On Mon, 13 Dec 1999, OHPC wrote:
> First, I thank everybody in the list. I read all messages in the list,
> everyday. I am a newbie to Linux, and I appreciate any kind of support.
> I have a lot of problems to begin with, but let me start from one that
> seems to be the biggest of all.
>
> I use Conectiva Linux, a version of Red Hat (6.0 I think) modified to
> support the Portuguese language and its accents. The kernel is 2.2.12-5cl.
> My machine is a Pentium 3, 500 Mhz, with two IDE hardisks.
> I have Windows 98 on a 6.4Gb drive (hda1)
> A 12.2 Gb harddisk is used with a Win98 partition (hdb1 - 10Gb) and a Linux
> ext2 partition (hdb5) with its swap partition (hdb6), both taking 2.2 Gb.
> I installed Winlinux, Caldera, Mandrake but could not use them with my
> system because of my video board (Riva TNT 2). Finally this Conectiva
> version worked.
> All was working fine. I managed to install my Sound Blaster Live!, played
> MP3, listened to CDs, installed StarOffice, Word Perfect, etc
> I was able to mount my vfat partitions, with the following commands:
>
> cd /mnt
> mkdir win1
> mkdir win2
> mount -t vfat /dev/hda1 /mnt/win1
> mount -t vfat /dev/hdb1 /mnt/win2
>
> I included these devices in the fstab file, as vfat partitions, of course.
>
> And suddenly they stopped working.
> This morning, I could access them, and now all I get is:
> fs vfat not supported by kernel
>
> Why? It was supported this morning!
> Maybe I needed to unmount them before halting the system? What happened? I
> turned off the computer, and I am sure everything was fine.
One of the main things to do when shutting down a Linux system be sure to
allow all processes to stop and drives get unmounted.
Use the cmd 'shutdown -h now' and wait till it is halted before turning of
power.
> I am using Windows to write this message, so its partitions are working, of
> course.
> What do I need to do, in order to be able to use them again? It is not the
> first time this happens. I had to install everything from scratch two days
> ago because of this problem, and after that I could access the Win98
> partitions again. But now...
> I boot from a floppy with Lilo, because I didn't want to boot from hda1.
>
> If anybody has an idea, please let me know.
You may be able to recover your Linux by booting from a copy of
'tomsrootboot' Ask around on the various sites where to get it.
It installs on a 3.5" floppy and you can boot up with that and maybe run
fsck on your Linux partions.
However if you have reinstalled recently then may have little to loose by
reinstalling.
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Oto Pintiaski (OHPC)
Warren Hrach, Moderator of the Fido LINUX-USER conferance.
* | Warren Hrach, San Diego, CA 92107 | *
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