7/26/2015

HowtofixLinuxbootproblems|TuxRadarLinux

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HowtofixLinuxbootproblems
Postedat3:26pmonSaturdayFebruary28th2009
Booting,or"bootstrapping"forusolderfolk,isthatdeeplymysterioussequenceofoperationsperformedby
yourcomputerbetweenthemomentwhenyouswitchitonandthemomentit'sreadyforyoutologin.During
thistime,allkindsofincomprehensiblemessagesscrollupthescreen,butthey'renotsomethingyouusually
takemuchnoticeof,andmostlinuxdistroscoverthemupwithaprettysplashscreenandaniceencouraging
progressbar.Thisisallfine,ofcourse,untilitstopsworking.Inthistutorialwe'llexaminethebootprocessin
moredetail,lookinginparticularatwhatcangowrong,andhowtodiagnoseandfixtheproblem.

Grokkingtheproblem
WhenI'mteachingLinuxononeofmycourses,manyattendeestellmetheyareinterestedintroubleshooting
ofoneformoranother.Someofthemarelookingforacookbookapproach"IfyouseetheerrormessageX,
runcommandY",buttroubleshootingrarelyworksthatway.Myinitialadvicetoanyonewhoneedsto
troubleshootisalwaysthesame:"Themostimportantthingintroubleshootingistounderstandhowthesystem
issupposedtoworkinthefirstplace.Thesecondmostimportantthingisfiguringoutexactlywhatthesystem
wastryingtodowhenitwentwrong."

Figure1:thenormalsequenceofeventswhenbootingLinux.

Withthisinmind,let'stakealookathowLinuxboots.Knowingthenormalsequenceofevents,and
determininghowfaritgotbeforeitranintotrouble,arekeytodiagnosingandfixingboottimeproblems.Figure
1above,rightshowsthenormalsequenceofevents(greenarrows)andindicatessomeofthepossiblefailure
paths(redarrows).

Pickingyourselfupbyyourbootstraps
Bootingisamultistageaffair.WhenaPCispoweredup,controlinitiallypassestoaprogram(calledtheBIOS)
storedinreadonlymemoryonthemotherboard.TheBIOSperformsaselftestofthehardwareandscouts
aroundlookingforadevicetobootfrom.TheBIOSprovidesconfigurationscreensthatallowyoutoassignthe
orderinwhichitsearchesforabootabledevice,andmodernBIOSessupportawiderangeofbootdevices,
includingPXEbootingfromanetworkserver.Theonlycaseweconsiderhereisbootingfromtheharddrive.
TheBIOSloadstheMasterBootRecord(MBR)oftheselectedbootdeviceandexecutesit.(Ifthisfails,the
BIOSwillreportsomethinglike"MissingOperatingSystem",andcometoascreaminghalt.)TheMBRoccupies
theveryfirstsectorofthedrive.Itholdsthedrive'spartitiontable(64bytes)andaveryshortprogram(446
bytes)whichis'stage1'ofthebootstraploader.
Thisstage1loaderisprettydumballitdoesistodisplaythewordGRUBonthescreenthenloadasecond
stagebootloaderusinga'blockmap'thatisembeddedintotheMBR.(Theblockmapspecifiesthediskblock
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numberswherethesecondstageloaderresides).I'massumingherethatwe'reusingtheGrubbootloader.
There'sanearlierbootloadercalledLilo,butGrubismorerecent,smarter,andusedinmostmodernLinux
distros.ThesecondstageoftheGrubbootloaderisactuallycalledstageoneandahalf,andifyoulistthe
directory/boot/grubyoucanseethefilesthatcontainthevariousversionsofthistheyhavenameslike
e2fs_stage_1_5andreiserfs_stage_1_5.
Eachoftheseprogramsisabletoaccessfilesbynameusingoneparticularfilesystemformat.e2fs_stage_1_5
canreadext2andext3filesystems,andreiserfs_stage_1_5canreadreiserfilesystems,andsoon.Grub's
abilitytoaccessfilesbynameatboottime(beforelinuxisrunning)isthethingthatreallysetsitapartfromLilo.
ThestageoneandahalfprogramloadsGrubstage2whichisconsiderablylarger.ThisstagereadstheGrub
configurationfile(usually/boot/grub/menu.lstor/boot/grub/grub.conf)and,basedontheentriesitfindsthere,it
presentsamenuofchoicesoftheoperatingsystemyouwanttoboot.IfGrubcan'tfinditsconfigfileitwilldrop
downtoaninteractivecommandlineprompttoallowyoutoenterGrubcommandsmanually.
Atypicalentryinmenu.lstlookslikethis:
titleopenSUSE10.2
root(hd0,0)
kernel/boot/vmlinuz2.6.18.234defaultroot=/dev/hda1vga=0x317showopts
initrd/boot/initrd2.6.18.234default

