Evidence of Drive Activity to Report

Evidence of Drive Activity to Report

[Michael Hill]

Using the pre-compiled 2.1.99 from Linus (thanks, Alex) here are my
results.  The drive is (and was) partitioned as option drive, and I
re-ran Installer.  Entering 'boot /vmlinux root=/dev/sdb' I get this:

[snip]
scsi : detected 2 SCSI disks total.
SCSI device sda: hdwr sector= 512 bytes. Sectors= 1070496 [522 MB]
[0.5 GB]
SCSI device sdb: hdwr sector= 512 bytes. Sectors= 2400302 [1172 MB]
[1.2 GB]
sgiseeq.c: David S. Miller (dm@engr.sgi.com)
eth0: SGI Seeq8003 08:00:69:07:e3:0d
Partition check:
 sda: sda1 sda2 sda3 sda4
 sdb: sdb1 sdb2 sdb3
fat_read_super: Did not find valid FSINFO signature. Found 0x0
[MS-DOS FS Rel. 12,FAT 0, check=n,conv=b,uid=o,gid=0,umask=022,bmap]
[me=0x0,cs=0,#f=0,fs=0,fl=0,ds=0,de=0,data=0,se=8199,ts=524288,ls=30825,rc=0,fc=0]
Transaction block size = 512


However, with 'boot /vmlinux root=/dev/sdb1' I get this:

[snip]
scsi : detected 2 SCSI disks total.
SCSI device sda: hdwr sector= 512 bytes. Sectors= 1070496 [522 MB]
[0.5 GB]
SCSI device sdb: hdwr sector= 512 bytes. Sectors= 2400302 [1172 MB]
[1.2 GB]
sgiseeq.c: David S. Miller (dm@engr.sgi.com)
eth0: SGI Seeq8003 08:00:69:07:e3:0d
Partition check:
 sda: sda1 sda2 sda3 sda4
 sdb: sdb1 sdb2 sdb3
VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem) readonly.
Freeing unused kernel memory: 32k freed
INIT: version 2.71 booting
Activating swap partitions
hostname: localhost
Checking root filesystems.
WARNING: Your /etc/fstab does not contain the fsck passno
        field.  I will kludge around things for you, but you
        should fix your /etc/fstab file as soon as you can.

Parallelizing fsck version 1.10 (24-Apr-97)
[/sbin/fsck.ext2] fsck.ext2 -a /

..and then nothing.  But the main reason I believe that the SGI/Linux
project is not dead is that, for the first time, the kernel made my
hard drive chatter at me before giving up the ghost.

Who knows what I should do next?

Mike
-- 
Michael Hill
Toronto, Canada
mdhill@interlog.com

Re: Evidence of Drive Activity to Report

[Michael Hill]

Okay, let's say it was just fsck that got hung up, and not the entire
boot process.  When it stops with '[/sbin/fsck.ext2] fsck.ext2 -a /'
and I press Ctrl-C, more information comes to light:

The superblock could not be read or does not describe a correct ext2
filesystem.  If the device is valid and it really contains an ext2
filesystem (and not swap or ufs or something else, the the superblock
is corrupt, and you might try running e2fsck with an alternate superblock:
    e2fsck -b 8193 <device>
*** An error occurred during the file system check.
*** Dropping you to a shell; the system will reboot
*** when you leave the shell.
Give root password for maintenance.
INIT: entering runlevel: 0mal startup):
while opening UTMP file: No such file or directory

...then I get the SGI maintenance screen back.  There's no evidence of
a shell when it tells me it's dropping me to a shell.  From IRIX I ran
'e2fsck -b 8193 drive' on the drive (with no improvement) but I don't
think that's the appropriate context.  Suggestions?

Thanks,

Mike
-- 
Michael Hill
Toronto, Canada
mdhill@interlog.com

Re: Evidence of Drive Activity to Report

[Eric Kimminau]

I had the exact same problem - I needed to re-make the ext2fs
filesystem on the drive and re-perform the install for it to get
further.

Eric.


Michael Hill wrote:
> 
> Okay, let's say it was just fsck that got hung up, and not the entire
> boot process.  When it stops with '[/sbin/fsck.ext2] fsck.ext2 -a /'
> and I press Ctrl-C, more information comes to light:
> 
> The superblock could not be read or does not describe a correct ext2
> filesystem.  If the device is valid and it really contains an ext2
> filesystem (and not swap or ufs or something else, the the superblock
> is corrupt, and you might try running e2fsck with an alternate superblock:
>     e2fsck -b 8193 <device>
> *** An error occurred during the file system check.
> *** Dropping you to a shell; the system will reboot
> *** when you leave the shell.
> Give root password for maintenance.
> INIT: entering runlevel: 0mal startup):
> while opening UTMP file: No such file or directory
> 
> ...then I get the SGI maintenance screen back.  There's no evidence of
> a shell when it tells me it's dropping me to a shell.  From IRIX I ran
> 'e2fsck -b 8193 drive' on the drive (with no improvement) but I don't
> think that's the appropriate context.  Suggestions?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Mike
> --
> Michael Hill
> Toronto, Canada
> mdhill@interlog.com

-- 
---------1---------2---------3---------4---------5---------6---------7
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eak@detroit.sgi.com                     Silicon Graphics, Inc
Voice: (248) 848-4455                   39001 West 12 Mile Rd.
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    When confronted by a difficult problem, solve it by reducing 
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         "I am the great supportfolio, do you have http?"

