# Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS ...

## papapenguin

(I'm sorry I don't have some of the error messages, I'm typing from another computer)

I recently ran emerge -avuDN world...and 60 something files were pulled in...

...upon 'finishing' it's update, a number of very strange error messages flashed across the screen...then I couldn't log into anything, it went into a read only mode...

Gentoo then tried to repair some files, it seemed like fsck commands...'error reading block 328883' stuff...

now I rebooted and get this:

```
[  1.88717] Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(8,3)

[  1.887377] CPU: PID: 1 Comm: swapper/0 Not tainted 3.10.17-gentoo #1

then a few more lines then

[  1.88810] Call Trace:

then lines with question marks such as

? dump_stack

? panic+

? mount_block_root

and a blinking cursor at the end
```

I also cannot mount /dev/sda3 on the boot disc...

I see /dev/sda3 with 

```
fdisk -l
```

and

```
mount /dev/sda3 /mnt/Gentoo

mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sda3, missing codepage or helper program, or other error

In some cases useful info is found on syslog - try dmesg | tail or so
```

please help!

----------

## Hu

What is the output of file -s /dev/sda? ; dmesg | tail after the mount failure you showed?  What did the strange error messages say?

----------

## papapenguin

ok, bear in mind I'm typing all this out:

```
/dev/sda1: Linux rev 1.0 ext2 filesystem data, UUID=(a bunch of numbers)

/dev/sda2: Linux/i386 swap file (new style), version 1 (4K pages), size 479940 pages, no label, UUID=(more #'s)

/dev/sda3: Linux rev 1.0 ext3 filesystem data, UUID=(more #'s) (needs jounal recovery) (large files)

then some numbers, then

warning: process 'hwsetup' used the deprecated sysctl system call with 1.23.

NET: Registered protocol family 10

foredeth (#'s) no link during initialization

IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): enp0s20: link is not ready

Adding 1919760k swap on /dev/sda2. Priority:-1 extents:1 across:1919760k

EXT3-fs (sda3): error: no journal found
```

I can fill in those #'s, but didn't think it was necessary...

----------

## papapenguin

ok, I looked around the internets and here's what I tried

```
e2fsck -p /dev/sda3

/dev/sda3: Superblock has an invalid jounal (inode8).

CLEARED.

*** ext3 journal has been deleted - filesystem is now ext2 only ***

Error reading block 17432576 (Attempt to read block from filesystem resulted in short read) while reading inode and block bitmaps.

/dev/sda3: UNEXPECTED INCONSISTENCY; FUN fsck MANUALLY.

(i.e., without -a or -p options)
```

so that's what I'm waiting on now...

```
e2fsck /dev/sda3

e2fsck 1.42.7 (21-Jan-2013)

/dev/sda3 contains a file system with errors, check forced.

Pass1: Checking inodes, blocks and sizes
```

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## Hu

Invalid journal and short reads are both bad signs.  How current is your backup of that filesystem?

----------

## papapenguin

not current at all...I hope to resuscitate it, then can make a backup...

----------

## papapenguin

ok all you lookie-lou's -- what do I do???

is it a hard drive issue?

I need to do something here...

----------

## krinn

 *papapenguin wrote:*   

> 
> 
> Error reading block 17432576 (Attempt to read block from filesystem resulted in short read) while reading inode and block bitmaps.
> 
> 

 

Yes, looks like hardware failure.

I would said your best option is stop trying to fix it, replace hdd with a sane one and fire up a livecd to try copying what could be recovered.

Fixing a dying hdd is best way to let it die for real, better keep it safe until you are ready for the operation.

----------

## papapenguin

thanks krinn...that was my idea...I have a usb-sata/IDE cord and I hope that I can recover my home folder...this probably is the reason that I've had these other problems that I just can't seem to solve

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-976918-highlight-.html

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-972430-highlight-.html

...these amongst others...