ThetitlelinesimplyspecifiesthetextthatwillappearinGrub'sboottimemenu.Thelinesthatfollowspecifythe
commandsthatGrubwillexecuteifyouselectthatitemfromthemenu.TherootlinesetsGrub'sideaofwhere
therootfilesystemresides.Grubhasitsownwayofnamingdiskpartitionswhichisconfusinglydifferentfrom
thenamingschemeusedbyLinux.
InGrubspeak,hd0referstothefirstdriveonatypicalPCwithIDEdrivesthiscorrespondstotheLinuxdevice
name/dev/hda,or,insomeofthemorerecentdistros,/dev/sda.InGrubspeak,(hd0,0)referstothefirst
partitiononthatdrive.Linuxwouldcallthis/dev/hda1or/dev/sda1.ThekernellinespecifiesthefilethatGrub
willloadastheLinuxkernelattheendofthislineyoumayseesomeadditionalbootparametersthatare
passedtothekernel.Moreabouttheselater.
Theinitrdlinespecifiesthefilethatcontainsthe'initialRAMDisk'afilesystemimagethatwillbeusedbythe
kernelasitboots.Grubisalsoresponsibleforloadingthisfileintomemory.IfGrubfailstofindthekernelorthe
ramdiskimagesitwillreportError15:Filenotfound,andhalt.
Oncethekernelstartsrunning,itmountstherootfilesystemfromtheharddrive.Thenameofthepartitionthat
holdsthisfilesystemispassedasaparametertothekernel,asyoucanseefromthemenu.lstentryabove.
Mountingtherootfilesystemisakeypointinthebootprocessandifyou'retryingtopindownaboottime
problemit'svitaltofigureoutifthekernelwasabletogetthisfar.Failuretomounttherootfilesystemwill
generallyresultinakernelpanic,thoughsomesystemsjustappeartohalt.

Ifthekernelsucceedsinmountingtherootfilesystem,itcreatesasingleprocess(withprocessID1)which
runstheprogram/sbin/init.Ifthekernelcan'tfindinit,itwilleitherpanicandhaltor(dependingonthedistro)
dropyouintoarootshell.Oh,bytheway,justtoaddalittleconfusion,Ubuntudoesn'tuseinitanymore,it
usesareplacementcalledupstart.
Theprograminitisresponsibleforrunningthescriptsthatwillstartalltheotherservicesinthesystem.Thereis
oneimportantandratherlowlevelscriptrunbyinitearlyintheprocess.OnRedHatstylesystemsit's
/etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit,onSUSEit's/etc/init.d/boot.Amongotherthings,theseearlyscriptsconsistencycheckand
mountanyotherdiskpartitions,asspecifiedin/etc/fstab.Althoughthereiscertainlyplentyofscopeforthings
goingwrongatthisstage,weneedtoleavethestoryatthatpoint,atleastforthismonth.

GettingtogripswithGrub
AkeyskillinfixingboottimeproblemsisknowinghowtomanuallyinterveneintheGrubbootsequence.Most
distrosconfigureGrubtobootadefaultchoicefromthemenu,butallowashorttimewindow(afewseconds)in
whichyoucanpressEsctointerruptthisandgaindirectcontrolofGrub.TypicallythiswillexitfromtheGrub
splashscreenanddroptoacharacterbasedmenu.
Fromhere,followtheonscreeninstructionstoselectanitemfromthemenu,andeditthecommands
associatedwiththatmenuselectionbeforebooting.It'sevenpossibletodropdowntoaGrubcommandprompt
whereyoucanenterGrubcommandsdirectlyforexampleatthispointyoucould,intheory,manuallyenterthe
root,kernelandinitrdlinesfromthemenu.lstfilewelookedatearlier.Figure2(below)showstheresultof
typinghelpattheGrubcommandprompt.

