Dennis Reynolds wrote:
On Sat, 14 Dec 2002 15:13:09 +0000, you wrote:Afterwards I thought about the dos fdisk option, and realised I shouldn't of advised
Dennis Reynolds wrote:Thanks to all who replied. I tried a Windows rescue disk which allowed
I have a Pentium III with 2 small hard disks, and CD ROM and a CD RWI think possibly ,
drives which I have recently loaded exclusively with MDK 9.0.
It has been interesting learning about Linux capabilities but now I
have fouled things up while attempting to activate a partition on the
second drive. This was being done in the course of installing the
full turnkeylinuxaudio tarball.
Now when I boot (irrespective of whether I choose Linux, Floppy or
Failsafe) I get into a loop. The system boots as far as checking the
file systems although the option to boot interactively by typing"I"
doesn't seem to work. Then I get the error messages listed at the end
of this email. [My comments are in {curly} brackets.
If I insert the MDK9 installation disk 1 in an attempt to reinstall,
the CD Rom fails to fire up properly and I simply end up going round
the loop again.
I would be very grateful for advice on what to do. As there is no
valuable data on the system I have no problem with a solution which
wipes the lot and starts afresh.
TIA
ERROR MESSAGES RECEIVED DURING THE BOOT PROCESS.
Your system appears to have shut down uncleanly
Press Y within 1 seconds to force file system integrity check...
Checking root file system
/dev/hda1: clean, 138141/586368 files, 504642/1170297 blocks [OK]
Remounting root file system in read-write mode: [OK]
Activating swap partitions: [OK]
Finding module dependencies: [OK]
Loading sound module(sb): [OK] Checking filesystems
/dev/hda6: clean, 4350/170720 files, 280812/341373 blocks
/dev/hdb1: The filesytem size (according to the superblock) is 202600
blocks
The physical size of the device is 184456 blocks
Either the superblock or the partition table is likely to be corrupt!
/dev/hdb1: UNEXPECTED INCONSISTENCY; RUN fsck MANUALLY.
(i.e., without -a or -p options)
Failed to check file system. Do you want to repair the errors? (Y/N)
(beware you can lose data)
y {my input)
e2fsck 1.27ea (14 Mar 2002)
/dev/hda6: clean, 4350/170720 files, 280812/341373 blocks
The filesystem size (according to the superblock) is 202600 blocks
Either the superblock or the partition table is likely to be corrupt!
Abort? yes {There isn't actually a choice it aborts automatically}
[FAILED]
*** 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):
{at this point I can't type anything but Control D achieves a reboot} to go through the same cycle again.}
Dennis Reynolds
while attempting to activate a partition on the
second drive. This was being done in the course of installing the
full turnkeylinuxaudio tarball.
is the clue here.
Although you have two harddrives, the system looks on them both as one,
and as such you can only have one "Active" partition.It seems to me
that you have effectively altered the active partition while
attempting to install the abovementioned package.This has the effect
of making the partition table corrupt.
If I am right what you have to do is remake the old partition active
The question is how.
First try M cd1 disc and at the splash screen hit f1 which
has the effect of running you to a terminal, and from there choose rescue and see whether you can get to fdisk, and
then use that to remake the original partition active, or just
wipe everything out and start again.
An alternative, if you have an old w98 boot disc run it
to the A prompt and type fdisk and use it to remake the
active partition, you have to cancel the current active
partition first.
I'm not absolutely cetain about this so proceed with caution
but maybe you don't have that much to loose.
John
me to boot to the A prompt but fdisk didn't seem to work properly.
Fortunately I have Partition Magic which I booted from floppy. It let
me see and delete all partitions. I then set up a new Linux partition
and was able to get the MDK9 CD1 to boot. Now I have the system again.
I suspect the problem was compounded by what I suspect is the
supermount problem. The CDRom would only spin up partially and perhaps
I would have been able to do a reinstall much earlier if it had been
working properly. I replaced it with a spare for the successful
reinstall although the spare has begun to behave in the same way.
I'll have to consult the various threads on the Supermount problem
now.
Again, many thanks for your help folks.
Dennis Reynolds
you down that path as fdisk doesn't officially recognise linux partition, though
it know's it is there and although I know a way to get it to delete them it really
is a trial.
But Parttion Magic is ideal.Glad to know you are back in business.
John
--
John Richard Smith
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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