Recover Corrupt /dev

[Rick Stevens]

Algis Zyle wrote:
> Thanks....Sorry about the xxxx,more specific in the future... I just
> know it was a device in /dev....My question thought....When I boot the
> machine, It does mount the Hard Drives fine...(aren't those in /dev also
> ??)...and my modem works via Hylafax (/dev/ttys1) if I do a file on st0
> it says it's a special file and looks ok...
> 
> After I boot in rescue mode.....I can use the old /dev/st0 item
> (/mnt/sysimage/dev/st0) and cpio works fine....Doesn't that prove that
> it isn't in fact corrupted ??

Yes, but you should also check permissions  Look at the full path to
/mnt/sysimage/dev/st0 and verify that it's the same when you boot normally.

And PLEASE bottom post (reply AFTER what you are replying to).

> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: redhat-install-list-bounces at redhat.com
> [mailto:redhat-install-list-bounces at redhat.com] On Behalf Of Rick
> Stevens
> Sent: Wednesday, May 05, 2004 1:13 PM
> To: Getting started with Red Hat Linux
> Subject: Re: Recover Corrupt /dev
> 
> Algis Zyle wrote:
> 
>>Checked that, Every other partition is at 50% or less filled...which
> 
> is
> 
>>what makes this so bizarre...and why it sounds like a "configuration"
>>file of sorts got corrupted....and Everything points to /dev items
> 
> (even
> 
>>the X error message says  "can't open /dev/xxxx"...for example in
> 
> Rescue
> 
>>mode....I made a back up with the default rescue /dev/st0
> 
> device....For
> 
>>laughs I then tried to do a cpio using the Old Device
>>(/mnt/sysimage/dev/st0)....And it Worked !!!
> 
> 
> Please bottom post in the future.
> 
> If /dev is truly corrupted, you're in trouble.  It would help a lot if
> you can be more specific about which devices aren't working or the ones
> that X is complaining about ("/dev/xxxx" doesn't cut it).
> 
> If you have an adequate backup, you can try to reinstall the "dev" RPM
> which can be found on the first CD of your distribution.  You'll need
> to "rpm -Uvh --force" to get it to install.  I won't guarantee success,
> but you're kinda dead anyway.
> 
> If it works, rename the host to "frankenstein", as you've brought it
> back from the dead.  ;-)
> 
> 
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: redhat-install-list-bounces at redhat.com
>>[mailto:redhat-install-list-bounces at redhat.com] On Behalf Of jludwig
>>Sent: Wednesday, May 05, 2004 11:22 AM
>>To: Getting started with Red Hat Linux
>>Subject: Re: Recover Corrupt /dev
>>
>>On Wed, 2004-05-05 at 10:31, Algis Zyle wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Redhat Admin Newbie, Any help would be appreciated: We're Running
>>>Redhat 9
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>1)       A colleague of mine intended on doing a backup and by
>>>accident re-directed the output to /dev/rt0 (a file) instead of
>>>st0..eventually people complained they couldn't print, etc..It turns
>>>out that it filled up the file system...before we found this out, we
>>>had rebooted and did a fschk (not knowing the real problem
>>>yet).Anyway,eventually deleted the rt0 file..but. Xwindows wouldn't
>>>come up (Couldn't open the /dev/ device)., Networking stopped
>>>working.I couldn't access the tape drive or cdrom anymore (/dev/st0,
>>>/dev/hdc) even though they existed in the dev directory...I went into
>>>rescue mode and at least made a backup etc..How can I fix the /dev
>>>directory and/or anything else that may have went south by the file
>>>system getting full without re-installing Redhat.(Again, I'm not a
>>>hard core Redhat Admin)..
>>
>>snip
>>If this is a server, I suspect that you probably have separate
>>partitions for /var /usr /home etc. You should check, especially
>>/var/spool, to see if they are also filled with garbage files. If you
>>have a /var partition that is filled X and many other programs and
> 
> such
> 
>>will not work.
> 
> 
> 


-- 
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- Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer     rstevens at vitalstream.com -
- VitalStream, Inc.                       http://www.vitalstream.com -
-                                                                    -
- Millihelen, adj: The amount of beauty required to launch one ship. -
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