Hi

Have expericnced a system crash and am unable to start up Mandriva

# e2fsck /dev/hda7 contains file system errors check forced

Clear yes to long list inodes containg multiply claimed blocks

Final line statement /dev/hda7 file system was modified (Exit) reboot

System still not rebooting after all that.

Start once agin Repair file system 2 # /dev/hda7 -p Permission denied

Help file list do not seem to work for me unless I have them in the wrong order.

Any Menriva member have any idea as to how I can start system with out another install

Get me out of the Shell and back on screen.

Maurice

You could run KNOPPIX or another rescue disc. Some distros can use the installation CD as a rescuer. From the rescue system run e2fsck. Is this an ext2 or ext3 system? ext2 were always getting messed up. The journalling file systems are much more rugged. You can convert ext2 to ext3, once you clean it up. If this is an old disc, you may want to do a badblocks scan on it.

Hi RobertP

Thanks for reply Have tried Rescue Disk for Mandriva.Not much help.

Mandrake 10 still works fine.

Unable to find any good information on crash recovery from books or internet

That seems strange to me as others must have experinced a crash and repaired
system with out reinstalling once again.

When I find the solution I will publish it on this site to help others.

Enjoy your day

Maurice

Hi Robert

Progress report

Rescue disk 2006 Mandriva # e2fsck /dev/hda7 Clean 142474/183124 files, 1029145/3662812

# Help Emergency Help Have tried commands like -c but nothing seems to improve.

With Knoppix running one can inspect Hda7 but have know idea how to procced from there.

ex2 seems to be Mandrake 2006.

Had a look at your very interesting site .Are you realy old and grummpy I am 76 is that old?

Most of the Crash software seem to be for companies runing linux not for home users.

Cleaning up garden autumn leafs as well as trying to clean up my none booting Mandriva

Maurice

I am 55. I describe it as 5.5 decades...

If your filesystem is clean and it will not boot, I cannot imagine what has changed.

If you can read the logs on /dev/hda7, we might get some clues. Also, you could try to record the error messages for a few lines before the crash. Maybe it is unrelated to the fsck message. When the system crashed, the filesystem is left in an unstable state. That is what fsck cleans up, but the disc problems may be a symptom and not the cause of the crash.

In KNOPPIX, try
fdisk -l /dev/hda7

then
mkdir /mnt/hda7
mount /dev/hda7 /mnt/hda7 -o ro
less /mnt/hda7/var/log/messages
q gets you out. You can scroll around in the log.
In less,
/hda7 enter will seek to mention of hda7
n repeats the seek
pgdn scrolls screen by screen so you can read it all

You might want to list the directory or file
ls /mnt/hda7/boot
cat /mnt/hda7/etc/fstab
cat /mnt/hda7/boot/grub/menu.lst

I hope that turns up something we can use. Can you copy and paste them to here? Thanks.

HI Robert

Thanks for quick response .Have tried Knoppix and the commands like fdisk -l /dev/hda7
also ls /mnt/hda7/boot. All come on screen. Now my problem is

How can I copy and paste these files from Knoppix.

I configured Kppp dialup internet ,no problem and would like to post them to you
This is my first time use of Knoppix It certainly looks very good

I used terminal in root to fdisk -l /dev/hda7 all ready to send but that was not to
be.
Could not find away of saving this information you require
7.6 Does it show
Maurice

On my system, if I am in the GUI and select text with mouse (left click and hold/drag over text/release) it goes onto the clipboard. Then, in the terminal window, I can type ctrl(the control key)-shift-v together and the
text is inserted at the cursor position. In the browser, I can insert into a text box by clicking on it or tabbing to it and typing ctrl-v or right-click/paste or menu/edit/paste. On some systems after selecting the text, you must menu/edit/copy or ctrl-c to put it into the clipboard. I run klipper to have more flexibility in this.

All this is generally available on graphical user interfaces. It is usually called copy and paste or cut and paste.

Good Morning Robert

Have tried to use Browser in Knoppix but found it to be rather slow
so I use Mandrake 10 to mnt the files you requested file

:/home/ma/Desktop/Last messages

file:/home/ma/Desktop/fstabfile:

helpfile:/home/ma/Desktop/menu.lst

Have them on my desktop and they open up but the lines above do not seem much to you

How can I copy and paste them so they open up on your desktop?

