System keeps dropping into shell.

[Alfred Hovdestad]

It sounds like your system is detecting a file system error which the 
boot-up check cannot repair.  It should say something like:

fsck /dev/hda1

where /dev/hda1 is where your / or /boot partition is mounted.  If you 
type the command as shown when you drop down to the shell, you should be 
able to repair the filesystem.  If you can post the error reported from 
another computer, it should be easier to analyze your problem (unless 
your hard drive died).

    Alfred Hovdestad



Ong Ying Ying wrote:
> My original HD with Redhat Linux 9 which came with this
> computer has a
> big problem as it will 'drop into shell' at Checking root
> filesystem.
> 
> 
> 
> It said something about fstab but fstab cannot be
> repaired/edited. I
> cannot do any chmod. vi also said something about swap not
> available but
> the system seemed to know the dev is used as swap dev.
> 
> 
> 
> Also stated something about e2fsck and superblock but I do
> not know what
> and how to do. What superblock? Important dev seemed to be
> mounted when
> I checked but when shutdown, it showed not mounted.
> 
> 
> 
> /boot, /usr and /var have nothing inside. /home has nothing
> inside too.
> 
> 
> 
> This happened after I pressed Y when it said 'force ...
> check' b'cos
> 
> window gets hung (when login as root but ok as other users.
> Tried many
> times, just let it boot and init by itself) when starting. I
> left the
> system immediately after entering it. Since then it keeps
> dropping into
> shell. Didn't know it could cause this. :-(
> 
> 
> 
> When did the window first get hung? I was half way preparing
> to backup
> my system. I was copying files to /mnt/cdrom when many
> messages came out
> saying not enough space. So I deleted those files from
> /mnt/cdrom. Then
> the system sort of hung and the trash was shown as a
> document. I
> couldn't do anything so I power-off it.
> 
> 
> 
> Why did the system get hung? I guess the system is not good
> or not
> stable. I definitely would not use this computer and the OS
> as a server.
> It's not a very good desktop system too.
> 
> 
> 
> Does it rely heavily on RAM? The memory usage is 210MB when
> typing this
> email and swap available is 376MB! Oh, yes it's Redhat 9,
> kernel
> 2.4.20-9 or 2.4.20-9smp, using gnome (oops, don't know what
> release/version).
> 
> 
> 
> I do not have a rescue disks (don't know if they were of any
> use). Do
> not have installation CD of the kernel sub-version. The
> sub-version was
> given in Errata CD.
> 
> 
> 
> What can I do to 'rescue' the HD? Help!
> 
> 
> 
> 
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