Re: boot problem

[Andrew <ald2@arrakis.es>]

Ray Olszewski wrote:

> It's difficult to say what your problem is from this sketchy a 
> description, but the likely place to start tracking it down is by 
> looking at your logs. The 'sh-3.00#' prompt at least means the system 
> is throwing you into a shell as root ... probably in single-user mode 
> ... so you should be able to read the logs.
>
> But first take a look at whether /etc/inittab was changed by the 
> upgrade. Dropping into single-user mode usually means a problem with 
> init, not the kernel itself ... especially if the kernel makes it to 
> the "freeing memory" step ... and this is the file the controls the 
> operation of the init program.
>
> Then see what init scripts were modified by the upgrade. (I forget 
> where Slackware puts them, but look for a line in /etc/inittab similar 
> to this: "si::sysinit:/etc/init.d/rcS". Unless it has changed 
> recently, Slackware uses an old style of init-script organization that 
> can easily get errors incorporated into it through an automated 
> upgrade, and that *may* be all you are seeing. Make sure that whatever 
> top-level init scripts inittab points to ... in the line like the one 
> above and in a series of (probably) six that resemble 
> "l2:2:wait:/etc/init.d/rc 2" ... are present on the system and 
> executable.
>
> Next thing is to look at your logs ... and at the output of "dmesg", 
> if Slackware down't dump that to a logfile during boot/init (some 
> distros do, but I don't know about Slack). It is likely, though not 
> certain, that either the kernel itself, or init by way of syslogd, 
> will be logging a better description of the problem than what is going 
> to the screen.
>
> Check your filesystems to make sure that they are a trpe that your 
> kernel can mount. This is unlikely to be a problem, but just might be, 
> for example if you're using ext3 but the kernel supports only ext2. 
> See what "df" reports, and see if the entries in /etc/fstab are 
> reasonable when compared with df's output.
>
> The suggestion Chuck made, to install a different kernel, is likely 
> his response to the kernel panic message you say you got on one 
> occasion, and it may do the job for you, or it may be like using a 
> cannonball to sway a fly. Definitely give it a try; there are a lot of 
> things this "mess" *might* be that a kernel change will fix.
>
I shall do as you describe. Meanwhile, please note my reply tp Joy's 
suggestion: /sbin/init does not exist. Also, the kernel change made no 
difference.

Thanks,

Andrew
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