Maurice

Hi Robert
Is this better
Last message

Username Port From Latest
root :0 Fri Mar 24 13:16:03 +1200 2006
bin **Never logged in**
daemon **Never logged in**
adm **Never logged in**
lp **Never logged in**
sync **Never logged in**
shutdown **Never logged in**
halt **Never logged in**
mail **Never logged in**
news **Never logged in**
uucp **Never logged in**
operator **Never logged in**
games **Never logged in**
rpm **Never logged in**
rpc **Never logged in**
vcsa **Never logged in**
xfs **Never logged in**
postfix **Never logged in**
rpcuser **Never logged in**

ma :0 Tue Mar 28 17:23:37 +1200 2006
timeout 10
color black/cyan yellow/cyan
default 1

title linux
kernel (hd0,6)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda7 acpi=ht splash=silent vga=788
initrd (hd0,6)/boot/initrd.img

title linux-nonfb
kernel (hd0,6)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda7 acpi=ht
initrd (hd0,6)/boot/initrd.img

title failsafe
kernel (hd0,6)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda7 failsafe acpi=ht
initrd (hd0,6)/boot/initrd.img

title mandrake10
kernel (hd1,6)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hdb7 acpi=ht
initrd (hd1,6)/boot/initrd.img

title windows
root (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

title windows1
root (hd1,0)
map (0x81) (0x80)
map (0x80) (0x81)
makeactive
chainloader +1

# This file is edited by fstab-sync - see 'man fstab-sync' for details
/dev/hda7 /ext2 defaults 1 1
/dev/hda8 /mnt/WinG vfat umask=0022,iocharset=iso8859-1,codepage=850 0 0
/dev/hdc /mnt/cdrom auto umask=0022,user,iocharset=iso8859-1,codepage=850,noauto,ro,exec,users 0 0
/dev/hdd /mnt/cdrom2 auto umask=0022,user,iocharset=iso8859-1,codepage=850,noauto,ro,exec,users 0 0
none /mnt/floppy supermount dev=/dev/fd0,fs=ext2:vfat,--,umask=0022,iocharset=iso8859-1,sync,codepage=850 0 0
/dev/hda1 /mnt/win_c vfat umask=0022,iocharset=iso8859-1,codepage=850 0 0
/dev/hdb1 /mnt/win_c2 vfat umask=0022,iocharset=iso8859-1,codepage=850 0 0
/dev/hda5 /mnt/win_d vfat umask=0022,iocharset=iso8859-1,codepage=850 0 0
/dev/hdb5 /mnt/win_d2 vfat umask=0022,iocharset=iso8859-1,codepage=850 0 0
/dev/hda6 /mnt/win_e vfat umask=0022,iocharset=iso8859-1,codepage=850 0 0
/dev/hdb6 /mnt/win_e2 vfat umask=0022,iocharset=iso8859-1,codepage=850 0 0
/dev/hda9 /mnt/win_h vfat umask=0022,iocharset=iso8859-1,codepage=850 0 0
none /proc proc defaults 0 0

Good Luck
Maurice

Good! The GRUB menu shows that you have other entries like failsafe and Mandrake10. Can you boot any of those?

When the GRUB menu comes up push up/down arrow keys to get the one you want and press enter.

The other thing I can see is that /dev/hda7 is ext2, which was the default in the Dark Ages, but is prone to getting messed up. Nowadays, almost everyone uses journalling filesystems like ext3, jfs, or ReiserFS. You can convert an ext2 system to ext3 with a command:
tune2fs -j /dev/hda7
which would help except you cannot boot.

You could try it from KNOPPIX, but it may not help you boot and could mess things up further.

Unless something valuable is in the /home directory on /dev/hda7, I would suggest re-installation would be the surest bet. Choose ext3 for file system type if possible. You may have to choose expert install to get that option.

If you still want to try to fix the system, try giving us the output from
fdisk -l /dev/hda

and
umount /dev/hda
fsck -a /dev/hda7 (this will attempt to automatically repair the partition)
You may want to attempt to copy anything of value from /home before doint this.

A re-install is a learning experience, too.

Hi Robert

Grub menu Failsave,Linux nonfb None boot system

Fdsk -l /dev/hda =255 heads,63 sectors/track,9729 cylinders

units= cylinders of 16065 * 512= 8225280

Device Boot starts end Blocks Id System

/dev/hda1 * 1 1319 10594836

these two of the list are of interest

/dev/hda7 4257 6080 146512481 83 linux


Fsck -a /dev/hda7 Error2 while executing fsck defaults for /dev/hda7

Will look into the ex2 to change to ext3

I notice that many of the Emergency Help commands do not work like -L

Sunshine to day
Maurice

Did you do the umount /dev/hda right before the fsck?

If it will not boot after running fsck I see re-installing as the best option. It could have been done by now for sure.

Hi Robert
Have reinstalled Mandriva2006
No Password or User added during install That's what I wanted
Grub is my boot loader ,but have lost Mandrake 10 on the list
System boots up tp Welcome to Local Host
Needs Name and Pass word
Not what I expected as it should start.
The installation went well but No Mandriva to use
Yet another learning curve
Any comments Maurice

Hi Robert
Mandriva 2006 all OK!
Running in Root just a matter of seting the desktop up and all the other bits an pieces.
Linux certainly is not easy to repair system.
You could write a book about it
Thank you very much for your assistance,much appreciated
Maurice