----------

## krinn

to answer both thread i think you need XSESSION set to the proper session, and that name change if you old use kde (by old i mean stable) or new kde (~)

to my knowledge this could be set thru ~/.xsession or /etc/env.d/somefile (gentoo suggest 90xsession, so editing /etc/env.d/90xsession)

and how you should set it depend on what kde version is running, so XSESSION="kde-4.11" (i suppose stable kde) or XSESSION="KDE-4" (i suppose for ~kde)

you can see the current state with 

```
env | grep XSESSION
```

----------

## papapenguin

I have some real problems here...

...the XSESSION is KDE-4

...on trying to save my home folder information (especially std.vcf), I get this error

 *Quote:*   

> The specified folder does not exist or was not readable.

 

not sure how to proceed, because I need the folder and the contents of the folder...any ideas on how to 'read' this info?

----------

## krinn

I have no idea what folder it could be, my KDE knowledge are limits to knowing kde exists.

but you should just check it exists or not, and its permissions (and owner).

----------

## papapenguin

I thought it might be permissions, as well, so I used

```
kdesu dolphin
```

which I think is superuser...still get the same answer, although the folder and files are there...

```
papapenguin ~ # ls -l /home/donald/.kde4

total 8

drwxr-xr-x 2 donald donald 4096 Jun  8  2009 Autostart

lrwxrwxrwx 1 donald donald   24 Oct 23  2009 cache-localhost -> /var/tmp/kdecache-donald

lrwxrwxrwx 1 donald donald   24 Jun  8  2009 cache-papapenguin -> /var/tmp/kdecache-donald

drwx------ 6 donald donald 4096 Apr  2  2010 share

lrwxrwxrwx 1 donald donald   19 Oct 23  2009 socket-localhost -> /tmp/ksocket-donald

lrwxrwxrwx 1 donald donald   19 Jun  8  2009 socket-papapenguin -> /tmp/ksocket-donald

lrwxrwxrwx 1 donald donald   15 Oct 23  2009 tmp-localhost -> /tmp/kde-donald

lrwxrwxrwx 1 donald donald   15 Jun  8  2009 tmp-papapenguin -> /tmp/kde-donald

papapenguin ~ #
```

