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#1 2010-07-23 16:51:01

NightCrawler03X
Member
Registered: 2010-07-23
Posts: 8

[SOLVED] /bin/sh: can't access tty; job control turned off

Hello,
sorry if this is in the wrong section. "Installation" seemed the most appropriate to me. My problem:

I am getting the following error message in addition to the above, when trying to boot into my Arch Linux (x86_64) system:

ERROR: Root device mounted successfully, but /sbin/init does not exist.
Bailing out, you are on your own, good luck.

Then I am entered into a shell like this:

[ramfs#]

(or something similar)
I am able to type commands. After doing some research, I am under the assumption that this is the shell for initramfs.
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Mkinitcpio
According to this page, I gather that I am booting into mkinitcpio, a file system that is mounted during hte boot process before mounting the actual Linux root file system.

The kernel and everything else is clearly intact, because it does actually boot to be able to get to that message.
NOTE: This is not directly after a fresh install. I have been using Arch for some time now. This is after about a month after last perfoming a fresh install.

I have recently moved partitions around with GParted 0.4.6.1, using the Live CD that the GParted team provide. Granted, 0.4.6.1 is an old version now. This was my partition scheme before the operation:

/dev/sda1, 110GB (arch_root, mount point: /), FS: ext4
/dev/sda4, 512MB (arch_boot, mount point: /boot), FS: etx2
/dev/sda2: 97GB (Windows 7 partition; I never mount this in Arch Linux), FS: ntfs
/dev/sda3: 10GB (arch_home, mount point: /home), FS: ext4

And after the operation:

/dev/sda1, 60GB (arch_root, mount point: /), FS: ext4   ......... (shrunk the partition from the right)
/dev/sda4, 512MB (arch_boot, mount point: /boot), FS: etx2 ........... (moved the partition to the left)
/dev/sda2: 150GB (Windows 7 partition; I never mount this in Arch Linux), FS: ntfs (moved the partition to the left, then expanded it)
/dev/sda3: 10GB (arch_home, mount point: /home), FS: ext4 .............. (didn't move the partition, didn't expand/shrink it)

These sizes are only an approximation, they don't need to be exact.


Since it is the fault of GParted messing something up, I assume that this is somehow related to the boot sector for my Arch partitions.

My GRUB is configured correctly (first option Arch, second Arch failsafe, third Windows 7).
I first booted into Windows 7 to see if that would work. It didn't, but it instructed me to insert my Windows 7 install dvd to perform a repair install, so I did that, and now my Win7 works again (and it is what I am using to post this message).

Checked my Win7 data, and it was fine (and this was after allowing microsoft's disk checking facility repair the files on my Win7 partition before booting into it).



I booted into the Live CD for Ubuntu 10.04 to verify that the data on my Arch Linux partitions were ok. All of the data is intact.
I am willing to bet that this problem is a result of the boot sector for said partitions to be incorrect, most likely as a result of my meddling with GParted.



I have previously checked for similar threads here, and one of them recommended to try reinstall sysvinit. I will try this later on.



Is there something that anyone could recommend for my problem?
I am open to any and all suggestions. I do not want to reinstall Arch, given that my data seems to be intact; I am looking for a solution to repair my Arch.




I have tried the advice from the 5th post in this thread:
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=23528

However this didn't work.




I just need some pointers to try and do a "repair install" of sorts to try and fix this problem. I know that providing programs for automating this goes against the Arch Way, so I know that I must perform such repairs myself.

Thank you for your time and patience.

Last edited by NightCrawler03X (2010-07-23 19:20:18)

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#2 2010-07-23 16:59:57

Bregol
Member
Registered: 2008-08-15
Posts: 175

Re: [SOLVED] /bin/sh: can't access tty; job control turned off

maybe check over grub config to make extra sure it points to the right hard drive partitions? check that /etc/fstab also uses the right partitions?  reinstall grub? rebuild the kernel image with mkinitcpio -p kernel26  ?


Nai haryuvalyë melwa rë

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#3 2010-07-23 17:24:21

NightCrawler03X
Member
Registered: 2010-07-23
Posts: 8

Re: [SOLVED] /bin/sh: can't access tty; job control turned off

Hello, thank you for your reply. To respond:

GRUB config is correct, because it is able to boot. If you notice, it correctly mounts the root partition. To boot of course, it has to mount sda4. So sda4 and sda1 are fine.

Reinstalling GRUB will not affect this problem.



However, I will check that /etc/fstab is correct. It most likely is, as the labels for partitions do not change, and they were correct before. Unless it got damaged somehow.



I will try your third advice, with the command:

mkinitcpio -p kernel26

And report back what I find.


EDIT:
Booted from Arch live CD installer. Mounted sda4 on /boot

Backup my kernel26 and kernel26-fallback image when tried the above. That didn't work when trying to boot from disk into arch, as Arch uses a custom method when installing (still mkinitcpio, but a custom command), so I followed that command instead. Now my Arch is bootable again.

Thanks for reading.
I am changing the thread title. It is now marked as "solved".



Also, you may query about the fact that I have, seemingly, no swap partition in the scheme I showed. Well that's because I don't. Why do I need swap when I've 4GB of RAM? I've not run into any problems yet, so..

Last edited by NightCrawler03X (2010-07-23 22:57:11)

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