Holly partitions batman!! Could you post the output from running 'df -ha' please? It sounds like two possibilities might be a full harddrive, tough at 40GB maybe not, it could also be a broken harddrive. If you re-install again, tell redhat to check disks while formating. If it's not either of those, we can look in more detail at other things.
BTW: That's not a Beta Redhat is it? Stanley A. Schultz a �crit: > One & All: > > Okay, sport fans, I need your help. I've been trying to install Linux on a > computer for weeks now and am experiencing a really vexing problem. The > details of the hardware and some of the software appear at the end of this > (lengthy, sorry) posting. Here's the story. > > I'm moderately computer literate but almost all of my experience has been > with DOS and the variations of Window$ through W98 SE and as little of > WinXP and Win2000 as I can arrange. > > I began with a straight forward installation of Red Hat Linux 7.1 choosing > [EXPERT] mode and "Install Everything." (What the heck? I've got plenty of > disk space and who knows when I'll want to play with a new toy!) > > On finishing the installation I get a series of error messages flashing by > far too fast to be read in their entirety, however they start out reading > > "Gtk - CRITICAL ***..." > > [Note to kernel and application developers: Either the <Pause> key has to > be activated or writing to the screen automagically paused at the end of > each error message, waiting for a key press. If I have this much trouble > trying to read the error messages on a P200, what must those with 1.8+ GHz > machines be experiencing?] > > On reboot to Linux I get a bunch of error messages like what follows. I > have no idea what they're referring to or how many of them there are > because (again) the text flashes past too fast for mortal man to read. > > "(null): The superblock could not be read or does not describe a correct > ext2 file system. If the device is valid and it really contains an ext2 > filesystem (and not swap or ufs or something else), then the superblock is > corrupt, and you might try running e2fsck with an alternative superblock: > e2fsck -b 8193 <device>" > > At this point I am prompted to enter my root password for maintenance mode > or to press control-d to reboot. > > I have tried various combinations of running e2fsck as recommended, > repartitioning the drives (DOS' fdisk, Linux' fdisk, PartitionMagic 5.01), > reformatting the drives (Linux, PartitionMagic 5.01) and reinstalling RHL > 7.1 at least 6 times with no success. > > I can manually mount most, if not all, of the Linux partitions, but doing > an "ls -la" on them reveals nothing on most. There are files in /etc, > /bin and /sbin, however that will allow me to use a few limited commands. > The WIN-DOS partitions were automagically mounted and I was able to copy > fstab and dmesg to them. (That's how I can show them to you below.) > > Upon rebooting to Window$ I edited fstab to parallel one on a similar > machine that I have access to. Upon rebooting to Linux (with the same > error messages) and logging in as root I copy the "new, improved" fstab to > /etc. Then I reboot to Linux. > > Linux at first seems to be booting normally, then I start to get a lot of > [FAILED] messages. (Damn! I wish they'd do something about stopping the > screen scrolling at error messages so I could read them!) > > Finally it appears to slam to a halt with the message "Starting system > logger." After 10 or 15 minutes it finally breaks loose and continues to > scroll text by, again sprinkled with [FAILED] error messages I can't read. > > Eventually I get to a point where Linux flashes some sort of message about > waiting 5 minutes because X is respawning too fast (or something similar), > and repeats the message every 5 minutes ad infinitum. I can get to a > system prompt with control-c and log in as root but in another 5 or 10 > minutes I'm interrupted with the same "X is respawning too fast" message. > I can recover the prompt with control-c. > > If I copy the original fstab back to /etc (Yes, I did make a "CYA" copy) I > get to the "Enter root password or press control-d" thingie again. > > At no point do I get X or the KDE screen I'm looking for. For what it's > worth, I've installed Linux from these same CDs in approximately the same > way to at least 2 other machines, and while I've had small problems (e.g., > failing to recognize an Adaptec SCSI card) those other installations > generally went smoothly. Ergo, corrupt CDs probably aren't the cause. > Because all the hardware works under Window$, it probably isn't a faulty > disk drive, controller or other hardware, either. > > > MY QUESTIONS (AT LAST) > > 1. What's going wrong? > > 2. How do I fix it? > > This is getting frustrating enough to make Torvalds buy stock in > Micro$oft! I really need to get this thing installed and get on with my > life! > > Stanley A. Schultz > Techno-Geek wanabe > > > > **** FOR THE RECORD, HERE ARE ALL THE GORY DETAILS.