GRUB and re-boot

I have re-booted this server several times before.

My coleague tripped the power line to the server 2 weeks before. When
I re-booted the system, the OS reported some file problems at Ext3,
and hung.

However, after trying a few re-boots, it managed to get back on. A few
days later, I saw the same message on the screen, but the server was
still working. Not sure what to do, I ignored it (I thought of doing a
file scan to correct any lost gains, but server warned that files are
still mounted; I decided not to proceed.)

sb5309@yahoo.com wrote:
> I have re-booted this server several times before.
> My coleague tripped the power line to the server 2 weeks before. When
> I re-booted the system, the OS reported some file problems at Ext3,
> and hung.
> However, after trying a few re-boots, it managed to get back on. A few
> days later, I saw the same message on the screen, but the server was
> still working. Not sure what to do, I ignored it
Probably a *very* bad idea.
> (I thought of doing a
> file scan to correct any lost gains, but server warned that files are
> still mounted; I decided not to proceed.)
The warning was correct. You can't clean up a running filesystem. You
need to unmount the filesystem first, or at least mount it read-only.
If the filesystem in question is the root filesystem, this is best done
as part of the boot process. You no longer have this option.

I hope you have a good backup. You're going to need it.

All I can do is guess at what is wrong. Based on your description of
the symptoms and how you got there, filesystem corruption has proceeded
to the point where files needed by the boot loader have been trashed.
Another possibility is that the filesystem root is corrupt. In any
case, it is likely that one or more filesystem(s) is/are a mess.

I'd suggest you start by getting the filesystems to the point where they
is stable again. To do this, boot the system with either the FC6 rescue
CD or a Linux-on-a-disk system (e.g. Knoppix as another poster
suggested). Make sure all filesystems are mounted read-only, and make a
backup of everything you can. It is often possible to salvage something
from a corrupt filesystem, as long as you are careful. If you try to
run fsck (the filesystem cleanup program) first, you could wind up with
a filesystem that is completely unusable. Once you have a backup or
two, use fsck to clean the filesystem up. Make another backup of the
clean filesystem if you can and then figure out how bad the damage is.

Be careful before you do anything that will write to the disk. You
should try to salvage as much as you can first.

If you don't know how your disk was partitioned, consult /etc/fstab from
a backup. If you don't have an accessible backup maybe the FC6 rescue
boot can figure things out for you.