fsck fails during boot with 2.6.9-34.0.1.EL kernel because root filesystem is already rw mounted

R. de Kuijer postmaster at ronno.nl
Mon Jul 3 21:50:41 UTC 2006


Hello Floriola,

I think there was a little fault in building the new initrd.
The mount-command of the init-script is wrong and makes confusing, e.g. 
: first the root-filesystem must mount read/write, it accepts.
Then it must mount read/only, but refuses, because it is already 
mounted. (normally for remouting it should give the mount-command with 
option "-o remount,ro" )
And finally fsck should start to check the filesystem, but refuses 
because fsck cannot work with read/write mounted filesystems.
The result is this end of the boot-process :

/[FAILED]

*** An error occurred during the file system check.
*** Dropping you to a shell; the system will reboot
*** when you leave the shell.
*** Warning -- SELinux is active
*** Disabling security enforcement for system recovery.
*** Run 'setenforce 1' to reenable.
Give root password for maintenance
(or type Control-D to continue):/


When you give your root-passwd and type the next command:
# mount -t ext3 -o remount,rw /
# init 5

The system will continue to boot.

I think the best is to set everything right, e.g. :
- check the /etc/fstab (use option "defaults", other gives errors)
- /etc/grub.conf ( or lilo.conf )
- build a new initrd file with mkinitrd
( read carefully the boot-messages, mostly it gives good hints)

It should be work then.

If not, it is possible your MBR will not co-operate, and keeps  his old 
settings.
Try to break the MBR and rebuild.
I have done it once as final solution with the install-dvd.
 
Grretings and success,
Ronno


 

Floriola wrote:
> Hi Nitin,
>
> Thanks for your answer. My /etc/fstab contains the following line for the root filesystem:
>
> /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol01 / ext3 rw 1 1 
>
> However, I changed it to 
>
> /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol01 / ext3 defaults 1 1 
>
> and rebooted, but the same problem hapened.
>
> It looks like in the early stage of the booting, when the kernel is using the initrd to load the
> modules, the /etc/fstab does not matter.
>
> I still do not understand why in my new initrd file, with the new kernel, the root filesystem is
> nounted read-write, instead of read-only. 
>
> Regards,
> Floriola
>
> --- Nitin B <forumswatch at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>   
>> Boot your system in single user mode using new kernel and check /etc/fstab.
>> If it doesn't have default options edit it and add "defaults" . Oce this is
>> done reboot.
>>
>>
>>
>> On 25/06/06, Floriola <floriola2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>     
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> I have a RHES4 server running kernel version 2.6.9-34.EL. During this
>>> night, I have updated to
>>> latest kernel-2.6.9-34.0.1.EL. The problem is that with the new kernel, my
>>> linux is not booting
>>> anymore. During the boot, I have the following error:
>>>
>>> Checking root filesystem
>>> [/sbin/fsck.ext3 (1) -- /] fsck.ext3 -a /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol01
>>> /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol01 is mounted. e2fsck: Cannot continue, aborting.
>>>
>>>
>>> [FAILED]
>>>
>>> *** An error occurred during the file system check.
>>> *** Dropping you to a shell; the system will reboot
>>> *** when you leave the shell.
>>> *** Warning -- SELinux is active
>>> *** Disabling security enforcement for system recovery.
>>> *** Run 'setenforce 1' to reenable.
>>> Give root password for maintenance
>>> (or type Control-D to continue):
>>>
>>> Luckily, I still have the old kernel installed, so I booted with the old
>>> one, without any
>>> problems.
>>>
>>> I dig a bit more, and I found the following:
>>>
>>> In the old 2.6.9-34.EL kernel that I am able to boot with, the init script
>>> in the initrd contains
>>> the following mount command:
>>>
>>> mount -o defaults --ro -t ext2 /dev/root /sysroot
>>>
>>> while with the new kernel 2.6.9-34.0.1.EL that I have just installed, the
>>> init file in the initrd
>>> contanin the following command:
>>>
>>> mount -o rw --ro -t ext2 /dev/root /sysroot
>>>
>>> So this is why with the new kernel, my root filesystem si already mounted
>>> read-write during the
>>> boot process, before the fsck.
>>>
>>> However, this looks quite weird. First, I cannot find anywhere what this
>>> --ro means (there are no
>>> info about this option in the man page). Most probably, it means that the
>>> filesystem should be
>>> mount read-only, but then why in the new kernel the mount command contains
>>> also "-o rw" option?
>>>
>>> And why in the previous kernel, the root filesystem was mounted with the
>>> "-o defaults" option, and
>>> the new one is mounted with the "-o rw" option?
>>>
>>> Any ideeas?
>>>
>>> Thank you in advance,
>>>
>>> Floriola
>>>
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-- 

Ron de Kuijer
Theraview Technology
The Netherlands
support at theraview.com
 




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