and

```
papapenguin ~ # ls -l /home/donald/.kde4/share/apps

total 292

drwx------  2 donald donald 4096 Nov 14 14:38 RecentDocuments

drwx------  4 donald donald 4096 Feb  9  2013 activitymanager

drwx------  2 donald donald 4096 Mar  8  2013 akonadi_nepomuk_feeder

drwx------  4 donald donald 4096 Jun 16  2009 akregator

drwx------  2 donald donald 4096 Jun  2  2013 autocorrect

drwx------  2 donald donald 4096 Jun 14  2012 calligra

drwx------ 15 donald donald 4096 Feb  9  2013 desktoptheme

drwx------  3 donald donald 4096 Jun 12  2009 dolphin

drwx------  2 donald donald 4096 Jun 29  2009 dragonplayer

drwx------  5 donald donald 4096 May 19  2013 emailidentities

drwx------  4 donald donald 4096 Sep  1  2009 gwenview

drwx------  3 donald donald 4096 May  2  2013 juk

drwx------  3 donald donald 4096 Nov 24  2009 k3b

drwx------  7 donald donald 4096 Apr 28  2011 kabc

drwx------  3 donald donald 4096 Jun 17  2009 kaddressbook

drwx------  4 donald donald 4096 Oct 28 20:21 kate

drwx------  3 donald donald 4096 Jun  8  2009 kconf_update

drwx------  2 donald donald 4096 Nov 15 20:24 kcookiejar

drwx------  3 donald donald 4096 Jul 29  2011 kded

drwx------  3 donald donald 4096 Jul  7  2010 kdenlive

drwx------  2 donald donald 4096 Nov 14 11:54 kfileplaces

drwx------  3 donald donald 4096 Nov 14 14:58 kget

drwx------  3 donald donald 4096 Jun 17  2009 khelpcenter

drwx------  3 donald donald 4096 Sep 30 22:13 khtml

drwx------  2 donald donald 4096 Jun  8  2009 kicker

drwx------  3 donald donald 4096 Jun 22 08:31 kig

drwx------  2 donald donald 4096 Mar 20  2012 kio_magnet

drwx------  2 donald donald 4096 Nov 10  2010 kjots

drwx------  2 donald donald 4096 Nov 26  2012 kjotsmigrator

drwx------  3 donald donald 4096 Feb  7  2013 klinkstatus

drwx------  2 donald donald 4096 Nov 14 14:52 klipper

drwx------  7 donald donald 4096 Jun 17  2011 kmail

drwx------  3 donald donald 4096 Jun 19  2011 kmail-migrator

drwx------  3 donald donald 4096 Nov 14 15:04 kmail2

drwx------  3 donald donald 4096 Feb 11  2010 kmix

drwx------  2 donald donald 4096 Aug  9  2009 knewstuff2-entries.registry

drwx------  2 donald donald 4096 Feb 15  2013 knewstuff3

drwx------  2 donald donald 4096 Jul 12  2010 knode

drwx------  3 donald donald 4096 Mar 30  2013 knotes

drwx------  2 donald donald 4096 Jun  9  2009 koffice

drwx------  3 donald donald 4096 May 26  2010 konqsidebartng

drwx------  9 donald donald 4096 Nov 16 14:16 konqueror

drwx------  2 donald donald 4096 Oct 12 14:36 konsole

drwx------  2 donald donald 4096 Nov 14 15:15 kontact

drwx------ 10 donald donald 4096 Oct 13  2011 kopete

drwx------  8 donald donald 4096 Nov 12 08:32 korganizer

drwx------  2 donald donald 4096 Jul 17  2009 kpdf

drwx------  2 donald donald 4096 Oct  5  2009 kradio4

drwx------  2 donald donald 4096 Jun 19  2011 kres-migrator

drwx------  3 donald donald 4096 Nov  2 16:38 krita

drwx------  3 donald donald 4096 May 21  2011 kspread

drwx------  3 donald donald 4096 Feb  8  2011 kssl

drwx------  2 donald donald 4096 Aug  5  2009 ksysguard

drwx------ 34 donald donald 4096 Oct 27 09:14 ktorrent

drwx------  3 donald donald 4096 Sep 13  2009 kttsd

drwx------  2 donald donald 4096 Nov 14 15:01 kwallet

drwx------  3 donald donald 4096 Apr  6  2011 kwebkitpart

drwx------  3 donald donald 4096 Feb  8  2011 kwin

drwx------  4 donald donald 4096 Sep 22  2009 kword

drwx------  2 donald donald 4096 Jul 13  2010 libkunitconversion

drwx------  3 donald donald 4096 Nov  6 09:15 messageviewer

drwxr-xr-x  4 donald donald 4096 Nov  6 19:44 nepomuk

drwxr-xr-x  4 donald donald 4096 Jan 25  2013 nepomuk.old

drwxr-xr-x  4 donald donald 4096 Jan 26  2013 nepomuk.old2

drwx------  2 donald donald 4096 Feb 22  2012 nsplugins

drwx------  3 donald donald 4096 Feb  8  2010 okular

drwx------  2 donald donald 4096 Oct  2  2012 parley

drwx------  3 donald donald 4096 Mar  1  2012 plasma

drwxr-xr-x  3 donald donald 4096 Mar  1  2012 plasma-desktop

drwx------  2 donald donald 4096 Jun  8  2009 remoteview

drwx------  3 donald donald 4096 Jul  5  2012 sheets

drwx------  3 donald donald 4096 Aug  5  2009 superkaramba

drwx------  3 donald donald 4096 Jan  9  2013 words

papapenguin ~ #
```

----------

## krinn

 *papapenguin wrote:*   

> 
> 
> ```
> papapenguin ~ # ls -l /home/donald/.kde4
> ```
> ...

 

Still if the permissions of /home/donald or /home/donald/.kde4 aren't good, accessing/creating files in it won't be allow...

 *papapenguin wrote:*   

> I thought it might be permissions, as well, so I used
> 
> ```
> kdesu dolphin
> ```
> ...

 

and running it root won't help your cause as you think, look at output of :

```
ls ~

kdesu ls ~

```

----------

