Baslinux mailing list

[Sindi Keesan <keesan AT iamjlamb.com>]

The inodes problem discussed below apparently resulted from my powering 
off the computer without rebooting, because I could not reboot when I got 
into a sort of endless loop of error messages when untarring which I could 
not even stop with Ctrl-C.  When I looked at /usr/src/linux-2.2.16 there 
were a lot of 0 length subdirectories before I fixed things.

I finally figured out that I have BL2 installed not to /dev/hdb3 but 
/dev/hdb2, and I am running e2fsck /dev/hdb2 now.  It asks me about things 
like
Inode 41077 has illegal block(s).  Clear<y>?  Yes
Indoes 41080, i_size is 12915, should be 21504.  Fix<y>?  Yes
Too many illegal blocks in inode 41081.  Clear inode<y>  Yes
I answered y about 100 times and it is restarting e2fsck from the 
beginning.
Still finding errors.  Duplicate blocks found in two inodes.
Reconciling duplicate blocks.  Clone/duplicate bad blocks? yes
Already reassigned or cloned. 
Checking directory structure.   Clear a deleted/unused node.  yes
(Many of these, all, not surprisingly, in /usr/src/linux-2.2.16/include)
I hit the enter key 66 times.
Free inodes count wrong for group #117 (and many other groups)
Directories count wrong....    FIXED

******FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED******

Rebooting and attempting to boot BL2 from hard drive again, now that it is 
fixed.  Booting Win98 DOS from floppy disk so that linux will boot since 
it won't boot on this computer if I start with DR-DOS.
Can't find any files in c: now, strange.  I have BL2 in D, luckily.
I have had similar problems before with a hard drive set up with DR-DOS 
and then booted with Win98 DOS.  

I have /usr/src/linux (as before) and also /usr/src/linux-2.2.16, with 
subdirectories and files in them.  I might risk untarring the kernel 
source code tar file again since I know how to fix problems now, but I can 
probably just delete it since the source code appears to be all there.

In /include there are various asm- directories.  Can I safely delete
asm-alpha -arm -m68k -mips s390 spard sparc64 and keep just asm
asm-generic and asm-i386?

Do I need both /linux and /linux-2.2.16?  They have identical 
subdirectories in them and are both 7462 in size.  Would just the latter 
be enough?

BL3 has apparently rescued BL2, but would not have worked for me on this 
particular computer from C: because of my problem in not being able to 
boot linux from DR-DOS and having to boot from a Win98 boot disk, which 
won't recognize c: when it is set up with DR-DOS.

Steven, thanks for all the useful tools, and especially for making BL3 
usable from D:.  (I have not yet tried the floppy disk version).  


On Thu, 17 Jun 2004, Sindi Keesan wrote:

> I read about fsck and followed the instructions to run e2fsck on an 
> unmounted file system (using BL3 to check the BL2 partition), both with 
> and without -a (automatically fix?) option.  BL2 ramdisk did not have 
> fsck/e2fsck so I could not use that.  The warning message when I tried to 
> boot BL2 hard drive said to run e2fsck without the -a option.  It also 
> said to reboot immediately, which implies that I am not supposed to use 
> BL2 to check itself.
> 
> Both times it checked if /dev/hdb3 was mounted (it was not) and then told 
> me 'clean, 11/226440 files, 29096/905184 blocks'.
> I thought this meant it had fixed the inode problem but it had not.
> BL3 does not have a lot of help on e2fsck (part of busybox?).
> Switch: -l bad_blocks-file - would this help?
> The problem is 'wrong free inode count' and something about illegal 
> blocks.
> 
> This computer, again, won't boot linux when I first boot into DR-DOS so I 
> boot DOS from a Win98 boot disk.  (The other computer at this location 
> won't run Xvesa if I boot from Win98 unless I hit F5 to bypass system 
> files, and booting from DR-DOS did not help.)  Probably irrelevant to the 
> inode problem.  I have three computers of the same model with the same 
> problem in linux.
> 
> 
> 
> On Tue, 15 Jun 2004, Sindi Keesan wrote:
> 
> > While trying to get the linux source code for 2.2.16 into /usr/src/
> > on my second computer (the first would not recognize the CD-ROM drive), 
> > after installing bzip2 and bunzip2-ing the file from the source CD 
> > (linux-2.2.16-tar.bz2 copied to the hard drive first), I did tar
> > on the resulting 75MB file (up from 13M) and was getting an occasional 
> > error (reset?  two lines of error, it resumed).  Then I went away and 
> > came 
> > back to find a screen full of error messages about reset and status and 
> > command and I could not do Ctrl-C.  Something wrong with hdb so I powered 
> > off and tried to go back into linux.
> > 
> > Linuxz contains a file system with errors, check forced.
> > 
> > It got slightly into the check and gave up and told me to run fsck 
> > manually.  When I typed root to login there were a lot of error messages 
> > about EXT2 error  Wrong free inode count (followed by various numbers).
> > 
> > Before logging in (I think) there was some complaint about 
> > Inode 41067 has illegal blocks.
> > 
> > I dutifully typed fsck without any switches but that did not help.  I 
> > have 
> > no idea what fsck is supposed to do or how to use it.
> > 
> > This now happens every time I try to run linux.
> > 
> > What got messed up?  Is it a bad hard drive?  Just a software problem?  
> > Can I fix this?  Only half the source files got installed, even though I 
> > saw the others go by on the list.  the /net directory is 0, as is README.
> > Would it help to reformat and reinstall Linux on there again.  Change 
> > hard 
> > drives?  Change computers?
> > 
> > THis computer is the one that used to not boot linux half the time 
> > (unless 
> > I booted from Win98 DOS or MS-DOS 6) but it now boots linux without any 
> > complaints until the fsck/inodes thing.  I tried to use the problem-free 
> > one but it could not find the CD-ROM drive.   (And now my keyboard drawer 
> > just fell off again....)
> > 
> > I was trying to compile the kernel module for a replacement ethernet card
> > but I can put back the original card to reinstall linux with as it uses a
> > more standard ethernet module.  One problem leads to too many others.
> > 
> > Any ideas welcome.
> > Sindi
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
> > BasLinux mailing list
> > BasLinux AT lists.ibiblio.org
> > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/baslinux
> > 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> BasLinux mailing list
> BasLinux AT lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/baslinux
> 

