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Re: Disk/file system trouble



On Mon, Jan 25, 1999 at 03:32:30PM +0200, Uri Elias wrote:

Hello.

Your problem report is extremely weird. I think some clarifications are
needed.

First, the basics. What kernel version? What distribution? What version of X
(if that's the issue below)?

> First my linux began to boot very slowly. After some time boot failed,
> there was a message `error reading block ...' and I was dropped to
> a shell. I tried fsck.ext2 but next boot completely failed.

What is 'failed'? VFS kernel panic? Reboot? Halt?
What is 'very slowly'? A day? An hour? Five minutes instead of one? And
where does this happen? While running the start-up scripts? While checking
the disk using e2fsck? While trying to log-in?

> Next I booted with rescue disk, ran e2fsck which cleared some entries 
> or connected to lost+found. After all this treatment e2fsck returns
> that the filesystem is clean, badblocks finds nothing. However...
> 
> Two things happen now:
> 1. During regular boot I get:  /devcua1  no such file found
> 2. The screen remains dark, from time to time there is a flash of light
> as a failed attempt to write. When I press Ctrl-Alt-Del, the screen
> reappears and I see the process of shutdown.
> I may still boot with rescue disk.

1. "/dev/cua1" or "/devcua1"? If the latter, what says that? The kernel? The
init scripts? If the former, do you *have* the (special) file /dev/cua1?

2. Is this on X? Is this on console? What do you mean by _remains_ dark? If
X, can you switch to console? If console, what happens if you try to type
something? What do you mean by 'write' - to disk, or to screen?

> Question: 

> -What can I attempt in this situation? 

Clarify the description, first... ;-)

> -How can I check whether the disk is physically damaged or is 
>  it the file system? 

badblocks. If that didn't report problems, you should be okay.

> -Can I reinstall only the lost files? 

You *can* do anything. No magic files should be involved, unless your
distribution is of the annoying type (RedHat is getting there).
Question is - is it worth your time? It depends on how many files you lost.

> -Or nothing to do but reinstall the whole system and wait to the next disk
>  crash?

Strictly speaking, nothing should be able to do those things, unless there
is some kernel bug, or some root-runnable software got damaged. Is it
possible that your kernel image was damaged? (that is - if you boot using a
rescue disk set to use the HD as the root - does this happen?).

                                                   Nimrod