New Monitor

[Bob McClure Jr]

On Tue, Feb 24, 2009 at 08:48:29PM -0500, Brenda Radford wrote:
> 
> <some, otherwise fine, but irrelevant at this point, snippage>
> 
> If it does see the hard drive, you might want to try to reset the BIOS
> to its default settings.  If the machine hasn't been fired up in a
> while, it is possible that some of the BIOS settings got glitched due
> to an old motherboard CMOS battery (that's a button-shaped battery on
> the motherboard that keeps the CMOS memory holding the BIOS settings
> alive when the machine's powered down).  If that's the case, and once
> you get the machine up, you really need to replace that CMOS battery.
> 
> > 
> >> I do not know how to boot up in text only mode. You will have to tell me
> how
> >> to do that
> 
> As to booting in text mode, it sounds complicated but it isn't:
> 
> 1. Wait for the grub menu to come up, then press the spacebar.
> 
> 2. Use the keyboard up and down arrow keys to highlight the kernel you
> want to boot (it's probably already selected).
> 
> 3. Press "E" (for "Edit").  You'll be shown a couple of lines of text.
> 
> 4. Use the up/down arrow keys to select the line that starts with the
> word "kernel".
> 
> 5. Press "E" again and that line of text will be displayed for editing.
> 
> 6. Press the "End" key on your keyboard or use the right arrow key to
> get to the end of the line.
> 
> 7. Add " text" OR " 3" (that's a space and the word "text" OR a space
> and the digit "3") to the end of the line.  Do NOT include the quotes.
> The end of the line should look something like:
> 
> 	rhgb quiet text
> or
> 	rhgb quiet 3
> 
> 8. Press the "ENTER" key to save the line.
> 
> 9. Press "B" to boot the kernel with the changes.
> 
> Note that these changes are only temporary and will work for THIS boot.
> If you reboot, you'll have to do this again.
> 
> >>
> >> I hope it is not DOA. It was working a couple of months ago. I did not
> have
> >> the money to renew my Red Hat Academic subscription until today, and I
> was
> >> hoping to get the box updated.
> 
> We'll get it sorted.  It's difficult to diagnose remotely and on a
> mailing list to boot, but we've done far more arcane things here!  :-)
> 
> >> Thanks to all you guys; I hope I answered all your questions. I love this
> >> install list.
> 
> If you could, Brenda, try not to top post.  It makes following the
> logic of the messages difficult.  It's better to place your comments
> and responses below what you're commenting on (as we try to do).
> 
> Windows mail clients default to top posting, but nothing says you HAVE
> to put your response there.  Just use the arrow keys to scroll down to
> where you want to put your comment and do it your way.
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> - Rick Stevens, Systems Engineer                      ricks at nerd.com -
> - AIM/Skype: therps2        ICQ: 22643734            Yahoo: origrps2 -
> -                                                                    -
> -     Make it idiot proof and someone will make a better idiot.      -
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> I opened up the case and reseated the memory and made sure the hard drive
> was plugged in properly and reconnected the floppy drive (I think the cable
> was on backwards; I seem to remember that makes the light stay on) and fired
> it up again and got it working with the new monitor. I went into grub,
> changed it to text, and pressed B to boot the kernel with the changes.
> Then I got these error messages:
> 
> VFS: can't find ext 3 filesystem on dev dm-0
> mount: error 22 mounting ext 3
> mount: error 2 mounting none
> switchroot: mount failed: 22
> umount/initrd/dev failed: 2
> Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init! 
> 
> This cannot be good. Something is wrong with the hard drive, is that what it
> all means?

Well, the drive's not totally toast, since it booted partway, but one
of the filesystems is in a hurting status.

> FYI, I was able to boot with Knoppix.

Is that a live CD?  If so, you can do some poking around, starting
with:

  fdisk -l # that's "ell", not one
  lvscan

The first will find all the physical partitions.  The next will find
all the logical volumes.  Let us know what they report.

For each of the partitions listed as a Linux (type 83) filesystem, run

  e2fsck /dev/hdax # where "x" is the partition number

For each of the LVs (if any), run

  e2fsck /dev/<vgname>/<lvname>

Make a note of which one(s) ha(ve|s) problems.

If you still have your distribution disks, boot with Disc 1, and at
the Boot: prompt, put "linux rescue".

When it asks about networking, tell it no.  When it offers to mount
any filesystems, tell it "continue" (i.e. make it so).  Some of the
mounts will probably fail, but if any succeed, you can

  chroot /mnt/sysimage

The do a 

  cat /etc/fstab

and report the results.

Don't know what more to suggest until we get that information.  At
that point, you can

  exit # or Ctrl-D out of the chroot shell
  exit # or Ctrl-D, yes, again, to reboot

After it says something about "rebooting", let it roll to see if
something wonderful happens, or just shut it down.

> Thanks
> Brenda

Cheers,
-- 
Bob McClure, Jr.             Bobcat Open Systems, Inc.
bob at bobcatos.com             http://www.bobcatos.com
Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the
Lord.  Romans 12:11 (NIV)