MDK 10.2 boot gets to files system check during boot, then this error:
hda7 clean
hda8 clean
dev/'hdb1
The superblock could not be read because it does not describe a correct ext2 filesystem.
dev/hdb2
same error
fsck ext2...no such file while trying to open hdb1
fsck ext3...no such file while trying to open hdb2

failed to check filesystem do you want to repair errors. y/n?
pressing y results in "there was an error in check" run fsck

Hda is W2000/MDK 10.2 dualboot was working fine.
Added hdb and used MCC to partition into 3 partitions-FAT32, ext2 and ext3. The FAT 32 was for shared audio files, etc. The ext2 and ext 3 was for experimentation. I noticed in the past that MCC partition usually notifies that the part table is going to be written to hdX, but this time didn't. It said you will have to reboot for changes to take effect. When I rebooted, I got the above.

This was bound to happen from experimentation. I have pulled out hdb, but am still getting these errors. I have not fsck'ed before. Why is this affecting hda which checks out OK?

Any help out there?
Thanks

Hello,

I think you only partioned the drive.
The next step is formating the drive (initializing the filesystem).
Try "mkfs" or use graphical tools like qparted.

HTH

Sounds possible, but why did utility not format the drive?

Freaked out because when I used the rescue mode, the windows part was fine but the linux partitions were listed as ext2 and am sure MDK 10.2 is ext3. I had been trying to format the hdb as ext2 and thought that the root and home partitions of hda had accidentally been "altered' , but don't know if rewriting an ext3 part as ext2 is possible or what problems this could cause. I think you can change ext2 into ext3.

Anyway, for anyone caught in same situation, MDK rescue mode allows you to mount the damaged hd partitions under /mnt of the rescue mode. At the time did not understand why.

Took hdb and installed into second MDK 10.2 PC. From there created new directory under /mnt and mounted the "damaged" hd. At that point was able to mount the /etc of the damaged drive and comment out the hdb entries. Then reinstalled this drive into original PC and voila!... had my system back. Now I see why Mandrake rescue offers the "mount filesystem under /mnt" option, although I took the scenic route.

Still not sure why the hdb entries caused the problem other than that the hdb partitions never got formatted. I am absolutely positive that I was working on hdb tab of the MCC mount point utility and that the report was that the partition info was going to be written to hdb, but when I clicked on format, report was it was necessary to reboot.

Any ideas on what went wrong?
Thanks for your help