Any command that's part of the kernel is giving me a "segmentation fault", the basic stuff like an "ls".

The machine after reboot didn't even allow me to login and booted up with heaps of seg faults, I could start in single mode and login but that's about it.

Although I can't see anything wrong my suspicion goes to accidental deletions of files by support staff?

Maybe an rm -rf in the wrong place, not sure what else could cause this error.

The kernel is the latest availble on FC4 and the machine is firewalled so I don't really suspect amy malicious cause.

Any idea what could cause this though assuming human error?

Thanks,

Any command that's part of the kernel is giving me a "segmentation fault", the basic stuff like an "ls".
The machine after reboot didn't even allow me to login and booted up with heaps of seg faults, I could start in single mode and login but that's about it.
Boot the rescue CD then run "rpm -Va 2>&1| tee logfile". Don't forget to use the "--root" option to point to where your RPM database lives. If "less logfile" doesn't show any errors then try to read the system, daemon and cronjob logs (like yum) for clues.


the machine is firewalled so I don't really suspect amy malicious cause.
Unless it's properly firewalled and no vulnerable SW is accessable and all access was verified that's not a reason to not doubt it.
Gotta make sure.

Hardware failure, in particular errenous RAM may cause this. I've also encountered this when a box is under heavy load and cooling is insufficient.