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Figure2:theresultthatisoutputwhen'help'istypedattheGrubcommandprompt.

RescueBooting
IfnoamountoftweakingwiththeGrubbootcommandswillallowyoursystemtoboot,itmaybetimetoperform
a'rescueboot',whichmeansthatyou'llbootLinuxfromaninstallationCDorother'rescuemedia'.Thekernel
anditsmodulesareloadedofftheCD,alongwithasmallfilesystemthatisbuiltinmemory.Thisresultsina
smallbutworkingLinuxsystemthatisn'tdependentonanyfilesystemsontheharddrive.
Youcanthenmounttheharddrive'spartitionsintothefilesystemandaccessthemtorepairthedamage.The
installationDVDorCDofalmostanymodernLinuxdistributioncanbeusedforthispurposethereisno
requirementthattherescuemediaisfromthesamedistributionastheoneyou'retryingtorescue.
It'simportanttokeepaclearheadwhenusingarescuesystembecausethefilesonyourharddrivewon'tbein
thesameplacewhentheyaremountedintotherescuesystemaswhenthey'reviewedbythe'real'installation.
Forexample,ifintherescuesystemIweretomountmysystem'srootpartitiononto/mnt,thenthefileIwould
normallyseeas/etc/fstabwillbeseenas/mnt/etc/fstab.

CaseStudy1
OurfirstcasestudyconcernsaRHEL5systemonwhichthe/usrdirectoryhadbeenplacedonaseparate
partition.Forsomereason(Iforgetwhat)Ihadtodictateaneditto/etc/fstaboverthephonetoannewbie
administratorandheendedupwiththefieldLABEL=/userinsteadofLABEL=/usrinthelinethatspecifiedthe
mountingofthe/usrpartition.Thiserrorcausesthesystemtofailtocomeupmultiuser,butinsteaddropsinto
asingleusershell.Thedialoguelookslikethis:
fsck.ext3:Unabletoresolve'LABEL=/user'[FAILED]
***Anerroroccurredduringthefilesystemcheck.
***Droppingyoutoashell;thesystemwillreboot
***whenyouleavetheshell
Giverootpasswordformaintenance
(ortypeControlDtocontinue):

Theimportantthingistoactuallyreadtheerrormessage.Whyisittryingtofindalabelcalled/user?Inwhich
filewouldthisappear?
Hmmm...Maybe/etc/fstab?Sincethesystemhasgraciouslydroppedusintoarootshell,youwouldimagineit
wouldbestraightforwardtoedit/etc/fstabandfixtheerror.However,itturnsoutthattherootfilesystemis
mountedreadonlyatthispoint(forthebenefitoffsck)soyouarenotabletoeditthefileandsavetheresult.
Thetrickhereistochangethemountoptionsfortherootpartitiontomountitreadwritewithoutactually
unmountingit,likethis:
#mountoremount,rw/

Afterdoingthat,I'mabletoedit/etc/fstab,correcttheerror,andrebootnormally.

CaseStudy2
Oursecondcasestudyismorecomplexthantheoneabove,andinvolvesadualbootscenario.
FirstIinstalledOpenSUSE10.2ontoanemptyharddrive,allocatingan8GBpartitionhda1astherootpartition
anda2GBpartitionhda2fortheswappartition.Theinstallerwrotethestage1Grubloaderintothemasterboot
record,andthestage1.5loaderintothediskblocksimmediatelyfollowing.Sometimelater,IinstalledFedora7
ontothesparespaceontheharddrive,allocatingafurther8GBpartitionhda3foritsrootfilesystemand
sharinghda2withtheOpenSUSEinstallationastheswappartition.
Figure3(below)mighthelpifyou'regettinglostalready.IallowedFedoratogoaheadwithitsdefaultselection
toinstallGrubonto/dev/sda.(ThenamingisconfusingbecauseOpenSUSE10.2namesthepartitionsinthe
traditionalway,ashda1,hda2andsoon,whereasFedora7usesSCSIstylenamingfortheselfsame
partitionssda1,sda2andsoon.)

