I am writing in follow-up to an earlier message called '[EMAIL PROTECTED] fsck! On boot it dies... yet drive okay?!?' which can be found here: http://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2006/10/msg03405.html
and the follow-up: http://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2006/10/msg03563.html (thanks David for your comments) I haven't figured-out exactly what the problem is. However, I have narrowed it down and more-or-less resolved it for the time being. On booting my Debian system got something like: --------- [sbin/fsck.ext3 (1) -- /mnt/mdk] fsck.ext3 -a -C0 /dev/hda11 /dev/hda11: clean, 5765/130048 files, 1425960/2596497 blocks Reiserfs super block in block 16 on 0x309 of format 3.6 with standard journal Blocks (total/free): 200800/192582 by 4096 bytes. Filesystem clear. Reiserfs super block in block 16 on 0x30a of format 3.6 with standard journal Blocks (total/free): 200800/192582 by 4096 bytes. Filesystem clear. fsck died with exit status 9 File system check failed. A log is being saved in /var/log/fsck/checkfs if that location is writable. Please repair the file system manually. A maintenance shell will now be started. CONTROL-D will terminate this shell and resume system boot. Give root password for maintenance (or type Control-D to continue): --------- My '/etc/fstab' was as follows: --------- # /etc/fstab: static file system information. # # <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass> proc /proc proc defaults 0 0 /dev/hda2 /mnt/transfer vfat rw,user,noexec,umask=0000 0 2 /dev/hda3 /boot ext3 defaults 0 2 /dev/hda5 / reiserfs defaults 0 1 /dev/hda6 none swap sw 0 0 /dev/hda7 /usr reiserfs defaults 0 2 /dev/hda8 /var reiserfs defaults 0 2 /dev/hda9 /tmp reiserfs defaults 0 2 /dev/hda10 /home reiserfs defaults 0 2 # /dev/hda11 /mnt/media reiserfs defaults 0 2 # /dev/hda11 /mnt/mdk reiserfs defaults 0 2 /dev/hda11 /mnt/mdk ext3 defaults 0 2 /dev/hdc /media/cdrom iso9660 ro,user,noauto 0 0 /dev/fd0 /media/floppy auto rw,user,noauto 0 0 /dev/hdc /cdrom iso9660 ro,user,noauto 0 0 /dev/hda1 /mnt/winxp ntfs ro,user,noexec,umask=022 0 0 /dev/sda1 /mnt/external vfat rw,user,noauto,noexec,umask=0000 0 2 /dev/sda2 /mnt/f_external ext3 rw,user,noauto,noexec 0 2 /dev/sda3 /mnt/g_external ext3 rw,user,noauto,noexec 0 2 --------- When I "commented-out", i.e. added a "#" infront of the '/dev/sda2' and '/dev/sda3' entries in the fstab file the error did NOT occur. What this implies is 'fsck.ext' is failing on '/dev/sda2' and '/dev/sda3' despite that they aren't being mounted. The "noauto" option in the fstab file (briefly discussed here -- http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/docs/Raven/EyeView/SSR05/SSR05-09.htm ) is a setting that I thought should avoid this problem but it (1) does NOT avoid the failure of fsck and (2) the error message deliver by 'fsck' ---- 'exit status 9' (a combination of 'exit status 1' and 'exit status 8', which are "File system errors corrected" and "Operational error" respectively) does NOT suggest a problem with '/dev/sda2' and/or '/dev/sda3'. There is either a subtility I do not understand about external drives/mount in /etc/fstab --OR-- there is a bug in 'fsck.ext3'. The objective of the last two line in my fstab i.e.: ----- /dev/sda2 /mnt/f_external ext3 rw,user,noauto,noexec 0 2 /dev/sda3 /mnt/g_external ext3 rw,user,noauto,noexec 0 2 ----- were to allow me to quickly mount an external hard drive (after plugging-in) with the two following commands: ----- # mount /dev/sda2 # mount /dev/sda3 ----- as described at the following URL under the heading "MOUNT EXTERNAL USB HARD DRIVE": http://individual.utoronto.ca/bonert/debian_install.html If the above fsck.ext3 failure is due to nothing but ignorance of fstab settings on my part I have the following to say: (1) the fsck.ext3 error messages leave a little bit to be desired (2) the default behaviour of a debian install should be allow writing of the error file in '/var/log/fsck/checkfs' or another location (i.e. /tmp). It seems a bit sloppy to me that some executables (fsck.ext3) in debian on boot try to write to a position to which they ordinarily do not have adequate permissions. Michael ======================================== System/Hardware ======================================== Toshiba Satellite A20 -- A20-31Q: 2.53GHz (PSA20C-0231Q) Processor: Intel Pentium IV, 2.53GHz Memory: 512 MB Install log: http://individual.utoronto.ca/bonert/debian_install.html Debian GNU/Linux release: testing Kernel: Linux version 2.6.11-1-686 ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) (gcc version 3.3.6 (Debian 1:3.3.6-6)) #1 Mon Jun 20 22:00:38 MDT 2005 Desktop: KDE 3.5.5 -- GMX DSL-Flatrate 0,- Euro* - Überall, wo DSL verfügbar ist! NEU: Jetzt bis zu 16.000 kBit/s! http://www.gmx.net/de/go/dsl -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
