Hi all folks, My RH7.3 box went crashed. My final touch on it was to run XConfigurator which is for RH7.3 After changing USB mouse and starting booting, following warning popup (I was trying to make the USB wheel mouse to work. It works on the same PC on another mobile/interchangeable hard drive) .... The superlock could not read or does not describe a correct ext 2 file system. If the device is valid and it really contains an ext2 filesystem (and no swap or ufs or something else), than the superblock is corrupt, and you might try running 2fsck with an alternative superlock: esfsck -b 8193 In a directing while trying to open/ *** An error occured during file system check *** Dropping you to a shell; the system will *** reboot Give root password for maintenance (or type Control - D for normal startup) I tried following combination without result; # e2fsck -b 8193 # e2fsck -p -b 8193 # e2fsck -p # e2fsck -v -f -b 8193 # e2fsck -v -f -p -b 8193 # e2fsck -b 8193 -p etc. all without response. Kindly help. Besides I have no rescue disskette nor RH7.3 CD available. Where can I download the rescue disk (I have tried RH websites and could not find the rescue diskette file. What is its name to avoid download the ISO images again). Thanks in advance. B.R. satimis

I don't think you can "Download" a rescue disk. The disk itself (when you create it) has information about where the partitions are and where the kernel is, etc. That's why is so important for you to make a rescue disk. The other choice is the CD, but you have no CD. You might want to try Linux Bootable-Bussines-Card, which is a small linux (I think is based in Debian) that can be burn to a CD (or a business card cd). The ISO file is just about 50MB (compared to 640 which is RedHat disk 1) Now, about what you did regarding XConfiguration and stuff, I don't think that corrupted your hard drive. Probably what happened is that the block was already corrupted (but everything in memory, then there was no problem), but when you rebooted, then it found the problem. You mention that is a mobile/interchangable disk, and probably that's what messed the block. Now, it's this block for a primary partition or a secondary partition (like /var or /tmp)? If it's a secondary partition, just make a new folder in your / partition and modify fstab not to mount it.

Sounds a little bit confusing..... How do you boot? grub, lilo (RH7.3 offers both). What you describe can just be caused by the wrong definitions in "grub.conf" or "lilo.conf". You should have a good look at your partitions and filesystems. Just get a "Linux on a floppy" or "Knoppix" to do that. (http://www.woalf.uklinux.net/ or http://www.knoppix.org/) Once you know, what you have, get a grub-floppy (http://www.mathematik.uni-marburg.de/sys/os/linux/install/mkgrubfd.html or http://www.linux.org/docs/ldp/howto/Clone-HOWTO/booting.html) adjust your conf-file and you should be back in business.

Hi peter4u, Thanks for your advice. Knoppix CD messed up RH7.3 Followings are my discoveries as ROOT: # locate grub.conf /boot/grub/grub.conf /etc/grub.conf /etc/grub.conf~ # /etc/grub.conf is only a symbolic link-> /boot/grub/grub.conf # cat /boot/grub/grub.conf # cat /boot/grub/ # cat /etc/grub.conf showing no file nor directory found # cat /etc/grub.conf~ showing the backup file with content. I suppose it is the original grub.conf file before messed up by Knoppix CD /etc/fstab also messed up by knoppix # cat/etc/fstab~ Label=/ / ext3 defaults 1 1 Label=/boot /boot ext3 defaults 1 2 none /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620 0 0 none /proc proc defaults 00 /dev/hde3 swap swap defaults 0 0 /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto noauto,owner,kudzu 0 0 /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom udf, iso9660 noauto, owner,kudzu, ro 0 0 /dev/cdrom1 /mnt/cdrom1 iso9660 noauto, owner,kudzu,ro 0 0 I suppose this is the original fstab file. # mount /dev/hde1 /boot no response # mount /dev/hde2 /boot mount: /dev/hde2 already mounted or /boot busy mount: according to mtab, /dev/hde2 is mount on / I think I have to do followings # cp -f /etc/fstab~ /etc/fstab # cp -f /etc/grub.conf~ /boot/grub/grub.conf But "# cat /boot/grub/grub.conf" showing neither grub.conf file nor /grub/ the directory existing. Kindly advise how to proceed. Thanks in advance. B.R. satimis

Hi peter4u, Further to my late posting I tried follows # fdisk -l /dev/hde1 Boot Linux /dev/hde2 Linux /dev/hde3 Linux swap # df /dev/hde2 mounted on / I have created a WebWoft floppy and I am now trying to learn using it But I have no idea how to create a bootable floppy by copying the shell script from the website http://www.mathematik.uni-marburg.de/sys/os/linux/install/mkgrubfd.html Can you please give me some advice. Thanks in advance. B.R. satimis

I think in RH7.3 the file "grub.conf" does not exist. It is menu.lst instead (same path). If you find it, please copy it here. I'm surprised, that your root drive shows up as /dev/hde. This means, you are using ide2, which would be the 3rd connector. So, do you use an additional ide adapter card or does your MotherBoard provide some extra ide ports (like the ASUS A7V)? With all the problems you reported, I don't understand, why you connected your drive in such a way. How did Knoppix mess up your RH? It mounts everything as read-only unless you use sudo and remount your drives. I still don't understand how you boot.

Hi peter4u, Thanks for your response. Problem solved with RH7.3 CD#1 download from redhat.com /etc/fstab has been completely messed up by Knoppix CD. I have to copy /etc/fstab from K12OSN which is also ruuning on this PC. Also I tried to copy /etc/grubconf~ to /boot/grub/grub.conf, but each time saying no such file or directory. This I could not understand. /etc/grub.conf is a symbolic link to /boot/grub/grub.conf Setup of this PC RH 7.3 HD connected to a High Point ATA66 PCI controller L12OSN HD mounted on a mobile rack also connected to High Point ATA66 PCI controller. Now there are still some minor problems such as # ssh -X satimis@localhost or $ ssh -X root@localhost following warning popup @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @ WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED! @ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ IT IS POSSIBLE THAT SOMEONE IS DOING SOMETHING NASTY! Someone could be eavesdropping on you right now (man-in-the-middle attack)! It is also possible that the RSA host key has just been changed. The fingerprint for the RSA key sent by the remote host is b1:bc:0c:95:53:0f:18:5e:38:30:0e:d8:ff:b0:d8:5e. Please contact your system administrator. Add correct host key in /root/.ssh/known_hosts to get rid of this message. Offending key in /root/.ssh/known_hosts:1 RSA host key for localhost has changed and you have requested strict checking. Host key verification failed. The Cluster Knoppix CD V3.2 I am testing has some problem. I could not browse Internet but broadband connection and 56K modem connection could be made, counter running. On "shutdown"/"poweroff" the CD could not be ejected leaving behind on CDRom. This may be the cause of accident in messing up RH7.3 when I tried to boot/run the latter Anyway lot of thanks for your advice. B.R. satimis