[solved]Editing file system after first boot

pottzie · 2010-05-09 20:28:22

I'm booting after my first time installing Arch. The screen shows that udev, loopback interface, and mounting root read-only went OK, but I hit mt first snag at "checking filesystems."
"dev/hda3 Superblock could not be read or does not describe a correct ext2 file system. Try running e2fsck with an alternate superblock:

e2fsck -b 8193 <device>"

Then the box saying root is read only, and to mount it as read-write, type: mount -n -o remount,rw /

I logged in with the root password and entered "e2fsck -b 8193 </dev/hda3>" and got syntax error near unexpected token 'newline'

What is the software expecting?

Last edited by pottzie (2010-05-10 17:36:57)

demian · 2010-05-09 21:00:17

Don't check your file system when it's mounted. It's a bad idea.

Do the file check from a live cd instead.
As to why you're having this problem in the first place i can only guess. Did you specify the right file system when installing arch? If so or if you've newly created the file system, try changing the following parameter in the grub boot entry:
root=UUID....
to
root=/dev/[hs]d[abcd...]

Last edited by demian (2010-05-09 21:01:17)

pottzie · 2010-05-09 22:22:04

I'm in grub's menu.lst. It shows "root (hd0,0)
Sounds right, I went with the default which was the first partition. I'm leaving it set that way until someone says to do something else.
This is for the "normal" and "fallback" options.

hokasch · 2010-05-09 22:27:21

demian was talking about the kernel line.

btw, "e2fsck -b 8193 <device>" translates into "e2fsck -b 8193 /dev/hda3"

rockin turtle · 2010-05-10 01:00:00

I've seen this. Even if your system doesn't have SATA, use the standard installation option when installing. Don't use the "Legacy IDE" option. See http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=85934. If you did first use the "Legacy IDE" option and partitioned your disk like I did, you may find that you are now unable to boot using the standard option. In this case, you'll have to restart from the "Legacy" option, use fdisk to delete your partition table, then go back and do a standard install.

pottzie · 2010-05-10 01:06:06

All right! That's probably what happened, I went witht the legacy install since I don't have a sata. Thanks!
Lookout hard drive, here we go again!
Does anyone make a hard drive that doubles as a magic slate?

pottzie · 2010-05-10 02:13:42

Yep! Redid it, gave my computer a name, assigned a password to root, rebooted, and it all went well....until I tried entering my name and password! I'm getting a "Log in incorrect" flag that I don't understand, but it works up until that point.

Wonder what it expects? It shows the right name, but asks for login. I entered my password the first time, then it asked for the password. So I gave it the same "name" as what I've named the computer (?) on the next go-'round, then my password when it asked for it. Still no go.
Say the magic word and the duck comes down from the ceiling?
Anyway, the original problem is solved!

fsckd · 2010-05-10 02:54:57

No no, the duck comes later. You're probably at the first boot stage of setup which means you have no user account set up, am I correct? In this case you need to enter root when it prompts for login and enter root's password when it prompts for password. After that if it prompts for password again it means you entered root's password incorrectly.

pottzie · 2010-05-10 03:03:53

No, I've gone through set up and succesfully rebooted, and am now stalled at the log in prompt after grub loaded up the system. It looks pretty good except that I can't figure out how to log in after booting. The live cd, is out of the tray and sitting on the desk next to me, reboot went great, just trying to figure out what the log in prompt wants. It shows my assigned computer name, but asks to log in as...?
I've tried root, my computer name, the root password, and even went ahead and read the directions (I relized that I was so focused on getting through the set up that I hadn't read past it.)
I'm at "Your new Arch Linux system will boot up and finish with a login prompt", and yes sir, it sure does. Now if I could open the door and come in.

fsckd · 2010-05-10 03:38:10

Yes, that's the stage I'm referring to. So it rejects your root password? That's not good. Are you sure you're not entering with capslock by accident (or may be numlock if you're using the numpad)?

If you still can't get it to work, you might want to look at,
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Password_recovery
http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=66906

For reference, example login from my machine:

Arch Linux 2.6.33 (aurora) (tty1)
aurora login: fsckd
Password: (no echo so nothing appears here as I type)
Last login: blah blah you may not see this line ...
[fsckd@aurora ~]$

Last edited by fsckd (2010-05-10 03:45:47)

pottzie · 2010-05-10 04:15:49

I'm game for going in with the live cd. What bothers me is that the root password may not be the problem- it's 'mycomputername login"
I was pretty explicit about typing the password, twice, and all seemed to go well. What throws me is that "login" seems to need something other than my computer name, "root," or my password. It's getting late, so I'll wait until morning and see if there are any other options. If not, it's time to whip out the Ubuntu live cd, or even start the installation process over, although that's not what I want. And until I find out what's wrong, I'll probably repeat the error anyhow.
The keyboard did have the Num Lock turned of, but I don't see what that would have done, as I didn't use the side keyboard, or any numbers.

anonymous_user · 2010-05-10 05:19:52

It goes like this:

mycomputername login: root
Password: (root password)

After typing root and pressing enter, do you get the prompt for password?

Last edited by anonymous_user (2010-05-10 05:21:26)

hokasch · 2010-05-10 07:53:06

pottzie wrote:

What bothers me is that the root password may not be the problem- it's 'mycomputername login"
I was pretty explicit about typing the password, twice, and all seemed to go well. What throws me is that "login" seems to need something other than my computer name, "root," or my password.

Directly after installation, the only existing "user" is root. Likewise the password you assigned during installation belongs to root. The only viable combination is therefore to type root first, and the password (^^) at the next prompt. No need to try anything else.

pottzie · 2010-05-10 17:36:26

Solved! After a morning of agonozing over it, going in with the live cd and realizing that I had no idea what dependancies would be affected, I exited with the thought that maybe starting over wasn't so bad. On the off chance that some how Arch was going to fix it's own stuff, I rebooted, just to see what happened. Since I'd mounted sda3 with the live cd, Arch had to check sda3 and 4. After it did, I logged in with root, and my password, and, well, it all worked just like it's supposed to! So it's on to the next steps.

Arch Linux

#1 2010-05-09 20:28:22

[solved]Editing file system after first boot

#2 2010-05-09 21:00:17

Re: [solved]Editing file system after first boot

#3 2010-05-09 22:22:04

Re: [solved]Editing file system after first boot

#4 2010-05-09 22:27:21

Re: [solved]Editing file system after first boot

#5 2010-05-10 01:00:00

Re: [solved]Editing file system after first boot

#6 2010-05-10 01:06:06

Re: [solved]Editing file system after first boot

#7 2010-05-10 02:13:42

Re: [solved]Editing file system after first boot

#8 2010-05-10 02:54:57

Re: [solved]Editing file system after first boot

#9 2010-05-10 03:03:53

Re: [solved]Editing file system after first boot

#10 2010-05-10 03:38:10

Re: [solved]Editing file system after first boot

#11 2010-05-10 04:15:49

Re: [solved]Editing file system after first boot

#12 2010-05-10 05:19:52

Re: [solved]Editing file system after first boot

#13 2010-05-10 07:53:06

Re: [solved]Editing file system after first boot

#14 2010-05-10 17:36:26

Re: [solved]Editing file system after first boot

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