[TriLUG] filesystem error on upgrade to RH 7.2

[Richard O. Hammer]

Jeremy P wrote:
> 
> On Thu, 21 Mar 2002, Richard O. Hammer wrote:
> >       *** An error occurred during the file system check.
> >       *** Dropping you to a shell: the system will reboot
> >       *** when you leave the shell.
> >       Give root password for maintenance
> >       (or type Control-D for normal startup):
> >
> > After entering my password I get this prompt:
> >
> >       (Repair Filesystem) 1 #
> >
> > I have discovered that I can do many things at this prompt.
> > Most basic commands seem to be available.
> 
> I think what you're supposed to do here is run "fsck /dev/whatever" where
> "whatever" is the disk that failed the test.  (Immediately about the "***
> An error occurred" statement, you should see information about the failed
> test).

Thank you.  Unfortunately I do not see a message telling what
device was being tested above that error message, although it
might have scrolled by too fast.  From what remains on the
screen before the error message I see:

	Process fsck (pid: 165, stackpgae=c38eb000)
	Stack: [three lines of 8-digit hex numbers]

	Call Trace: [more hex]

	Code: [20 2-digit hex numbers]
		[FAILED]

When I type: fsck /dev/ [hda | hda1 | hda2 | hda3 | hda5 | hdb
| hdb3]
It gives me one line:
	Parallelizing fsck version 1.23 (15-Aug-2001)

and then locks up.  It ignores Ctl-C and Ctl-Alt-Del; the only
way I know to get it to talk to me again is with the power
switch.

But when I type "fsck /dev/[hdb1 | hdb2]" it says something,
which may be intelligible to someone, and returns control.

With hdb1 it says:
	Parallelizing fsck version 1.23 (15-Aug-2001)
	fsck: fsck.swap: not found
	fsck: Error 2 while executing fsck.swap for /dev/hdb1

With hdb2 it gives three lines which seem to be a clean bill
of health.

> Also, you said that "I consented to have a swap file elsewhere, 200 MB in
> hda5."  Does that mean you setup a swap file within that partition, as
> opposed to a separate swap partition?

Yes, as I recall it, that is what the installer offered to do.


>  Your
> fstab is still showing /dev/hdb1 as swap, although it's certainly possible
> to have multiple swap areas.

Yes.  My fstab shows two swap areas.  I've tried to change
this, to see what would result, but I can't edit fstab because
I can't write anything (the file system is mounted
"read-only").

> I'm not sure why you have "hdb3" setup with the "Minix" type; you could
> use fdisk to change this to Linux, and then reformat that drive with
> mke2fs.

I have Minix in that partition.  I use it occasionally as I am
studying my way through Andrew Tanenbaum's OS text which uses
Minix for teaching.

Rich Hammer



Below, in case any would like to see the context, I copy my
original question.

Subject: 
         filesystem error on upgrade to RH 7.2
   Date: 
         Thu, 21 Mar 2002 10:15:43 -0500
   From: 
         "Richard O. Hammer" <ROHammer at EarthLink.net>
     To: 
         trilug <trilug at trilug.org>




Recently I attempted to upgrade my RH 7.0 to RH 7.2.  My RH
7.0 was working correctly, as far as I know, in a box which
could also boot to Win98 and Minix.

Following the upgrade script seemed to work pretty smoothly,
except for one point where it was asking me about my swap
partition.  It said something like (from my memory) "Error,
7.2 requires more swap space.  You must have at least 64 MB. 
Your partition has only 65 MB."

Here is the list (from my notebook) of the partitions I was
working with before the upgrade:

        hda1 Primary Win95 FAT        3150 MB
        hda2 Primary Linux ext2 boot    25 MB
        hda5 Logical Linux ext2       5198 MB

        hdb1 Primary Linux swap         68 MB
        hdb2 Primary Linux ext2       1377 MB
        hdb3 Primary Minix/old Linuix  250 MB

Generally I have not done anything to change that structure,
except:
1. I consented to upgrade my Linux filesystems from ext2 to
ext3, and
2. In order to proceed past the crazy message about my swap
partition I consented to have a swap file elsewhere, 200 MB in
hda5.

Now with the upgrade completed when I try to boot my 7.2 I
get:

        *** An error occurred during the file system check.
        *** Dropping you to a shell: the system will reboot 
        *** when you leave the shell.
        Give root password for maintenance
        (or type Control-D for normal startup):

After entering my password I get this prompt:

        (Repair Filesystem) 1 #

I have discovered that I can do many things at this prompt. 
Most basic commands seem to be available.

When I type "cat /etc/fstab" I get (typos are possible here):

LABEL=/      /            ext3    defaults        1 1
LABEL=/boot  /boot        ext3    defaults        1 2
/dev/cdrom   /mnt/cdrom   iso9660 noauto,owner,ro 0 0
/dev/fd0     /mnt/floppy  auto    noauto,owner    0 0
none         /proc        proc    defaults        0 0
none         /dev/shm     tmpfs   defaults        0 0
none         /dev/pts     devpts  gid=5,moce=620  0 0 
/dev/hdb1    swap         swap    defaults        0 0
/dev/hdb2    /driveB      ext3    defaults        1 2
# the following line awaits fixing
# /dev/hdb3  /Minix       81      defaults        0 0
/SWAP        swap         swap    defaults        0 0

[The two # lines (commented-out) in this fstab remain from an
earlier difficulty, I believe they have no effect on my
present difficulty.]

When I type "fdisk -l" I get (more typos possible):

Disk /dev/hda: 255 heads, 63 sectors, 1027 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 bytes

   Device Boot  Start    End    Blocks  Id System
/dev/hda1   *       1    383   3076416   b Win95 FAT32
/dev/hda2         384    386     24097+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda3         387   1027   5148832+  5 Extended
/dev/hda5         387   1018   5076508+ 83 Linux

Disk /dev/hdb: 64 heads, 63 sectors, 824 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 4032 * 512 bytes

   Device Boot  Start    End    Blocks  Id System
/dev/hdb1   *       1     33     66496+ 82 Linux swap
/dev/hdb2          34    700   1344672  83 Linux
/dev/hdb3         701    821    243936  81 Minix / old Linux


Also, I've discovered is that my main filesystem is mounted
"read-only".

I would like help in proceeding to troubleshoot this.

Thank you,
Rich Hammer