# mkfs.ext2 /dev/hdb1
I normally forget to do that when I change partitions or disks on my PCs and get that same behaviour you describe :-)
How to recover:
The system uses /etc/fstab file do decide which disks/partitions to mount at boot. Your fstab now instructs the system to mount hdb, but since this disk has not been correclty formatted, the system hangs. e2fsck fixes a lot of problems, but it CANNOT format the disk for you :-)
The basic idea is to change the /etc/fstab file to avoid mounting hdb at boot, so you can finish the boot normally and format correctly the /dev/dhb, before updating fstab.
1. boot from the MDK installation CD. If you are unable to boot from CD try entering the BIOS (on my HP Vectra by pressing F8 at the boot you can select the boot device, but that changes from system to system). If the system is not very very old, you should be able to boot from CD in one way or the other.
2. at the MDK splash screen, press F1, then at the prompt type
# rescue
3. you will be prompted with a menu. Select
"mount disks undes /mnt", then select
"go to console" (or something similar)
4. now you are in a shell. Note that /etc directory is not _your_ /etc, but rather it is taken from the cdrom. Your /etc is mounted under /mnt, like the other partitions (but you do not want to mess with those now). So, from the shell prompt issue:
# cd /mnt/etc
# vi fstab (starts the vi text editor)
5. go to the line containing something like "/mnt/hdb" and delete the whole line (the vi command for this is "dd" without the quotes). If you mess up with the file, exit without saving (":q!" note the semicolon and the exclamation mark) and try again.
Save the file and exit vi. The vi command for this is ":wq" (note the semicolon)
6. remove the cd and reboot with
# reboot now
Now the system should be able to boot normally. You can try the mkfs command above.
Good luck. Don't worry, your situation CAN be recovered!
raffaele
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
I have a Pentium III with 2 small hard disks, and CD ROM and a CD RW
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
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