[plug] problem booting...

[David & Lisa Buddrige]

thanks.  I'll give these ideas a go.

8-)

David.
-----Original Message-----
From: Craig Ringer <craig at postnewspapers.com.au>
To: Perth Linux User Group <plug at plug.linux.org.au>
Date: Friday, 30 January 2004 7:32
Subject: Re: [plug] problem booting...


>On Fri, 2004-01-30 at 19:08, David & Lisa Buddrige wrote:
>
>> Entry 'etc' in / (2) has deleted/unused inode 98497.  Clear<y>?
>>
>> I'm guessing I don't want to delete the /etc inode.  any suggestions on
how
>> to fix this?  Does clearing it fix the problem or just permanently delete
>> it?
>
>I strongly suspect, but don't know for sure, that 'clear' will in fact
>delete the /etc inode. This is probably bad ;-)
>
>Unfortunately, if your FS is this corrupt your chances of recovering a
>fully working system are rather poor anyway. I /suspect/ - but someone
>more used to working with ext[23] should confirm - that anything under
>/etc will probably appear in /lost+found, possibly in a disorganised
>mess without their original filenames or permissions.
>
>In this situation I'd be inclined to archive the corrupt filesystem to
>CD/tape/disk/whatever and keep that for a while - just in case - then
>format the system and reinstall. It'd also be wise to run some hardware
>diagnostic and thrashing tools before going ahead and reinstalling.
>
>Once you've backed up everything you think you can recover, I suggest
>some/all of these as useful tests:
> - running badblocks in destructive read/write mode, repeately
> - using bonnie++ to thrash the disk mechanism - keep an eye out
> for any I/O errors, DMA errors, etc.
> - using `smartctl -a` to query the disk and see if it reports
> any odd info. If you don't understand the output, post
> a copy here - it's a bit of a black art to interpret at
> times.
> - using smartctl to run disk self-tests
> - using the vendor disk tools to test your disks
> - using memtest86 to test your memory, plus CPU and cache to
> a lesser extent
> - making sure all your cooling fans etc are working fine, and
> your memory is properly seated and your ATA cables
> are properly plugged in. Swapping ATA cables might not
> be a bad idea if you have a known-good spare; that
> extra-hard-to-trace hardware issue I had with a PPro
> a few months back turned out to be a bad ATA cable.
>--
>Craig Ringer
>
>_______________________________________________
>plug mailing list
>plug at plug.linux.org.au
>http://mail.plug.linux.org.au/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/plug