Date: Fri, 28 Nov 2008 16:38:27 -0500 From: PJ <af.gourmet@videotron.ca> To: Ivan Voras <ivoras@freebsd.org> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: repair v.7 installation Message-ID: <493064D3.6020202@videotron.ca> In-Reply-To: <ggp340$19f$1@ger.gmane.org> References: <492FFDF8.1020705@videotron.ca> <ggp340$19f$1@ger.gmane.org>
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Ivan Voras wrote:
> PJ wrote:
>
>> I believe that my installation should be salvageable but I do not know
>> how to phrase my search question.
>> Here is the problem:
>> Apparently due to some connector problem in the computer one or some
>> files were damaged. I ran a regenerating program on the disk and all
>> sectors are readable.
>> How can I locate the problem files and repair or reinstall them without
>> damaging other files?
>>
>
> Try reading all the files on the drive, something like
>
>
>> find / -exec cat "{}" > /dev/null ";"
>>
>
> See if any files error out.
>
>
>> From trying to boot the system, it appears that the problem is related
>> to the login files: I boot to safe mode and get the logon prompt which
>> is not accepted. I then get to the single user mode and can read the
>>
>
> Boot to a single-user mode and see if /etc/passwd and /etc/master.passwd
> are ok. If so, regenerate the databases (easiest way is to run vipw).
>
>
>> contents of the root (top or main) directory and subdirectories.
>> The command "df" returns "-70016" under Avail and "104%" under Capacity,
>> Mounted on / .
>>
>
> This doesn't necessarily mean there's an error. If you filled the file
> system past its reserved space limit, it's normal to get negative
> available bytes and over 100% usage. See also if you have a /lost+found
> directory.
>
>
>> Or is it possible to reinstall the system from the installation CD? I
>> would like to avoid having to reinstall all the programs that run on
>> this local development server - Apache, Samba, Cups, php, pstgresql, etc.
>>
>
> It is possible, with care, to reinstall the system from the CD media,
> and keep all user settings. /usr/local/* will not be touched in any case
> when performing an upgrade.
>
>
How would I proceed with the reinstallation or should i try to upgrade
to the latest version. Mine is 7.0 STABLE #4.
I tried your suggestions but nothing helped. Under sh, cat print the
file but only the last bit is on screen... "more" does not work. I don't
understand how I can see the whole file. vipw is not available in single
user mode. So, I did a bit of deeper research on my problem and found
the following. It seems to be quite nasty.
1. On boot up and just before the crash there were warnings of an
"interrupt storm" whatever that may mean and then there are messages
about bad file descriptor; and there is a WARNING / was not properly
dismounted (obviously because of the hardware problem) and "init /bin/sh
on /etc/rc terminated abnormally, going to single user mode....
2. on bootup, there is a warning - /etc/rc WARNING run_rc_command:
cannot run /usr/sbin/inetd
3. for login : in openpam_load_module (): no pam_opie.so found
4. login: pam_start(): system error
5. fsck gets wrong superblocks and cannot fix anything
6. When in single user mode, cannot access /usr or /var
So, now I get the feeling that the installation is completely screwed.
What I would like to recover is onle a bunch of files on the /usr
partition like the web stuff for apache and some other files.
What are my options? is there a way I could access these files?
It is rather strange, or is it, that I have had problems with sata hdd
connectors. In general I find that the connectors for the ps mouse and
the sata connectors are rather mickey-mouse... they are often getting
bad connections and without any intervention to the computer housing or
innard... gremlins or strange vibrations?
Thanks for any further assistance.
Phil Jourdan
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