LinuxQuestions.org - help backup server corrupted /etc/fstab

I have just started working in a new office when the Backup server failed.
I am not skilled in Linux (version Gentoo) so i apologise if i say the wrong thing.

/etc/fstab was corrupted when i checked the server.

1st problem,
I have noway of knowing how /etc/fstab was configured as there were no notes or documentation left for me to reference.

the machine is an intel server with two Disks 1 40GB the other 200GB

hda
hdb

A colleague told me to try a default /etc/fstab file but this gave me the same response that i first saw i.e

(partial screen output)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

inittrd-tools: 0.1.74
mount: fs type devfs not supported by kernel
umount: devfs: not mounted
mount: fs type devfs not supported by kernel
umount: devfs: not mounted
INIT: version 2.78-knoppix booting
Welcome to KNOPPIX (HD-Installation)

Enabling DMA acceleration for: hda [WDC WD400EB-11CPF0]
Enabling DMA acceleration for: hdb [WDC WD2000JB-00DUA3]
Enabling DMA acceleration for: hdc [SAMSUNG CD-R/RW SW-248F]
Found hardware profile in /etc/modules02.4.27.
Copying hardware profile to /etc/modules .
Running Linux Kernel 2.4.27.
Running from HD, checking filesystems...
Activating swap....
Checking root file system...
fsck 1.35 (28-Feb-2004)
fsck.ext2: Is a directory while trying to open /
/:
The superblock could not be read or does not describe a correct ext2 filesystem. If the device is valid and it really contains an ext2
filesystem (and not swap or ufs or something else), then the superblock
is corrupt, and you might try running e2fsck with an alternate superblock:
e2fsck -b 8193 <device>

fsck failed. Please repair manually and reboot. Please note that the root file system is currently mounted read-only. To remount it read-write:

# mount -n -o remount,rw /

CONTROL-D will exit from this shell and REBOOT the system

root@Knoppix:/#

-------------------------------------------------------------------
that is what the screen shows.

I have mounted the root filesystem and when i checked the /etc/fstab file it said it had a size of 0 bit, i therefore created a fstab file and guessed what values should be there i.e

/dev/hda1 /boot ext2 noauto,noatime 1 1
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
none /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0

This had no effect i ran fsck and it did do a fix to some blocks but when i tried i still get the origin screen shown above

Is there anyway i can interogate the server to get an idea of what was in its /etc/fstab file ?

worst case scenario is that i will have to build a new server which i have not done in production before (just a workstation) i will use redhat ES 4, as i said before this server was the backup server so all the scripts that were run on this box are somewhere on it!!!! (it ran scripts to copy files from the other servers to a tape drive attached to this unit)

Can someone tell me where i might find them? (they must have been cron jobs.

I am coming into work on saturday/Sunday to see if i can get it up if anyone has some good advice i would really appreciate it as I am more windows biased with some solaris knowledge .