LinuxQuestions.org
Share your knowledge at the LQ Wiki.
Go Back   LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - General
User Name
Password
Linux - General This Linux forum is for general Linux questions and discussion.
If it is Linux Related and doesn't seem to fit in any other forum then this is the place.

Notices


Reply
  Search this Thread
Old 05-28-2001, 05:42 AM   #1
cjc
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: May 2001
Posts: 4

Rep: Reputation: 0
Question


Hello:
My linux machine is messed up.
I cannot login but I see a message
to enter Run Level:
Please help me.
Thanks in advance.
cjc
 
Old 05-28-2001, 06:03 AM   #2
unSpawn
Moderator
 
Registered: May 2001
Posts: 29,415
Blog Entries: 55

Rep: Reputation: 3600Reputation: 3600Reputation: 3600Reputation: 3600Reputation: 3600Reputation: 3600Reputation: 3600Reputation: 3600Reputation: 3600Reputation: 3600Reputation: 3600
From my inittab:
# 0 - halt (Do NOT set initdefault to this)
# 1 - Single user mode
# 2 - Multiuser, without NFS
# 3 - Full multiuser mode
# 4 - unused
# 5 - X11
# 6 - reboot (Do NOT set initdefault to this)

Ppl who want console enter 3, for graphical login enter 5.
1 is what u would use as when u boot "linux single".
Dont use 0 or 6.
 
Old 05-28-2001, 06:00 PM   #3
cjc
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: May 2001
Posts: 4

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 0
Many thanks for your answer.
I got the following message after I typed 3 as runlevel.

INIT: can't open(/etc/ioctl.save, 0_WRONLY): No such file or directory
INIT: Entering runlevel: 3
INIT: no more processes left in this runlevel

Then the system freezed.
Do I need to recompile my kernel?
I am afraid because I cannot find my bootdisk.
Please help me...
cjc
 
Old 05-28-2001, 06:37 PM   #4
jharris
Senior Member
 
Registered: May 2001
Location: Bristol, UK
Distribution: Slackware, Fedora, RHES
Posts: 2,243

Rep: Reputation: 47
It doesn't sound like a kernel issue to me - if you haven't changed anything in the kernel then it definately won't be. I recon that its either a damaged filesystem or some files have been erase (possible /etc/inittab) from your system.

Find yourself a boot disk (a 'rescue' disk would be good) boot from that and run 'fsck' on all your paritions and see what that brings up. ('fsck /dev/hda1' then 'fsck /dev/hda2' etc [or 'fsck /dev/sda1' for that matter])

What was the last thing you did before it stop playing nicely?

Jamie...
 
Old 05-28-2001, 07:39 PM   #5
cjc
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: May 2001
Posts: 4

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 0
cannot reboot

It was used for a webserver with JRun.
Worked fine until last Sat.
I could not find the boot disk.
Any suggestion what to do next?
Could I download it from somewhere like
http://www.ibiblio.org?

At runlevel prompt, I typed s (Single user).
Then I realized the whole
/etc directory has gone!

How did this happen?
What to do next?
Please help me!!!
Sincerely,
cjc
 
Old 05-28-2001, 07:48 PM   #6
jharris
Senior Member
 
Registered: May 2001
Location: Bristol, UK
Distribution: Slackware, Fedora, RHES
Posts: 2,243

Rep: Reputation: 47
I would have thought you would be able to download boot disks from the www site for the distro you are using, then use the dos version of rawrite to write them...

As for what to do. There are lot of files in /etc so unless you have a backup I don't see whatelse you can do but reinstall... Naturally you'll have a backup won't you

As for how it happened
Code:
rm -rf /etc
or commands to that effect. If your filesystem was corrupt it is conceivable that the inode that stored the details for the /etc directory has been lost, reasonably unlikely though.

Jamie...
 
Old 05-28-2001, 08:20 PM   #7
cjc
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: May 2001
Posts: 4

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 0
cannot reboot

If I reinstall, is there a way to
save/reuse information under "/home" where my
programs are and "/var" where my db is?
Thank you so much,
cjc
Sure, I will backup!!!
 
Old 05-28-2001, 08:28 PM   #8
jharris
Senior Member
 
Registered: May 2001
Location: Bristol, UK
Distribution: Slackware, Fedora, RHES
Posts: 2,243

Rep: Reputation: 47
So long as you don't format your partitions again you should be fine, but I wouldn't count on it if there is some *really* important stuff on there.

Good luck!

Jamie
 
  


Reply


Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off



Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
No keyboard/mouse after reboot. Requires second reboot to work. rottie Linux - Hardware 6 01-16-2006 05:04 AM
When was my last reboot icehenge Linux - General 8 10-10-2005 09:42 PM
reboot when "reboot" command not responding? neocookie Linux - General 1 08-30-2005 04:59 AM
How the pc knows how to reboot? juanb Linux - Hardware 1 08-16-2005 12:53 AM
Cant Reboot........ randon Linux - General 3 10-16-2003 03:05 AM

LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - General

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 07:40 AM.

Main Menu
Advertisement
My LQ
Write for LQ
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute content, let us know.
Main Menu
Syndicate
RSS1  Latest Threads
RSS1  LQ News
Twitter: @linuxquestions
Open Source Consulting | Domain Registration