Code:

enable_promisc_check(yes)

2-B. Edit the line

Code:

enable_promisc_check(yes)

changing the (yes) to (no)

Code:

enable_promisc_check(no)

execute the following command:

Code:

msec

Notes:

Removing the line restores default behaviour (default = no)

Editing the line (changing the quoted yes to no) achieves the same result.

msec will return with no output

HTH,

shutdown -Fr now

The F forces a disk check on next boot. Press ESC at GUI screen to see progress. It can take a while to complete.

Ok, so I edited the level.local file and got rid of the promiscuous check. Unfortunately, Mandriva still hangs. dmesg doesn't give anything out of the ordinary still, the function buttons no longer lead to any informational screens, and syslog also doesn't report any errors. Also looked up crontab and it said 'no crontab for root.' Tried it again as a different user and it said the same thing except with the user name. What should I do now?

Just had it check the filesystem, again no errors :(

I'd backup /user with a LiveCD like Mandriva One and reinstall at this point.

But FWIW, after forcing a disk check I typically do a rpm --rebuilddb and that makes msec happy again.

Can I install the live CD into hardisk?

Quote:

Originally Posted by TigerLinux (Post 3513189)

Can I install the live CD into hardisk?

Yes you can.

So I will just download the CD image. Is mandriva 2009 very user friendly compared to ubuntu?
Right now I am using ubuntu 8.10

Quote:

Originally Posted by TigerLinux (Post 3513729)

So I will just download the CD image. Is mandriva 2009 very user friendly compared to ubuntu?
Right now I am using ubuntu 8.10

That depends on your level of experience. You'll be able to judge for yourself with Mandriva One.