what is /dev/hda5

lil'boomer · 02-27-2005, 12:09 AM

My uncle today just recived a CNC mill from a company called sherline. With the mill they also sent a computer loaded with redhat linux on it but as it goes through the boot procces it stops and tells me that "/dev/hda5/ had gone to long without being checked" Now i've played around with linux before but im not sure how i can get it to check. But when I press the key Print Screen/ Sys Req it tells me that something has failed and that instead of booting into a windows type mode it gives me a shell. So is there anyway i can get it to boot into windows mode from the shell or is there a way to check the /dev/hda5

BajaNick · 02-27-2005, 12:13 AM

/dev/hda5 is a partition on the hard drive or an actual drive. Its probably referring to the check linux does at boot but I dont remember exactly, something like fsck or something, Im sure someone else will chime in.

You can try typing startx at the command line and see if X windows starts up.

Did your uncle order the mill computer with Linux installed? Thats kinda curious. Is there a special milling program that is run under Linux?

lil'boomer · 02-27-2005, 12:18 AM

yes he did get the system with linux already installed and the milling program to run the mill comes directly from Sherilne but i think he got a special cad program to help him design jewelery to make on his mill "he's a professional jeweler"

Lakefall · 02-27-2005, 08:19 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by lil'boomer
as it goes through the boot procces it stops and tells me that "/dev/hda5/ had gone to long without being checked"

That is completely normal.

Quote:

Now i've played around with linux before but im not sure how i can get it to check.

You don't need to do anything, unless something is badly wrong with the file system. When it tells you a check is needed it has already started the check. Just wait until it finishes, which may take some time.

Quote:

But when I press the key Print Screen/ Sys Req

Why do you do that? I don't think it does anything at that point, but just in case it does, don't press it.

Quote:

it tells me that something has failed and that instead of booting into a windows type mode it gives me a shell. So is there anyway i can get it to boot into windows mode from the shell or is there a way to check the /dev/hda5

This suggests there is something wrong with the file system.. or alternatively something else may be wrong. It would be helpful to know what it says exactly.

The following may sound complicated, but I'm trying to cover all the alternatives.

To check the file system on /dev/hda5 we must unmount it or remount it without write permissions. Make sure you are logged in as root. Type:

Code:

umount /dev/hda5

If that doesn't give any messages at all or says /dev/hda5 is not mounted, move on to the next paragraph. If the /dev/hda5 is the root partition, you cannot unmount it. In that case type:

Code:

mount -o remount,ro /dev/hda5

If that also gives you some message type

Code:

shutdown now

to bring the system down to single user mode and try the commands again. If you still get an error, you cannot continue, but that should not happen.

The next step may or may not be simple.

Code:

fsck /dev/hda5

You may get some tricky questions if the file system has problems. Alternatively the command may not even run the check, if the file system seems clean. In that case we probably have been wasting time.

After that you want to remount the file system and switch to normal multi user mode. It's easiest for me to just tell you to reboot by typing

Code:

shutdown -r now

as you probably know you should always do when you want to reboot in the text mode.

Also try the following commands.

Code:

man fsck
man e2fsck
man mount
man umount