**** > > HARDWARE > IBM 300GL w/P200 CPU > Adaptec AHA2940 SCSI card > 3Com Etherlink XL (3C-900-TPO) NIC > Cirrus GD5440 (PCI) video card (on board) > HDD: Primary Master (Disk 1): Seagate ST340016A (Barracuda), 40 Gbytes > Partitions: 1st Primary - W98-DOS drive C: > Extended partition containing 12 FAT32 logical >partitions and then 5 ext2 logical partitions. > 3rd Primary partition as Linux swap (125.5 Mb) > HDD: Primary Slave (Disk 2): Western Digital WDC AC22500L, 2.4 Gbytes > Partitions: 1st Primary partition in ext2 as /boot > Extended partition containing only 1 logical partition >in ext2 as / > 3rd Primary partition as Linux swap (126.0 MB) > HDD: Secondary Master: ATAPI CD-ROM, 24X > HDD: Secondary Slave: None > > > OPERATING SYSTEMS > Window$ 98 SE > Red Hat Linux 7.1 (Seawolf) > > > STATUS > Window$ works as well as one might expect it should. (I only have > to reboot it twice a day.) All devices and hardware are functional. > RHL - Attempting to install. Failing miserably, so far. > > > FSTAB (ORIGINAL) > > LABEL=/ / ext2 defaults 1 1 > LABEL=/boot /boot ext2 defaults 1 2 > /dev/hda7 /data1 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda8 /data2 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda9 /email1 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda10 /email2 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda11 /graffix1 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda12 /graffix2 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda13 /graffix3 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda18 /home ext2 defaults 1 2 > /dev/sda1 /jaz vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto noauto,owner 0 0 > /dev/hda14 /scratch1 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda15 /scratch2 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda16 /scratch3 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda21 /scratch4 ext2 defaults 1 2 > /dev/hda19 /tmp ext2 defaults 1 2 > /dev/hda17 /usr ext2 defaults 1 2 > /dev/hda20 /var ext2 defaults 1 2 > /dev/hda5 /w98-apps1 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda6 /w98-apps2 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda1 /w98-sys vfat defaults 0 0 > none /proc proc defaults 0 0 > none /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620 0 0 > /dev/hda3 swap swap defaults 0 0 > /dev/hdb3 swap swap defaults 0 0 > > > FSTAB (MY VERSION) > > LABEL=/boot /boot ext2 defaults 1 1 > LABEL=/ / ext2 defaults 1 2 > LABEL=/usr /usr ext2 defaults 1 2 > LABEL=/home /home ext2 defaults 1 2 > LABEL=/tmp /tmp ext2 defaults 1 2 > LABEL=/var /var ext2 defaults 1 2 > LABEL=/scratch4 /scratch4 ext2 defaults 1 2 > /dev/hda1 /w98-sys vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda5 /w98-apps1 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda6 /w98-apps2 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda7 /data1 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda8 /data2 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda9 /email1 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda10 /email2 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda11 /graffix1 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda12 /graffix2 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda13 /graffix3 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda14 /scratch1 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda15 /scratch2 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/hda16 /scratch3 vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/sda1 /jaz vfat defaults 0 0 > /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto noauto,owner 0 0 > none /proc proc defaults 0 0 > none /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620 0 0 > /dev/hda3 swap swap defaults 0 0 > /dev/hdb3 swap swap defaults 0 0 > > > DMESG > > Linux version 2.4.2-2 ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) (gcc version 2.96 20000731 (Red >Hat Linux 7.1 2.96-79)) #1 Sun Apr 8 19:37:14 EDT 2001 BIOS-provided physical RAM map: > BIOS-e820: 000000000009fc00 @ 0000000000000000 (usable) > BIOS-e820: 0000000000000400 @ 000000000009fc00 (reserved) BIOS-e820: >0000000000020000 @ 00000000000e0000 (reserved) BIOS-e820: 0000000003f00000 @ >0000000000100000 (usable) > BIOS-e820: 0000000000001000 @ 00000000fec00000 (reserved) BIOS-e820: >0000000000001000 @ 00000000fee00000 (reserved) BIOS-e820: 0000000000020000 @ >00000000fffe0000 (reserved) On node 0 totalpages: 16384 > zone(0): 4096 pages. > zone DMA has max 32 cached pages. > zone(1): 12288 pages. > zone Normal has max 96 cached pages. > zone(2): 0 pages. > zone HighMem has max 1 cached pages. > hm, page 01000000 reserved twice. > Kernel command line: auto BOOT_IMAGE=linux ro root=345 >BOOT_FILE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.2-2 Initializing CPU#0 > Detected 199.436 MHz