   [1]Table of Contents

   [2]
   
NAME

   fsck - file system consistency check and interactive repair

   [3]
   
SYNOPSIS

   fsck -p [ -m mode ]
   fsck [ -b block# ] [ -c ] [ -y ] [ -n ] [ -m mode ] [ filesystem ] ...

   [4]
   
DESCRIPTION

   The  first  form  of  fsck preens a standard set of filesystems or the
   specified  file  systems.  It  is  normally used in the script /etc/rc
   during  automatic  reboot.  Here  fsck  reads  the table /etc/fstab to
   determine  which  file systems to check. Only partitions in fstab that
   are  mounted  ``rw,''  ``rq''  or  ``ro''  and that have non-zero pass
   number  are checked. Filesystems with pass number 1 (normally just the
   root filesystem) are checked one at a time. When pass 1 completes, all
   remaining filesystems are checked, running one process per disk drive.
   The disk drive containing each filesystem is inferred from the longest
   prefix  of  the  device  name  that  ends  in  a  digit; the remaining
   characters are assumed to be the partition designator.

   The  system  takes  care  that  only  a  restricted class of innocuous
   inconsistencies  can  happen  unless  hardware  or  software  failures
   intervene. These are limited to the following:

   Unreferenced inodes

   Link counts in inodes too large

   Missing blocks in the free map

   Blocks in the free map also in files

   Counts in the super-block wrong

   These  are  the only inconsistencies that fsck with the -p option will
   correct;  if  it  encounters  other  inconsistencies, it exits with an
   abnormal  return  status  and  an automatic reboot will then fail. For
   each  corrected  inconsistency  one  or  more  lines  will  be printed
   identifying  the  file system on which the correction will take place,
   and the nature of the correction. After successfully correcting a file
   system,  fsck  will print the number of files on that file system, the
   number of used and free blocks, and the percentage of fragmentation.

   If  sent  a QUIT signal, fsck will finish the file system checks, then
   exit with an abnormal return status that causes an automatic reboot to
   fail.  This  is useful when to finish the file system checks during an
   automatic  reboot,  but  do  not want the machine to come up multiuser
   after the checks complete.

   Without   the   -p  option,  fsck  audits  and  interactively  repairs
   inconsistent  conditions  for  file  systems.  If  the  file system is
   inconsistent  the  operator  is  prompted  for concurrence before each
   correction  is  attempted.  It  should  be  noted  that  some  of  the
   corrective  actions which are not correctable under the -p option will
   result  in some loss of data. The amount and severity of data lost may
   be  determined from the diagnostic output. The default action for each
   consistency  correction  is to wait for the operator to respond yes or
   no.  If the operator does not have write permission on the file system
   fsck will default to a -n action.

   Fsck  has more consistency checks than its predecessors check, dcheck,
   fcheck, and icheck combined.

   The following flags are interpreted by fsck.

   -b
          Use the block specified immediately after the flag as the super
          block  for  the  file  system. Block 32 is usually an alternate
          super block.

   -l
          Limit  the number of parallel checks to the number specified in
          the  following argument. By default, the limit is the number of
          disks,  running  one  process  per  disk. If a smaller limit is
          given,  the  disks are checked round-robin, one filesystem at a
          time.

