# boot failing at fsck

## cokey

when booting it mounts /sys /proc and /dev but when it tries to perform a fsck it says "no such file or directory" and the boot process ends.

Any ideas?

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## ce110ut

What is it? /dev/hba?  /dev/sda?

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## Steve Bell

More information please.  What filesystem is it trying to fsck.  Does that filesystem exist,  Output of the screen or dmesg etc.

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## cokey

 *ce110ut wrote:*   

> What is it? /dev/hba?  /dev/sda?

 Why would that matter? If you really want to know it is /dev/sda3

 *Steve Bell wrote:*   

> More information please. What filesystem is it trying to fsck. Does that filesystem exist, Output of the screen or dmesg etc.

 ext3, of course. and there isn't any more.

How am I supposed to get a dmesg if i cant boot into it  :Rolling Eyes:  As you should know, init invokes e2fsck at boot when the kernel image starts transferring info over to the host root system. It mounts it fine, mounting /sys /proc and /dev but bails when it comes to fsck for some strange reason.

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## bunder

 *cokehabit wrote:*   

>  *ce110ut wrote:*   What is it? /dev/hba?  /dev/sda? Why would that matter? If you really want to know it is /dev/sda3
> 
>  *Steve Bell wrote:*   More information please. What filesystem is it trying to fsck. Does that filesystem exist, Output of the screen or dmesg etc. ext3, of course. and there isn't any more.
> 
> How am I supposed to get a dmesg if i cant boot into it  As you should know, init invokes e2fsck at boot when the kernel image starts transferring info over to the host root system. It mounts it fine, mounting /sys /proc and /dev but bails when it comes to fsck for some strange reason.

 

relax please.   :Razz: 

we need to see the exact reason its failing... "fails at fsck" doesn't really mean anything... there could be 100 reasons fsck fails.  take a picture of it if you have to.   :Wink: 

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## cokey

 *bunder wrote:*   

>  *cokehabit wrote:*    *ce110ut wrote:*   What is it? /dev/hba?  /dev/sda? Why would that matter? If you really want to know it is /dev/sda3
> 
>  *Steve Bell wrote:*   More information please. What filesystem is it trying to fsck. Does that filesystem exist, Output of the screen or dmesg etc. ext3, of course. and there isn't any more.
> 
> How am I supposed to get a dmesg if i cant boot into it  As you should know, init invokes e2fsck at boot when the kernel image starts transferring info over to the host root system. It mounts it fine, mounting /sys /proc and /dev but bails when it comes to fsck for some strange reason. 
> ...

 You misunderstand, the fsck isn't failing, init is failing when it comes to fsck

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## bunder

 *cokehabit wrote:*   

> You misunderstand, the fsck isn't failing, init is failing when it comes to fsck

 

we still need to see why, you gotta give us something more.   :Wink: 

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## cokey

 *bunder wrote:*   

>  *cokehabit wrote:*   You misunderstand, the fsck isn't failing, init is failing when it comes to fsck 
> 
> we still need to see why

 now buttercup, If i knew that I wouldn't be asking, now would I?

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## padoor

post your /etc/fstab

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## Steve Bell

It seems to be mounting your special filesystems ok (/proc and /dev) but not the normal filesystems on your hard disk.  When filesystem not found comes up, is this the output of init, or the output of fsck.

This could be as simple as a wrong filesystem spec in fstab.  Without the information from the screen (the messages that appear before the failure) I don't know what the machine is trying to do (apart from the obvious, check filesystems).  Is there another failure further up the screen that could be causing this problem.

Please give us the information we need to help you.

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## Steve Bell

ext3 is a filesystem type, not a filesystem.  The filesystem names are similar to /dev/hda1, /dev/sda1, /dev/hdb6 etc

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## timeBandit

That's a mite pedantic...besides, if we're in that mode, /dev/hda1 et al. are device node names, not filesystem names.   :Wink: 

Anyway: Check your fstab and kernel options in grub--may be as simple as a typo in your root device name? Did the message really say /dev/sda3 not found, or is that what it should say (you know how that goes...)? If this is a new kernel, double check all settings needed to support your root device (bus controller, etc.)...perhaps you're missing something.

Wait a sec--you said init fails at that point. Without the usual panicky "OMG I can't find the root filesystem help me pleeeeze!" message? It just stops?

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## Steve Bell

A quick thought.  This message, on my systems, normally occurs because of a missing binary.  Is fsck present in /sbin?  Try booting with your original boot cd, mount the root filesystem and check to see if fsck and fsck.ext3 exist in /sbin (or /bin).

If they are, the only other thought that I have is that somehow /sbin has ended up off the root filesystem (ie root is /dev/sda1 and /sbin is on /dev/sda3, for example).  As only the root filesystem is mounted, until after fsck is run, init has no chance of finding fsck.

Hope this helps

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## Steve Bell

Further to the above - perhaps a path problem.  Where is init looking for fsck?

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## cokey

 *timeBandit wrote:*   

> Wait a sec--you said init fails at that point. Without the usual panicky "OMG I can't find the root filesystem help me pleeeeze!" message? It just stops?

 yes. Thats why i didn't answer any other posts. init would have failed ages before.

Anyway it is all immaterial now as i just reinstalled (spend 24 hours trying to fix it and 1.5 hours reinstalling).

We could do they Hugh Laurie thing and try to diagnose the problem after it died

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## cokey

 *Steve Bell wrote:*   

> Further to the above - perhaps a path problem.  Where is init looking for fsck?

 fsck is fine. If i get it to boot to /bin/bash and fsck /dev/sda3 it gives me the same error

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## Monkeh

 *Steve Bell wrote:*   

> ext3 is a filesystem type, not a filesystem.  The filesystem names are similar to /dev/hda1, /dev/sda1, /dev/hdb6 etc

 

No.. ext3 is a filesystem. /dev/hd* and /dev/sd* are block devices.

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## cokey

 *Monkeh wrote:*   

>  *Steve Bell wrote:*   ext3 is a filesystem type, not a filesystem.  The filesystem names are similar to /dev/hda1, /dev/sda1, /dev/hdb6 etc 
> 
> No.. ext3 is a filesystem. /dev/hd* and /dev/sd* are block devices.

 ok, lets get this sorted:

block device: hdX, sdX etc

fliesystem: /, /etc, /etc/X11

file system: ext3, NTFS, xfs

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## Monkeh

 *cokehabit wrote:*   

> fliesystem: /, /etc, /etc/X11

 

Those are directories within a filesystem.

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## cokey

 *Monkeh wrote:*   

>  *cokehabit wrote:*   fliesystem: /, /etc, /etc/X11 Those are directories within a filesystem.

 no, that is A filesystem. THE filesystem would be ext<whatever>

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## cokey

```
root@george-laptop:~# e2fsck /dev/sda3

e2fsck 1.40.2 (12-Jul-2007)

/dev/sda3: clean, 227091/1855008 files, 588089/3702784 blocks

```

```
title      Gentoo 2.6.23

root      (hd0,0)

kernel      /boot/kernel-2.6.23-gentoo root=/dev/hda3
```

```
george@george-laptop:~$ mount

/dev/sda1 on / type ext3 (rw,errors=remount-ro)

/dev/sda3 on /mnt/gentoo type ext3 (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)

```

Just in case you wanted to see

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## timeBandit

In those examples, fsck and mount refer to sda3. Grub refers to hda3.

Is that correct, a transcription error or the cause of the mess?   :Confused:   :Smile: 

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