processor. > Console: colour VGA+ 80x25 > Calibrating delay loop... 398.13 BogoMIPS > Memory: 61692k/65536k available (1363k kernel code, 3456k reserved, 92k data, 232k >init, 0k highmem) Dentry-cache hash table entries: 8192 (order: 4, 65536 bytes) >Buffer-cache hash table entries: 4096 (order: 2, 16384 bytes) Page-cache hash table >entries: 16384 (order: 5, 131072 bytes) Inode-cache hash table entries: 4096 (order: >3, 32768 bytes) VFS: Diskquotas version dquot_6.5.0 initialized > CPU: Before vendor init, caps: 008001bf 00000000 00000000, vendor = 0 Intel Pentium >with F0 0F bug - workaround enabled. > CPU: After vendor init, caps: 008001bf 00000000 00000000 00000000 CPU: After >generic, caps: 008001bf 00000000 00000000 00000000 CPU: Common caps: 008001bf >00000000 00000000 00000000 > CPU: Intel Pentium MMX stepping 03 > Checking 'hlt' instruction... OK. > POSIX conformance testing by UNIFIX > mtrr: v1.37 (20001109) Richard Gooch ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) mtrr: detected mtrr >type: none > PCI: PCI BIOS revision 2.10 entry at 0xfd8bc, last bus=0 > PCI: Using configuration type 1 > PCI: Probing PCI hardware > Limiting direct PCI/PCI transfers. > Activating ISA DMA hang workarounds. > isapnp: Scanning for PnP cards... > isapnp: No Plug & Play device found > Linux NET4.0 for Linux 2.4 > Based upon Swansea University Computer Society NET3.039 > Initializing RT netlink socket > apm: BIOS version 1.2 Flags 0x03 (Driver version 1.14) > Starting kswapd v1.8 > pty: 256 Unix98 ptys configured > block: queued sectors max/low 40872kB/13624kB, 128 slots per queue RAMDISK driver >initialized: 16 RAM disks of 4096K size 1024 blocksize Uniform Multi-Platform E-IDE >driver Revision: 6.31 > ide: Assuming 33MHz system bus speed for PIO modes; override with idebus=xx PIIX3: >IDE controller on PCI bus 00 dev 09 > PIIX3: chipset revision 0 > PIIX3: not 100% native mode: will probe irqs later > ide0: BM-DMA at 0xfff0-0xfff7, BIOS settings: hda:DMA, hdb:DMA ide1: BM-DMA >at 0xfff8-0xffff, BIOS settings: hdc:DMA, hdd:pio hda: ST340016A, ATA DISK drive > hdb: WDC AC22500L, ATA DISK drive > hdc: , ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive > ide0 at 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6 on irq 14 > ide1 at 0x170-0x177,0x376 on irq 15 > hda: 78165360 sectors (40021 MB) w/2048KiB Cache, CHS=4865/255/63, (U)DMA hdb: >4999680 sectors (2560 MB) w/256KiB Cache, CHS=620/128/63, (U)DMA Partition check: > hda: [DM6:DDO] [remap +63] [4865/255/63] hda1 hda2 < hda5 hda6 hda7 hda8 hda9 hda10 >hda11 hda12 hda13 hda14 hda15 hda16 hda17 hda18 hda19 hda20 hda21 > hda3 hdb: hdb1 >hdb2 < hdb5 > hdb3 > Floppy drive(s): fd0 is 1.44M > FDC 0 is a National Semiconductor PC87306 > RAMDISK: Compressed image found at block 0 > Freeing initrd memory: 359k freed > Serial driver version 5.02 (2000-08-09) with MANY_PORTS MULTIPORT SHARE_IRQ >SERIAL_PCI ISAPNP enabled ttyS00 at 0x03f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A > ttyS01 at 0x02f8 (irq = 3) is a 16550A > Real Time Clock Driver v1.10d > md driver 0.90.0 MAX_MD_DEVS=256, MD_SB_DISKS=27 > md.c: sizeof(mdp_super_t) = 4096 > autodetecting RAID arrays > autorun ... > ... autorun DONE. > NET4: Linux TCP/IP 1.0 for NET4.0 > IP Protocols: ICMP, UDP, TCP, IGMP > IP: routing cache hash table of 512 buckets, 4Kbytes > TCP: Hash tables configured (established 4096 bind 4096) > Linux IP multicast router 0.06 plus PIM-SM > NET4: Unix domain sockets 1.0/SMP for Linux NET4.0. > VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem). > SCSI subsystem driver Revision: 1.00 > (scsi0) <Adaptec AHA-294X Ultra SCSI host adapter> found at PCI 0/11/0 (scsi0) >Narrow Channel, SCSI ID=7, 16/255 SCBs > (scsi0) Cables present (Int-50 NO, Ext-50 NO) > (scsi0) Downloading sequencer code... 436 instructions downloaded scsi0 : Adaptec >AHA274x/284x/294x (EISA/VLB/PCI-Fast SCSI) 5.2.4/5.2.0 <Adaptec AHA-294X Ultra >SCSI host adapter> > Vendor: iomega Model: jaz 1GB Rev: J.86 > Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 02 Attached scsi >removable disk sda at scsi0, channel 0, id 6, lun 0 (scsi0:0:6:0) Synchronous at 10.0 >Mbyte/sec, offset 15. > SCSI device sda: 2091050 512-byte hdwr sectors (1071 MB) > sda: Write Protect is off > sda: sda1 > VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem) readonly. > change_root: old root has d_count=3 > Trying to unmount old root ... okay > Freeing unused kernel memory: 232k freed > Adding Swap: 128480k swap-space (priority -1) > Adding Swap: 128984k swap-space (priority -2) > usb.c: registered new driver usbdevfs > usb.c: registered new driver hub > usb-uhci.c: $Revision: 1.251 $ time 19:51:15 Apr 8 2001 > usb-uhci.c: High bandwidth mode enabled > usb-uhci.c: USB UHCI at I/O 0x5440, IRQ 11 > usb-uhci.c: Detected 2 ports > usb.c: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1 > hub.c: USB hub found > hub.c: 2 ports detected > > [Nothing more after this entry]
