[Solved] Broken ext3 partition?

Surgat_ · 2007-09-25 13:07:02

Hello there

I've been out this weekend and when I came back and turned on my laptop on Arch, I got this message during kernel boot:

The superblock could not be read or does not describe a correct ext2
filesystem. If the device is valid and it really contains an ext2
filesystem (and not swap or ufs or something else), then the superblock
is corrupt, and you might try running e2fsck with an alternate superblock:
    e2fsck -b 8193 <device>

******************* FILESYSTEM CHECK FAILED *************
* Please repair manually and reboot. Note that the root *
* filesystem is currently mounted read-only. To remount *
* it read-write type: mount -n -o remount,rw /          *
* When you exit the mantenance shel the system will     *
* reboot automatically.                                 *
*********************************************************

Give root password for mantenance

After typing my root password, i get a shell like this:

[root@(none) ~]#

Which doesn't recognize any command i type, including mount, e2fsck, fsck.ext3, etc, and /dev only contains null, console and another one I can't remember. Can anyone tell me how to repair the partition? I know that it isn't absolutely broken because i have installed an ext3 viewer under windows and I can see all the files.

Thank you very much
Bye!

Last edited by Surgat_ (2007-10-03 18:45:58)

ataraxia · 2007-09-25 13:42:58

Boot from a CD (like the Arch install CD) and use that to repair.

Surgat_ · 2007-09-25 20:30:50

I have tried with an Ubuntu 6.06 CD, the first one I've found, and it didn't work. I have tried with e2fsck -b 8193 device and I got the same
message I got while booting, and with fsck.ext3 -pv device and fsck.ext3 -fv device it checked the filesystem, first with no errors and after that it asked me to fix a lot of inodes and blocks, but it is still the same.

Any other solutions, please?

Bye!

rayjgu3 · 2007-09-25 21:09:55

just had the same issue
i booted feather linux ran
"fsck.ext3"
no switches it fixed 2 errors dont recall what they were but
once finished rebooted arch just fine no more problems since

Surgat_ · 2007-09-25 22:48:38

Can you remember which errors did you fix?

When I run fsck.ext3 I get lots of error fixes about blocks and inodes, and I fix all of them but it doesn't work

Thanks!

mutlu_inek · 2007-09-26 17:42:00

If your superblock cannot be read, you may want to try a program called testdisk. It is in Arch and has a helpful website: http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

Surgat_ · 2007-09-26 21:58:31

Ok, I have downloaded the TestDisk version for windows and I got from it a list of alternative superblocks (although I don't know if that was what I should have done), but when I run e2fsck -b <superblock> <device> on the Ubuntu LiveCD, I still get the same errors which doesn't solve anything:

Free block count error in group #xx
Free inode count error in group #xx
Directories count error in grupo #xx

More or less, for many groups, it asks if I want to fix and I type Y, but it still doesn't boot.

Any other solutions?

Dheart · 2007-09-27 07:51:36

After you give your root password do this.
If something doesn't work the system will advice you what you should do (It will give you a command to write) and then after reboot your file system will be ok.

fsck -p

magotari · 2007-09-27 08:53:38

I have a few questions for you. I am also new, but I think I might have a few ideas. Don't take anything I say as the absolute truth though. I am new with arch.

First, this looks like after the kernel boot, a userspace error of some kind. I used to bump into those a lot on my virtual machines.
The kernel would boot just fine, but during the root filesystem check, i would get a message like yours.
For me the solution was to edit my fstab, to match the devices to the ones provided by the virtual machine.

Are you sure this error is during the kernel bootup?
How is your disk partitioned?
Did you upgrade/downgrade your kernel before this started happening?

Karol Swietlicki

Last edited by magotari (2007-09-27 09:00:14)

Surgat_ · 2007-09-27 11:26:45

@Dheart:
I can't do anything after entering my root pass because it doesn't recognize any command. The ext3 partition is not mounted so I don't have access to /bin, /usr/bin, etc. I have tried e2fsck, fsck.ext3 and mount and no commands were recognized. Anyway, when I booted the Ubuntu LiveCD I tried fsck.ext3 -pv <device> and it didn't solve it.

@magotari:
I think it is during kernel boot, but I am not sure. I think this because it happens before the loading of modules, UDev events, etc (before the Arch 2007.8 Don't Panic message.

I have 3 partitions: /dev/sda1 is an NTFS, /dev/sda2 is the broken ext3 partition (/) and /dev/sda3 is the swap.

I think I did a pacman -Syu the last time I ran Arch, but I got an error on some package upgrading and it didn't upgrade anything (and I don't think a kernel upgrade was among the upgrades I had). Anyway, I've tried to boot the fallback option on grub and I got the same error.

Thank you two and any other!

Last edited by Surgat_ (2007-09-27 11:27:03)

Dheart · 2007-09-27 12:01:19

Well first remount your /dev/sda2 and then execute fsck -p
(When my partition was broken I could remount it and use single user mode)

Surgat_ · 2007-09-27 13:17:32

I can't remount it because the shell doesn't recognize the mount command, and /dev doesn't contain any disks or partitions, only null, console and another one I can't remember

magotari · 2007-09-27 14:32:03

Try booting your kernel with init=/bin/bash.
If there is no message and you get a shell, then the kernel boot is fine.

Then try mounting, doing something. Maybe a ls of the / directory could help to know what is wrong?
Maybe an ls of the /bin/ directory too.
Also, you can try giving an absolute path to a command.
/bin/mount -o remount,rw / should get you a read-write system.
I come from Gentoo, and I don't have any virtual machines here to test where mount is located in Arch, but either /bin/ or /sbin/ or /usr/bin should have it.

