fsck fails after keranl security update!
 

hello:

I just downloaded and updated suse 10.0 linux kernal with a security updae. after rebooting , onely one of the device/file system (a sata drive) fails under fsck.

what are my options? It must be related to this particualr kernal update.

thanx

Questions:
type of filesystem
errormessages
kernelupdate usually does not cause a corrupted filesystem

the file system is ext3

the error message says somehting like
" the superblock could not be read.."
the entry from /etc/fstab is

/dev/sda5 /mm ext3 ace,usr_xattr 1 2

hello:

I just booted the system with mepis live cd. It has no problem opening the file system in question

doesn;t it mean it has something to do with the kernal modification?

what fsck's have you run (meaning with what options)?

I ran fsck with no options.
in simply mepis it reports no problems finds all the files

in the new suse it reports problems

I did some further poking around.

under
/dev

there is no sda5.

does that mena that the new kernal dropped support for sata drives?

Don't worry, this is not the case.
What do you get with 'fdisk -l'? Is the drive/partition listed?
You could disable fsck in fstab by setting the last bit to '0' and see if it gets mounted now.

EDIT: Maybe a stupid idea, but you could try to include ext3 into initrd (to have it present right from the start). Type (as root): mkinitrd -m ext3

fdisk -l
does not list the device.
I commented out the /dev/sda5 line and booted teh system.
yast2 partioner also does not show the device now.
I have seen this kind of behavior in early release of mandrake 10.0 which did not have support for sata drives either.

This drive is important. is there any way I can roll back the kernel update?

OK, maybe there may be a problem with your particular S-ATA controller. Do you know which? What driver does MEPIS use (lsmod)?
In /etc/sysconfig/kernel, all the modules that are included into initrd are listed. Maybe the required driver is not among them (for whatever reason). But if you know the module, you can load it into initrd the same way like I suggested above for ext3.

I just booted the system suse10 cd. as I expected it has not problem showing the sata drive.

I do not know how the new kernel somehow 'lost' the sata controller. what is my best option now?

1. will rolling back kernel bring back the sata controller

or

2. do i identify the sata controller and add it to the kernel (how?)

thanx

I foudn this line in the (unworking)kernel

/etc/sysconfig/kernel


INITRD_MODULES="sis5513 sata_sis processor thermal fan jbd ext3"

does this mean that the kernel is instructed to load the sata driver and it
did not

thanx

I suggest to try option 2 first.

Do you see any messages in /var/log/boot.msg about the drive detection?

Maybe a plain mkinitrd will work already. If not, load your MEPIS CD again and mount the S-ATA partition, then check with lsmod, which driver is used. Now get back to SUSE and try to load the module manually with 'modprobe <module>'.
Add this module to initrd by either typing 'mkinitrd -m <module>' or adding the driver to the list in /etc/sysconfig/kernel and running just 'mkinitrd' (this command look in the cofig file for modules to include).

I hope something will help...!

1. You can use the repair function of the suse cd/dvd to bring back the old kernel. You should also check /etc/sysconfig/kernel; in this file the initrd modules are listed; the driver fro ext3 is included in the kernel (not as module)
2. Have a look in the mainboard manual. The chipset or additional sata-controller should be listed.

Hmm, just checked my /lib/modules for the sis5513 driver. Couldn't find it in SCSI! The kernel config claims the driver is compiled as module, so I was a bit confused. But then I found it under ide/pci! Not sure if it was always there, but it may be that the drive is now recognized as hdb5 instead of sda5. Can you find your S-ATA drive as hdx in 'fdisk -l'?