[App_rpt-users] e2fsck

[Joel]

Benjamin L. Naber wrote:
> this is coming up when trying to boot a new install of Limey Linux
>
> last time I checked, e2fsck is for EXT2 and other Linux extensions, not
> FAT.
>
> Booting comes to a dead halt when the e2fsck checktime has been
> reached.
>
> Any way around this, or disable this checking when booting?


I've never used any of these AllStar distro's - but I have admin's Linux servers for over 15 years and am just starting to play with AllStar. With that in mind, I can offer the following more generic Linux info...

CD-ROM images are always in the iso9660 filesystem format - which is completly different than FAT/EXT2/3/4/etc. Doesn't matter what OS was used to create the img - or burn the CD. That format is only on the optical disc (or local loopback of the image file if you install that way). Typical thumb-drive images I've seen have a small FAT filesystem that boots and mounts the install iso image as lookback. The installer, as part of system setup/install formats the local storage device (typically /dev/hda or /dev/sda) in a Linux file format. These days either EXT2 (non-journaled) or EXT3/4 for journaling. This has no relation to the install media!

If the init scripts detect a problem on any of the file systems which are to be mounted (i.e. system disks), as outlined in /etc/fstab they will abort and drop you to a single-user mode shell. This is the same as typing in "linux 1" on the grub boot line (or LILO on old distro's). The point is to leave the main system disks unmounted and allow you to repair them. Typically just running fsck will repair them. You will need to do this for each partition (logical or physical) that has a problem. It will typically prompt you about problems it finds - pay attention as fsck runs - you might have to answer "yes" many times! Might be good idea to run fsck on all filesystems while your in there. Afterwords, when you type "exit" from the single-user shell, the system will automatically reboot - and if all is well will boot back to Runlevel 3 or 5 depending on your init setup with your repaired filesystems mounted properly. This is full multi-user/normal mode of operation your used to.

In some cases, if the file system is too damaged to even load the ramdisk - it will just die on boot. In that case you will need a rescue disk to boot from. Most distro's install disks offer a "rescue mode"... so just download/burn a current copy of Fedora/CentOS/etc and you can use them as a rescue tool - and don't need to even have that same distro installed! Just look at the install menu and see if they offer a rescue mode. Typically you just type "rescue" and hit enter. It will then load up a minimal system into a ramdisk with most drivers installed that will detect your disk controller and other devices. When it asks if you want to have it mount filesystems answer "N". Then once it drops you to a shell start "fsck.ext2 /dev/hda1"/etc on EACH of your filesystems.

Finally, most filesystems in EXTx format are set to do full checking after so many months of being mounted and/or after X many boots. Those limits/trigger points are set using the "tune2fs" tool. Just run "man tune2fs".

Joel
N7GLV