EDIT: Please consider copying some of your data files from your ext3 to NTFS, using that viewer program you have. Just in case.
Losing personal files is horrible, and a backup won't hurt. Protect what is precious.

Karol Swietlicki

Last edited by magotari (2007-09-27 14:38:54)

Surgat_ · 2007-09-27 16:07:02

I've added init=/bin/bash to the kernel line on grub and I get a kernel panic. The message is this:

bash: root=/dev/sda2: No such file or directory
Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init!

I have also tried this on the Arch fallback grub option and I get a shell this: ramfs$, the lines before I get the shell are the following:

Root device '/dev/sda2' doesn't exist, attempting to create it
ERROR: Failed to parse block device name for '/dev/sda2'
ERROR: Unable to create/detect root device '/dev/sda2'
Dropping to a recovery shell... type 'exit' to reboot
NOTE: klibc contanis no 'ls' binary, use 'echo *' instead

If the device '/dev/sda2' gets created while you are here,
try adding 'rootdelay=8' or higher to the kernel command-line

Using echo * I can see the content of /, and I don't think this is my partition, for example /home and /boot aren't where they should be. And if I try to do a mount /dev/sda2 /, I get this:

Usage: mount [-r] [-w] [-o options] [-t type] device directory

Any ideas?

magotari · 2007-09-27 17:04:10

Is the init=/bin/bash the last thing on the grub command line?
I am out of other ideas for now.

Karol Swietlicki

Dheart · 2007-09-27 20:41:50

Well the last thing that you may try is (if there is no other option) to access your HD with live cd that has ntfs support, copy your information, format your hard disk with the desired FS and then copy back the information (I did that when I switched on my old pc to reiser4 fs)

Surgat_ · 2007-09-28 11:18:25

@magotari: Yes, I added init=/bin/bash at the end of the line.

@Dheart: I don't have any important information on that partition, it's all on my external drive

I think I will format the partition... I can't see any other option

Surgat_ · 2007-10-03 12:09:30

Hello there again...

I have finally reinstalled Arch on my laptop, and still with problems. First of all, I have changed my hard drive partitioning:

/dev/sda1: NTFS partition with Windows XP, still not mounted
/dev/sda2: 50MB ext2 partition: /boot
/dev/sda3: 1G swap partition: swap
/dev/sda4: 25G ext3 partition: /

I have reinstalled Arch following the Official Install Guide, as I did the last time I did it, using a 2007.08.1 Don't Panic Base CD (last time it was a 2007.08 CD). After installing it, I reboot and fall into Grub with 3 options: Arch Linux, Windows XP and Arch Linux Fallback. When I boot Arch Linux I get a kernel panic:

kinit: Cannot open root device sda4(8,4)
kinit: init not found!
Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init!

But when I boot Arch Linux Fallback, it boots right into my new Arch installation. Both grub commands are exactly the same, except for the initrd image. I've read the kernel panic section at wiki, but it suggests to fall back to a previous kernel, and this is the first one I install

Why can this be?

Thank you all!

Last edited by Surgat_ (2007-10-03 12:35:06)

cucullus · 2007-10-03 12:38:37

it's a well known problem. look in other topics.

Surgat_ · 2007-10-03 18:45:34

Solved. Thanks

Grimn · 2007-11-23 21:23:56

I sometimes get this error on my laptop but I still don't know why. Is it a hdd problem or is udev broken or something?
I searched on the forums and the ones with a similar problem seemed to always have this error, mine is just sometimes and started happening after some upgrade. Any clue about what's happening? Please link me to a thread if I failed to find someone with exactly the same problem. Thanks

Arch Linux

#1 2007-09-25 13:07:02

[Solved] Broken ext3 partition?

#2 2007-09-25 13:42:58

Re: [Solved] Broken ext3 partition?

#3 2007-09-25 20:30:50

Re: [Solved] Broken ext3 partition?

#4 2007-09-25 21:09:55

Re: [Solved] Broken ext3 partition?

#5 2007-09-25 22:48:38

Re: [Solved] Broken ext3 partition?

#6 2007-09-26 17:42:00

Re: [Solved] Broken ext3 partition?

#7 2007-09-26 21:58:31

Re: [Solved] Broken ext3 partition?

#8 2007-09-27 07:51:36

Re: [Solved] Broken ext3 partition?

#9 2007-09-27 08:53:38

Re: [Solved] Broken ext3 partition?

#10 2007-09-27 11:26:45

Re: [Solved] Broken ext3 partition?

#11 2007-09-27 12:01:19

Re: [Solved] Broken ext3 partition?

#12 2007-09-27 13:17:32

Re: [Solved] Broken ext3 partition?

#13 2007-09-27 14:32:03

Re: [Solved] Broken ext3 partition?

#14 2007-09-27 16:07:02

Re: [Solved] Broken ext3 partition?

#15 2007-09-27 17:04:10

Re: [Solved] Broken ext3 partition?

#16 2007-09-27 20:41:50

Re: [Solved] Broken ext3 partition?

#17 2007-09-28 11:18:25

Re: [Solved] Broken ext3 partition?

#18 2007-10-03 12:09:30

Re: [Solved] Broken ext3 partition?

#19 2007-10-03 12:38:37

Re: [Solved] Broken ext3 partition?

#20 2007-10-03 18:45:34

Re: [Solved] Broken ext3 partition?

#21 2007-11-23 21:23:56

Re: [Solved] Broken ext3 partition?

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