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Figure3:dualbootconfigurationshowinteractionbetweentheSUSEandFedora
partitions.

DuringtheFedorainstallationIwasofferedtheopportunitytoaddadditionalitemsintotheGrubbootmenusoI
askedittoinstallanextraitemwiththelabelSUSE10.2andthedevicename/dev/sda1.Thisresultsinan
entryinFedora'sGrubconfigfilelikethis:
titleSUSE10.2
rootnoverify(hd0,0)
chainloader+1

IfIselectthisitemfromthemenu,Fedora'sGrubwillinturnloadOpenSUSE'sGrubfromthefirstsectorofthe
firstpartition(whichGrubcalls(hd0,0)andFedora7calls/dev/sda1andOpenSUSEcalls/dev/hda1doesthis
reallyhavetobesoconfusing?)SonowIcanchooseeitherFedoraorSUSEatboottime,althoughbooting
SUSEdoesinvolvetheminorannoyanceofhavingtogothroughasecondGrubbootmenu.IfIhadwantedto
getclever,IcouldhavecopiedthestanzaforbootingSUSEfromtheGrubconfigfileinhda1totheGrubconfig
fileinhda3,whichismarginallymoreconvenient,asIcanbootdirectintoSUSEwithouthavingtogothrougha
secondmenu.

TippingFedora
Anyway,afewweekslater,IdecidedthatInolongerneededtheFedorainstallationandthatinsteadI'dliketo
reusethepartitionintheSUSEinstallation.So(whilebootedintoSUSE)Iran:
#mke2fsj/dev/hda3

...tocreateanewfilesystemonthepartition.Remember,hda3wastherootfilesystemofmyFedora
installation.ThenImountedmynewlycreatedfilesystemonto/mnt.EverythingwasgoingfineuntilItriedto
reboot.Thisiswhenthe,er,productsofdigestionhitthefan,becauseatthispoint,Grubfails.Ican'tbootinto
Fedora(OK,Ihaddeliberatelydestroyedthatpartition,soIexpectedthat)butmoreseriously,Icannolonger
bootSUSE.Infact,allthathappensisthatthesingleword"GRUB"appearsonthescreen.
Thesecretatthispointis:Don'tPanic!Thinkbackaboutwhatwedid.TakeanotherlookatFigure3,and
rememberthatthecontentsofhda3havenowbeenoverwritten.Thestage1.5loaderinstalledbytheFedora
installationreferencesastage2loaderinafilesystemonhda3thatnolongerexists.Whatweneedtodoisre
installtheoriginalstage1andstage1.5GrubfilesinordertorestorethecapabilitytobootSUSE10.2.
Theonlywayforwardistobootfromrescuemedia.AsImentionedearlier,almostanyLinuxinstallationCDwill
dothejobhere,butIchosetouseUbuntu7.04whichisdesignedasa'liveCD'thatis,itwillbootafull,
workingLinuxsystemincludingaGnomedesktop,fromCD.
Ubuntu,likeFedora,namestheharddiskpartitionsassda1,sda2,sooncemyliveCDhasbootedIcanmount
mySUSErootpartitionintotheUbuntufilesystemlikethis:
$sudomount/dev/sda1/mnt

(Incaseyouwerewonderingaboutthesudointhiscommand,Ubuntudisablesdirectrootloginsandrequires
metousesudoeachtimeIrunacommandwithrootprivilege.OntheliveCDdistribution,nopasswordis
requiredtodothis.)NowIneedtorunGrubtorewritetheMBR.Atthisstage,I'mnotentirelysurewherethe
grubcommandis(I'mlookingforthecopythatSUSEinstalledthatis,theoneonhda1),butbyrunning:
$sudofind/mntnamegrub

Iquicklydiscoverthatit'sin/mnt/usr/sbin/grub.NowIcanrunitandentercommandsattheGrubcommand
promptlikeso:
$sudo/mnt/usr/sbin/grub
grub>root(hd0,0)
grub>setup(hd0)(hd0,0)
Checkingif"/boot/grub/stage1"exists...yes
Checkingif"/boot/grub/stage2"exists...yes
Checkingif"/boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5"exists...yes
Running"embed/boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5(hd0)"...15sectorsareembedded.succeeded
Running"install/boot/grub/stage1(hd0)(hd0)1+15p(hd0,0)/boot/grub/stage2/boot/grub/menu.lst"...succeeded
Done.
grub>quit

