Hello. I have a server running CentOS 5.2 Recently Apache was unable to start because it could not find the error_log file in the /var/log dir.
After investigating I've found that the log directory does not appear to be a directory anymore. It lists at the bottom of the lists of directories in /var as
?log
When I try to chmod/chown it, it wont let me. The size is 32823K. It's MTime date is Jan 25, 1971.

What the heck is the deal with that? I really would like to restore it to it's original state, but don't see any other way other than a complete reinstall of Linux.

It's current permissions are
set user ID on execution
set group ID on execution
sticky bit
read by owner
write by others
execute/search by others

It's owned by Unknown user Unknown Group.

Just delete it, if you can, and create a new one. a full fsck of that partition would be a wise move too.

Thanks for the quick response. Can not delete file. Operation not permitted. I am logged in as root.
Can't run fsck on a mounted file system or it could result in damage.

well reboot the system and do it then using a live CD if /var is also on /.

No go. Wont boot into single user mode from grub. wont boot into single user mode from CD. linux rescue does not let me fsck /dev/sda5 either. I give up. Time to install windows I guess.

You give up fast. If you change your mind then you need to expand on "linux rescue does not let me fsck /dev/sda5 either" in order to receive useful answers.

I didn't give up fast. I had been working on this server for days prior to posting here.

Thanks for the responses. Issue resolved.