        Copyright 1998, Silicon Graphics Computer Systems
        Confidential to Silicon Graphics Computer Systems
                ** -- not for redistribution -- **

Re: Evidence of Drive Activity to Report

[ralf]

On Sun, May 10, 1998 at 11:19:23PM -0400, Eric Kimminau wrote:

> I had the exact same problem - I needed to re-make the ext2fs
> filesystem on the drive and re-perform the install for it to get
> further.
> 
> Eric.
> 
> 
> Michael Hill wrote:
> > 
> > Okay, let's say it was just fsck that got hung up, and not the entire
> > boot process.  When it stops with '[/sbin/fsck.ext2] fsck.ext2 -a /'
> > and I press Ctrl-C, more information comes to light:
> > 
> > The superblock could not be read or does not describe a correct ext2
> > filesystem.  If the device is valid and it really contains an ext2
> > filesystem (and not swap or ufs or something else, the the superblock
> > is corrupt, and you might try running e2fsck with an alternate superblock:
> >     e2fsck -b 8193 <device>
> > *** An error occurred during the file system check.
> > *** Dropping you to a shell; the system will reboot
> > *** when you leave the shell.
> > Give root password for maintenance.
> > INIT: entering runlevel: 0mal startup):
> > while opening UTMP file: No such file or directory
> > 
> > ...then I get the SGI maintenance screen back.  There's no evidence of
> > a shell when it tells me it's dropping me to a shell.  From IRIX I ran
> > 'e2fsck -b 8193 drive' on the drive (with no improvement) but I don't
> > think that's the appropriate context.  Suggestions?

Both cases sound like a bad /etc/fstab.  Try adding init=/bin/sh to your
firmware command like arguments.  You'll get a completly uninitialized
system.   Run e2fsck, then you should be able to remount / rw and fix
the fstab.

>         Copyright 1998, Silicon Graphics Computer Systems
>         Confidential to Silicon Graphics Computer Systems
>                 ** -- not for redistribution -- **

And that in a .sig.  ROTFL.  But at least Amy Postnews would love such a
sig :-)

  Ralf

Re: Evidence of Drive Activity to Report

[Michael Hill]

ralf@uni-koblenz.de writes:
 > 
 > Both cases sound like a bad /etc/fstab.  Try adding init=/bin/sh to your
 > firmware command like arguments.  You'll get a completly uninitialized
 > system.   Run e2fsck, then you should be able to remount / rw and fix
 > the fstab.
 > 

What should fstab look like?  Mine has a single entry (with
root-be-0.03) for /proc.

I get a bash prompt but e2fsck hangs.

Mike
-- 
Michael Hill
Toronto, Canada
mdhill@interlog.com

Re: Evidence of Drive Activity to Report

[Leon Verrall]

On Sat, 16 May 1998, Michael Hill wrote:

> ralf@uni-koblenz.de writes:
>  > 
>  > Both cases sound like a bad /etc/fstab.  Try adding init=/bin/sh to your
>  > firmware command like arguments.  You'll get a completly uninitialized
>  > system.   Run e2fsck, then you should be able to remount / rw and fix
>  > the fstab.
>  > 
> 
> What should fstab look like?  Mine has a single entry (with
> root-be-0.03) for /proc.
> 
> I get a bash prompt but e2fsck hangs.

Using root-be.0.03.cpio I had to hack some stuff around. /etc/fstab doesn't
contain a listing for / so fsck fails in /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit. I'd add this
entry in but I also hard coded /dev/sdc2 (my root) into rc.sysinit as the
mount command in this root-be doesn't seem to like mounting from fstab
entries....

Boot with vmlinux root=whatever init=/bin/sh
mount -t ext -n -o remount,rw /dev/myrootdevice /
vi /etc/rc.sysinit  and /etc/fstab
logout.

You may also want to 'touch /fastboot' . This will skip the fsck on boot.
(probably a dangerous thing ATM :)

Leon

-- 
Leon Verrall - 01189 307734  \ "Don't cut your losses too soon,
Secondline Software Support  / 'cos you'll only be cutting your throat.
Silicon Graphics, Forum 1,   \ And answer a call while you still care at all
Station Rd., Theale, RG7 4RA / 'cos nobody will if you wont" (6:00 - DT)

Re: Evidence of Drive Activity to Report

[ralf]

On Mon, May 18, 1998 at 09:35:06AM +0100, Leon Verrall wrote:

> Using root-be.0.03.cpio I had to hack some stuff around. /etc/fstab doesn't
> contain a listing for / so fsck fails in /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit. I'd add this
> entry in but I also hard coded /dev/sdc2 (my root) into rc.sysinit as the
> mount command in this root-be doesn't seem to like mounting from fstab
> entries....

Ouch, that must be a very obsolete mount binary.

> Boot with vmlinux root=whatever init=/bin/sh
> mount -t ext -n -o remount,rw /dev/myrootdevice /
> vi /etc/rc.sysinit  and /etc/fstab
> logout.
> 
> You may also want to 'touch /fastboot' . This will skip the fsck on boot.
> (probably a dangerous thing ATM :)

I consider the whole /fastboot thing obsolete.  Only fsck knows
if a filesystem is broken or not.  Oh well, the things we do for Minix ...

  Ralf