Thekeycommandhereissetup(hd0)(hd0,0)whichtellsGrubtoreinstalltheoriginal(SUSE)stage1intothe
MBRof(hd0),andcopiestheoriginal(SUSE)stage1.5intothesectorsimmediatelyfollowing.(Foramore
detaileddescriptionofthis,lookuptheinstallandembedcommandsintheGNUmanualat
www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/grub.html)Oncethisisdone,Icansimplyrebootand...Lo!MySUSEGrub
bootmenuisback!
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Internationalrescue
LiveCDssuchasUbuntuorKnoppixdothejobofrescuebootingjustfine,buttherearesmaller,fasterrescue
bootdisksoutthere.OneyoumightwanttotakealookatisSystemRescueCD(seewww.sysresccd.org)which
notonlybootsmuchfasterbutalsocontainsanextensivecollectionoftoolsformanagingandeditingpartitions,
includingclassicslikegpartedandmoreunusualitemssuchasNTFS3gwhichallowsyoutoaccessWindows
NTFSpartitionswithfullreadandwritesupportgreatforrescuingfilesoffthatoldmalfunctioningWindowsXP
partition!AnotherbenefitofthisrescueCDisthatitcancacheitsentirefilesysteminmemory,allowingyouto
removetheCDandinsertanotherifnecessary.

Kernelparameters
AcommonreasonformodifyingtheGrubcommandsistopassboottimeparameterstothekernel.
Theseparametersaresimplyappendedtotheendofthekernelline.Youcangetalistoftheboot
timekernelparameterswiththecommandmanbootparam,oryoucanbuyGregKroahHartmans'
littlebookLinuxKernelinaNutshell(whereelsewouldyoufindakernel?Readitforfreeat
www.kroah.com/lkn/)whichdevotesanentirechaptertothem.
Ifyouhaveinstalledthekernelsourcecodeyouwillalsofindalistofkernelparametersin
/usr/src/linux/Documentation/kernelparameters.txt.Beawarethatmanyparametersrelateto
optionalfeaturesthatmayormaynotbeconfiguredintothekernel.Thetablelistsjustafewtogive
youtheidea.OnceLinuxisupandrunning,youcanexaminethebootparametersthatwere
passedtoitbyexamining/proc/cmdline.
quiet:Suppresseskernelloggingexceptforwarningsanderrors.Donotusethisifyou'retrying
todebugaboottimeproblem.
splash:Displaysasplashscreenandprogressbar,coveringupthekernelmessages.Again,
removethisoptionifyou'redebugging.
singleorS:Causesthekerneltoruninittobringthesystemupintosingleuserrunlevel.
Dependingonconfiguration,youmayormaynotbeaskedfortherootpasswordthenyou'llbe
givenarootshell.TheXserverandgraphicaldesktopwillnotbestarted,norwillanypartitions
bemounted(exceptfortherootpartitionofcourse).ThisisausefulmodefortacklingXserver
startupproblemsorforrepairingfilesystems.
vga=ask:Thisoptionallowsyoutoselectthemodeforthevideoadaptor.Thevideomodesets
thescreenresolution(incharacterrowsandcolumns)andyou'llbepromptedtoselectavideo
modefromalist.Occasionallyusefulifyourmonitordoesn'tsyncuptothedefaultmode.
acpi=off:DisablesAPCI(AdvancedConfigurationandPowerInterface).
init=/bin/sh:Runtheprogram/bin/sh(theshell)insteadofinit.Thisisevenmoreextremethan
doingasingleuserbootandperformsalmostnouserlevelinitialisation.Bootingisextremely
fast,andtheshellwillbetheonlyuserprocessrunning.

