Date: Fri, 7 Aug 2009 17:36:48 +0300 From: =?UTF-8?B?T2RoaWFtYm8gIOODr+OCt+ODs+ODiOODsw==?= <odhiambo@gmail.com> To: Identry <jalmberg@identry.com> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Boot failure Message-ID: <991123400908070736n626b7b26v8436f9f5e70c7526@mail.gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <4d4e09680908070708i286b98a7j6f03725a848ae83c@mail.gmail.com> References: <4d4e09680908061012q6ea8aeacm875c556eaea7a54f@mail.gmail.com> <4A7B1B41.7090507@unsane.co.uk> <4d4e09680908061733v21602321x252a7111a7648ad6@mail.gmail.com> <4A7C074C.9060303@unsane.co.uk> <4d4e09680908070708x635dcd80ha96a61e9c71b0b6b@mail.gmail.com> <4d4e09680908070708i286b98a7j6f03725a848ae83c@mail.gmail.com>
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On Fri, Aug 7, 2009 at 5:08 PM, Identry <jalmberg@identry.com> wrote:
> > I'd give it an fsck or two (more than one has been needed once or
> > twice),
>
> I was afraid to run fsck before backing up everything I might possibly
> need, so I spent most of last night mounting all the partitions and
> backing up things.
>
> I was able to manually mount all the partitions and all the data seemed
> fine.
>
> At this point, I'm ready to risk an fsck or pretty much anything.
>
> > also has anything changed with the server (updates etc etc) for
> > example why was it rebooted?
>
> Because of a stupid mistake on my part. I was trying to add an address
> to the NIC card, and rather than *add* the address to a long list of
> addresses (used for https websites), I made that the only address. I
> was only experimenting, so the file in /etc that I use to set up the
> addresses (using ifconfig) was unchanged. I figured a quick reboot
> would solve the problem, so I logged in via the console and did a
> clean shutdown. When I turned the machine back on, it would not boot.
>
> I seem to recall a verbose boot mode in the
> > boot menu. does that give any hints beyond the freeze you see when you
> > try and boot?
>
> It prints one line, which I cannot recall, unfortunately.
>
> > Are you using the GENERIC kernel
>
> I don't know. This is the oldest freebsd machine that I run. I didn't
> install the OS, myself. It's a 6.2 machine that had been running in
> production mode without any updates for over a year when I took it
> over. I am embarrassed to say I never had the nerve to do any updates
> on it, either, because when I started on it, I didn't know enough
> about FreeBSD to risk the 40 websites that were running on it.
>
> I've been meaning to update it for awhile, but it is locked down tight
> with PF and has had zero problems up until now. Famous last words...
>
> > if not have you tried it?
>
> No. I need to figure out how to do that, and I didn't have enough
> brain power last night after doing all those backups.
Boot to single user mode and just run:
fsck -y
You don't need any special options the first time. fsck should tell you if
there are further problems.
>
> After sleeping on it, I am wondering if I can kill two birds with one
> stone... by using 7.2 install CDs to upgrade the machine? I believe
> there is an 'upgrade' option on the install menu (I'm burning some 7.2
> CDs right now to double check.)
>
> Or would it be safer to try to bring up the machine on it's own with a
> 6.2 generic kernel, first?
Please don't even think of doing that! You might go mad with the several
issues you may end up facing. And upgrading a production system from an
install CD is something that I will never do. I always use csup/cvsup, but
perhaps you can also use freebsd-update.
I advise you get to fix the problem at hand before thinking of updating.
--
Best regards,
Odhiambo WASHINGTON,
Nairobi,KE
+254733744121/+254722743223
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
"If you have nothing good to say about someone, just shut up!."
-- Lucky Dube
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