   -m
          Use  the  mode specified in octal immediately after the flag as
          the  permission  bits  to  use  when  creating  the  lost+found
          directory  rather than the default 1777. In particular, systems
          that  do not wish to have lost files accessible by all users on
          the  system  should  use  a more restrictive set of permissions
          such as 700.

   -y
          Assume  a  yes  response  to  all questions asked by fsck; this
          should  be used with great caution as this is a free license to
          continue   after   essentially   unlimited   trouble  has  been
          encountered.

   -n
          Assume  a no response to all questions asked by fsck except for
          ``CONTINUE?'',  which is assumed to be affirmative; do not open
          the file system for writing.

   -c
          If the file system is in the old (static table) format, convert
          it  to the new (dynamic table) format. If the file system is in
          the  new  format, convert it to the old format provided the old
          format can support the filesystem configuration. In interactive
          mode, fsck will list the direction the conversion is to be made
          and  ask  whether  the conversion should be done. If a negative
          answer  is  given,  no  further  operations  are  done  on  the
          filesystem.  In  preen mode, the direction of the conversion is
          listed   and   done   if  possible  without  user  interaction.
          Conversion in preen mode is best used when all the file systems
          are being converted at once. The format of a file system can be
          determined from the first line of output from [5]dumpfs(8).

   If  no  filesystems  are  given  to  fsck  then a default list of file
   systems is read from the file /etc/fstab.

   Inconsistencies checked are as follows:

   1.
          Blocks claimed by more than one inode or the free map.

   2.
          Blocks  claimed  by  an  inode  outside  the  range of the file
          system.

   3.
          Incorrect link counts.

   4.
          Size  checks:  Directory  size  not of proper format. Partially
          truncated file.

   5.
          Bad inode format.

   6.
          Blocks not accounted for anywhere.

   7.
          Directory  checks:  File  pointing  to unallocated inode. Inode
          number  out  of range. Dot or dot-dot not the first two entries
          of a directory or having the wrong inode number.

   8.
          Super  Block  checks:  More blocks for inodes than there are in
          the file system.

   9.
          Bad  free  block  map  format. 10. Total free block and/or free
          inode count incorrect.

   Orphaned  files and directories (allocated but unreferenced) are, with
   the  operator's  concurrence,  reconnected  by  placing  them  in  the
   lost+found  directory.  The  name assigned is the inode number. If the
   lost+found  directory  does  not  exist,  it  is  created. If there is
   insufficient space its size is increased.

   Because  of  inconsistencies  between  the block device and the buffer
   cache, the raw device should always be used.

   [6]
   
FILES

   /etc/fstab
          contains default list of file systems to check.

   [7]
   
DIAGNOSTICS

   The diagnostics produced by fsck are fully enumerated and explained in
   Appendix A of ``Fsck - The UNIX File System Check Program'' (SMM:5).

   [8]
   
SEE ALSO

   [9]fstab(5),   [10]fs(5),   [11]fsdb(8),   [12]newfs(8),  [13]mkfs(8),
   [14]reboot(8)
     _________________________________________________________________

   Table of Contents

     * [15]NAME
     * [16]SYNOPSIS
     * [17]DESCRIPTION
     * [18]FILES
     * [19]DIAGNOSTICS
     * [20]SEE ALSO

References

   1. http://www.neosoft.com/neosoft/man/fsck.8.html#toc
   2. http://www.neosoft.com/neosoft/man/fsck.8.html#toc0
   3. http://www.neosoft.com/neosoft/man/fsck.8.html#toc1
   4. http://www.neosoft.com/neosoft/man/fsck.8.html#toc2
   5. http://www.neosoft.com/neosoft/man/dumpfs.8.html
   6. http://www.neosoft.com/neosoft/man/fsck.8.html#toc3
   7. http://www.neosoft.com/neosoft/man/fsck.8.html#toc4
   8. http://www.neosoft.com/neosoft/man/fsck.8.html#toc5
   9. http://www.neosoft.com/neosoft/man/fstab.5.html
  10. http://www.neosoft.com/neosoft/man/fs.5.html
  11. http://www.neosoft.com/neosoft/man/fsdb.8.html
  12. http://www.neosoft.com/neosoft/man/newfs.8.html
  13. http://www.neosoft.com/neosoft/man/mkfs.8.html
  14. http://www.neosoft.com/neosoft/man/reboot.8.html
  15. http://www.neosoft.com/neosoft/man/fsck.8.html#sect0
  16. http://www.neosoft.com/neosoft/man/fsck.8.html#sect1
  17. http://www.neosoft.com/neosoft/man/fsck.8.html#sect2
  18. http://www.neosoft.com/neosoft/man/fsck.8.html#sect3
  19. http://www.neosoft.com/neosoft/man/fsck.8.html#sect4
  20. http://www.neosoft.com/neosoft/man/fsck.8.html#sect5