Thanks, Derick. Actually I fixed it just now (whew!!) by using the "interactive startup mode" in the "ydltext" mode of kboot. After answering "no" to about 20 questions, I was able to log in with a mounted filesystem and changed the kboot.conf to the working video mode. Then everything booted fine.
One of the sources of my troubles I am sure is the name change of the root directory in more recent kernels. I think the system was looking for the newer root (/dev/ps3da2) using the older kernel and thinking it was an ext2 filesystem, which led to the prompt for a superblock. Thanks again. -Warren Nagourney On Nov 24, 2007, at 12:26 PM, Derick Centeno wrote: > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > Hi Warren: > > Sorry to hear that this happened to you after Thanksgiving. Being > a bit of a > incessant tinkerer myself, I understand the drive to pursue one's own > process of trial and error. Sometimes one moves into a new > direction sometimes > one gets into the jam you're reporting. > > I found a rather detailed explanation for you which could address > your problem > by restoring the superblock by resorting or recalling the backup of > the > superblock which Linux creates for itself. Before I refer you to > the article > recall that the superblock refers to data structures containing > information > regarding the hard drive partition which Linux resides on; ext2 or > ext3 refers > to the filetype that same data is written in. Simply stated, the > superblock > always needs to be present regardless of the filetype because the > superblock > comprises everything describing where your data is within a hard drive > partition. When an application, process or anything else needs > information > regarding information regarding a particular file (and remember > everything in > Unix/Linux is a file) the fastest way to determine that information > is to query > the superblock. > > The article also discusses a programmer's preference regarding a > "production > system" which I'll attempt to elaborate upon briefly. A > "production system" > can be considered any Unix/Linux environment in which programming > projects > exist. Even if the only programs you write are explorations into > producing > "Hello World", within any computer language available in Linux, > these projects > and efforts are yours and require a solidly tested kernel and > associated > components for compilers, etc. The article advises against the > tendency > amongst many consumers/users to acquire the latest version of any > program or > project or kernel, because getting the latest does not mean that > the latest > version is free of bugs. Instead acquiring the latest version > usually means > that the bugs are hidden because they've not been thoroughly tested > by a > sufficiently large body of persons. This is also why the tendency > amongst many > is to remain within "stable" releases of a product. > > Also every Unix/Linux is likewise identified as stable, > experimental or > leading/bleeding edge. Staying "stable" is not as exciting as "the > latest" > stuff, but there are certainly a lot less headaches. > > Here's the article discussing the superblock and a possible means > of recovery. > If this doesn't work, you may be looking at a complete > reinstallation. Of > course, hopefully after you read the article you may just choose to > stay within > YDL 5.0.2 just as TSS released it. > > http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/surviving-a-linux-filesystem- > failures.html > > In the meantime, just in case you were interested in a bit more > background > regarding the Unix File System (UFS) I believed the brief > discussion located > in Wikipedia here could be useful: > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_File_System > > Good Luck... > > On Fri, 23 Nov 2007 23:58:57 -0800 > Warren Nagourney <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> I have been playing around with a number of kernels and other things >> on my PS3 and managed to make the thing unbootable. It happened when >> I tried an unusable video setting in my kboot.conf (after everything >> was working fine) and the system hung up. In my desperation I might >> have run one of the "rescue" modes from kboot. When I try ydltext it >> now complains that the superblock is missing, but it assumes that I >> have an ext2 filesystem (isn't it ext3 ?) and puts me in >> "maintainance mode". All I would like to do is to be able to restore >> my kboot.conf video setting and boot normally. Is there a way of >> accessing the file system using the memory stick which I originally >> used when installing the OS? By the way, during all of the above, I >> was never able to access the system using ssh - I guess it fails >> before enabling the network. Any help much appreciated. Thanks. >> >> Warren Nagourney >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> yellowdog-general mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://lists.terrasoftsolutions.com/mailman/listinfo/yellowdog- >> general >> HINT: to Google archives, try '<keywords> >> site:terrasoftsolutions.com' > > > ========== > > "If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often > think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in > terms of > music. ... I get most joy in life out of music." > > "What Life Means to Einstein: An Interview by George Sylvester > Viereck," for the October 26, 1929 issue of The Saturday Evening Post. > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- > Version: GnuPG v1.4.4 (GNU/Linux) > > iD8DBQFHSIj4NEKmdDLMbSsRAqoaAKCEWXFvblmLnVMv9IIXKQ4DUr5w3ACeNnk3 > L87ULqfEgOafXMcEl9Hhb+g= > =lyNZ > -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- > _______________________________________________ > yellowdog-general mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.terrasoftsolutions.com/mailman/listinfo/yellowdog-general > HINT: to Google archives, try '<keywords> > site:terrasoftsolutions.com' _______________________________________________ yellowdog-general mailing list [email protected] http://lists.terrasoftsolutions.com/mailman/listinfo/yellowdog-general HINT: to Google archives, try '<keywords> site:terrasoftsolutions.com'