FirstpublishedinLinuxFormatmagazine

YoushouldfollowusonIdenti.caorTwitter

Yourcomments
Correction
alfred_e_neuman(notverified)March3,2009@4:51pm
Ihopethisisn'tniggling,butthere'satypoabove:
/etc/rc.d/c.sysinitshouldbe/etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit

Thisgoesalongwaytowardexplainingmyproblem
littlenoodles(notverified)March3,2009@8:31pm
I'vebeenhavingadualbootproblemforawhile.MyMBRpointstoGrubforaMandriva2008system.I'veinstalled
severalothersystemsintootherpartitionswiththeirbootloadersinstalledintotheirlocalpartitions.Foreachofthses,
I'veaddeda'chainloader'entrytotheoriginalMDV2008menu.lst.
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Someofthesework,andsomedonot.AndIsuspectit'sbecauseIhave2drives,andsomeoftheinstallershave
mappedthedrivessothatsothat/dev/sdaishd0and/dev/sdbishd1,andothershavemappedthemtheotherway.
Ialwaysthoughtthatusingthechainloaderwouldjust'loadGrub'fromthechainedpartition.Andbythat,Imean'load
Grubfromscratch'.Butthisarticleimpliesthatitloadsstage1.5fromtheMBRsystemandthentriestocontinuefrom
there.Ifthedrivemappingsdon'tmatchitwon'twork.Ifthere'sagoodreasonforchainloadingtoworkthisway,I
wishsomeonewouldexplainit.
Anyway,Istilldon'tunderstandallofit.Specifically:
OneofmychainedsystemsisMandriva2009.WhenIfirstinstalledit,itbootedupfinewiththechainloader.Butafter
theinstallation,Grubonlyworkedonce.Afterthat,Isawthatithadcreateddevice.map'backwards'.Thismust've
happenedaspartofsome'postinstallation'scriptrunonthefirstboot.
IwasabletomounttheMDV2009systemunderMDV2008andeditdevice.mapandmenu.lsttomatchthe2008
system,andafterdoingthat,the2009systemboots.ButeverytimeMandrivasendsoutakernelupgrade,itrejiggers
thegrubfilesbacktothewrongstate.Nowadays,IknowtojusteditthegrubfilesafteranMDV2009kernelupgrade
andsavemyselfsomeheadaches.
WhatIdon'tknowiswhytheMDV2009systeminsistsonseeingthedrivesbackwards.Irecentlynoticedonthe
Mandrivabootloaderconfigscreenthatthereareradiobuttonswhereyou'resupposedtotellitwhichdrivetheMBR
islocatedonwhenyouconfigureGrubtoloadtothepartitioninsteadoftheMBR.IfiguredImust'veforgottentoset
thatandthatreinstallingthebootloaderwiththecorrectMBRsettingwouldsolvemyproblem.Itdidn't.
Anyideas?

Greatarticle,thanksforsharing
zmdmw52(notverified)March4,2009@6:19am
Greatarticle,manythanksforsharing.
ExplainstheBootProcess&GRUBverywell!

DriveupgradeafterinstallingMultibootOS
jcnars(notverified)November27,2009@12:54am
IhavesuccessfullyinstalledSolaris10dualbootwithXPonaDellD600laptopyearsback.
The40GHitachidrivewaspartitionedas12GforSolarisandtherestforXP.
Now,Imovedalongwayinlifesincethen.There'snospaceleftintheXPsideformyphotosandvideos.
Iamtryingtoupgrademyexisting40Gharddriveto,say,a160Gharddrive.
HowcanImirrortheexistingdualbootOSintheolddriveexactlytothenewdrive?
Inotherwords,I'dliketoseethesamestartupwith2optionsformetobootintoXP&Solaris,buttheXPsidewill
havealoooooooooootoffreespacenow.

bootingprobleminlinux...
bhavik(notverified)December20,2009@6:56pm
ihaveadellstudiolaptop...
ihadwindows7installedinit,theniinstalledubuntoinit...isuccessfullyinstalledbutinmygrubloaderitisnot
showingmywin7...butweniopenlinux..itisthere...
whatshallido...
plzdohelp!!!

bootingproblem
krishankumar(notverified)February23,2010@5:36am
whenirestartthesystemsoafterbootingshowthereapairthesystem.......pleasehelpmeforthisproblem.

Somethingsimplefoundhere..
Pearl(notverified)March9,2010@5:17am
AfterbeingabitmorethannoviceOracleDBA,andunix/linuxguy,I'vemovedintotheOracleRACarenainthelast5
days,butwasneverforcedtoreallyfigureitifthingswentreallywillynilly,welltheydidthisweek.Icreatedalogical
volumeusingsystemconfiglvmfromafirewiredevice,andthenuponreboot,thesystemhungonLogVol03frommy
device.Ohcrap,butthisarticlegavemeawayout.Itriedsinglenode,butcouldn'tmodifythefile,butthe"mounto
remount,rw/".LVM'sarealittledifferent,soI'velearnednottoputthemin/etc/fstab.ThanksPearl

linuxproblemHELP!
dc21(notverified)September5,2010@10:09am
Heresmyproblem.Iusedmylinuxnotebooktotransfersomefilesbuticantcopyitbecauseitchangeallthefileinto
readonly.Thenishutdownitproperly.Whenitriedtoopenitagainthenawindowsappearsanitsays:
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Yoursessiononlylastedlessthan10seconds.Ifyouhavenotloggedoutyourself,thiscouldmeanthatthereissome
installationproblemorthatyoumaybeoutofdiskspace.Trylogginginwiothoneofthefailsafesessionstoseeifyou
canfixtheproblem.
ViewDetails:
/etc/gdm/PreSession/Default:Registeringyousessionwithutmp
/etc/gdm/PreSession/Default:running:/usr/bin/sessregau/var/run/utmpx/var/gdm/:0.xserversh1:0
qube
Localuser:qubebeingaddedtoaccesscontrollist
**(gnomesession:1979):WARNING**cannotstat/tmp/orbitqube
**ERROR**:Resourceproblemcreating/tmp/orbitqube
Aborting..
Pleasehelpme.
heresmyemailadd:cayabyabdariusdick@yahoo.com

siglekernalmode
usman(notverified)May30,2011@8:19am
howtoeditkernalparameterintosinglemodeforrepairingoffilesystemofmyipcop
plsalsomailurreplyat:
usmanan.amin@gmail.com
thanksalotinadvance

siglekernalmode
usmanamin(notverified)May30,2011@8:20am
howtoeditkernalparameterintosinglemodeforrepairingoffilesystemofmyipcop
plsalsomailurreplyat:
usmaan.amin@gmail.com
thanksalotinadvance

Thisisreallyagreatarticle
Sundar(notverified)June10,2011@7:16am
Thisisawesomearticlepublishedhere...
Thismadeusunderstandthecompletebootprocesswithease.
Thismademyworksimple.

Verywellwritten!
Mr.Fulop(notverified)November29,2011@3:43pm
Thankyouforthegoodexplanation.
Nowthingsareclear.
Regards,

Error....AfterInstallation:(
TusharSarde(notverified)December25,2011@3:57pm
sir...ihaveinstalledredhatlinux5.1
myramis256mb
myprocessoris2.GHZabove
========
igoterrorafterinstallationi.e"networkssherrorgeneratingssh2dsahostkey"
Solutionplezzsir..
myidis...
sarde.tushar@hotmail.com

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sir...ihaveinstalled
rahulsingh(notverified)March20,2012@8:09am
sir...ihaveinstalledredhatlinux5.1
btprodlemisshownow"kernelpanicnotsyncing:attemptedtokillinit!"
sirplzhowtoresolvaproblem..........
myidissingh.rahul542@gmail.com

Help
JoePenguin(notverified)April10,2012@3:37pm
mylinuxwon'tstart...
mountall:fsck/[431]terminatedwithstatus4
mountsll:Filesystemhaserrors:/
init:mountallmainprocess(423)terminatedwithstatus3
mountoffilesystemfailed.
whatcanIdoIdon'thavethecdanymore.emailmeatjb_westbound@hotmail.com

SUSEserverscan'tbootnowafterunexpectedpoweroff.blankscr.
veersingh(notverified)April25,2012@1:04pm
SUSEserverscan'tbootnowafterunexpectedpoweroff.aftersplashscreengoesblank.
Infailsafe(grup)modeservergivesthiserror
sckfailed.pleaserepairmanuallyandreboot.therootfilesystemiscurrentlymountedreadonly.toremountread
writedo:
bash#mountnoremount,rw/
isthisproblemsolvethroughgrupmodeorfailsafemode.imnewinlinux.Couldanyonehelpme.......
ThanksinAdvance.

SUSEserverscan'tbootnowafterunexpectedpoweroff.blankscr.
veersingh(notverified)April25,2012@1:06pm
SUSEserverscan'tbootnowafterunexpectedpoweroff.aftersplashscreengoesblank.
Infailsafe(grup)modeservergivesthiserror
sckfailed.pleaserepairmanuallyandreboot.therootfilesystemiscurrentlymountedreadonly.toremountread
writedo:
bash#mountnoremount,rw/
isthisproblemsolvethroughgrupmodeorfailsafemode.imnewinlinux.Couldanyonehelpme.......
ThanksinAdvance.

brightnessproblem
Anonymouspeagon(notverified)June26,2012@7:51am
ihaveinstalledlinuxonmymachinesuccessfullybutwhenibootitthevisibilityonmyscreeniszerobuticansee
tracesoflinuxrunninginthebackgroundi.eitsverydifficulttoseewhatsgoingononthescreenpleasehelpmetofix
thisproblem>

brightnessproblem
Anonymouspeagon(notverified)June26,2012@7:51am
ihaveinstalledlinuxonmymachinesuccessfullybutwhenibootitthevisibilityonmyscreeniszerobuticansee
tracesoflinuxrunninginthebackgroundi.eitsverydifficulttoseewhatsgoingononthescreenpleasehelpmetofix
thisproblem>

GRUB2please...
jp(notverified)July12,2012@2:19am
Thisarticleisverywellwrittenandcangetsomeoneonhisfeetwhenitcomestotroubleshootingbootproblems.I
wishthereisanarticlethathasthesameclarityasthisoneonGRUB2?

/Boot
any(notverified)February26,2013@2:23pm
imusingCentOS6.3anddeleted/bootplzletmeknowhowcanirecoverallfilesanddirectoryof/boot

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ICan'tuseanyofmyLinuxInstallDisks!
silverdragon_1900@yahoo.com(notverified)May17,2013@10:46am
IhaveapersonalbuiltPCwithanAMDeightcoreprocessor,a64GBSSDharddrivewithWindows7UltimateOSon
it,andtwootherharddrivesalongwith16GBofmemory.
ImadeanAgiliaLinuxinstalldisktouseasapartitionadjusteralongwhileback,butnowwhenIloaditlikeIhave
alwaysdone,itseemstofreezeoratleastnotallowmetousethekeyboardormouse.Ifigureditmighthave
somethingtodowithmydiskdrive,butwhenIusemyothertwodrivesIgetthesameresult.Igotfrustratedand
decidedtojustgowithanotherversionofLinux(OpenSuse)toseeifitstilldidthesamething,andofcourseIhadthe
sameproblem.So,Itriedadifferentversion,inthiscaseKnoppix,andagainIcoulddonothingafteritbootedtothe
homescreen.IamanewbietoLinux,buttonotbeabletouseanyoneofthe4differentversionsIhavestrikesmeas
anoddcoincident,ifyoucancallitthat.
IsthereanyonethathashadthesameproblemsasIhaveoratleastisabletogivemesomeideasastowhatis
goingon?

Re:Can'tuseLinuxinstalldisks
AnotherAnonymousPenguin(notverified)June6,2013@9:01pm
Silverdragon_1900:Makesureyouaretryingtoloadthelinuxdistributionwiththeproperarchitecture.Youmention
youhaveanAMDprocessor,andIwouldbetthatitis64bit.Idon'tknowifthedistributionsstillbreakitoutbetween
IntelandAMDprocessors,butyouwanttomakesureyougrabthecorrectbitdepthforyourprocessor.

oneofthebestbootdescriptionsIveseen
Anon_peng(notverified)September13,2013@6:01pm
TYVM.Beendoingunixfor20years,branchingoutintoLinux.verycomprehensiveandeasytounderstanddoc.Data
likethis,fleshedoutwithmoretroubleshootingtips(i.e.process/memory,SAN,network,etc)inacomprehensivepdf
file,wouldbewellworthbuying.

grubloadingerror
Rajiv72658(notverified)September24,2013@1:42pm
grubloading
nosuchpartions
enteringrescuemode_
Hibossthisistheprobleminmylaptop.
cananyonepleasehelpme

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