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#1 2011-02-27 12:07:20

Encho
Member
Registered: 2010-09-12
Posts: 16

[SOLVED] WARNING: bad format of line 333654 of /etc/fstab

Hi everyone,
I know that there are couple of topics concerning my problem but non of them  was helpful, because my computer doesn't even boot.


Here's how it started:
I was trying to mount a game for the first time and something went wrong. I got message in terminal saying: the file couldn't be found in /etc/fstab so I pasted the iso image in /etc/fstab. I quit trying to mount and changed the appearance of my desktop (changed the theme, wallpaper the size of the folders etc.) and restarted the computer. When the booting started everything was normal until the message  WARNING: bad format of line 333654 of /etc/fstab showed up it started to go on and on and on - the same message with different numbers and it doesn't stop.

What should I do?

I've tried to use my apple laptop to go to my linux Arch pc but I get the message "Host is down"
I also have a Kubuntu 9.10 i386 cd.
I really don't want to re-install. I thought maybe there is a way to somehow get to /etc/fstab and delete the file I pasted.

p.s
I am new in Linux and Arch linux, I am still trying things and often do something silly that I have to find a way to fix smile

Last edited by Encho (2011-02-27 15:01:42)

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#2 2011-02-27 12:27:22

eDio
Member
From: Ukraine, Kyiv
Registered: 2008-12-02
Posts: 422

Re: [SOLVED] WARNING: bad format of line 333654 of /etc/fstab

pasted the iso image in /etc/fstab

It's terrible to think what you have meant by saying  this wink

In general, you should boot with any linux live CD, mount your Arch root partition and recreate correct fstab file on your arch partition.
Kubuntu Lice CD is fine.

Just post here your partitioning scheme to get help, or even better, refer to wiki on fstab format and ask only about unclear things if any.

Last edited by eDio (2011-02-27 12:29:37)

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#3 2011-02-27 12:58:26

Snowknight
Member
Registered: 2009-06-11
Posts: 55
Website

Re: [SOLVED] WARNING: bad format of line 333654 of /etc/fstab

/etc/fstab exists to be a file system table. It does not and indeed should not contain the contents of an image file such as an ISO. Disk images contain filesystems themselves, so the most you would need to put in /etc/fstab to mount them at boot is a line describing where the image sits and at what place in the filesystem it should be mounted.

That message about not being able to find it in /etc/fstab appeared because you either didn't specify a mount point for the image or the specified mount point did not exist. But, first, you will need a live CD of some sort to fix your boot issue. You could use the Arch installation live CD to do it—I recommend it. Whatever you choose, you need to mount your root partition and edit <mountpoint>/etc/fstab. If you need to figure out what your root partition's name is in /dev/, type blkid. For example, on my system I would do something like this from the live cd to mount my root partition:

# blkid
/dev/sdb1: UUID="06f29dbd-8ce8-4d98-82ee-9e84b7d44758" TYPE="ext2" 
/dev/sdb2: UUID="3747c62b-2be0-415e-bdba-58ca44a67f6d" TYPE="swap" 
/dev/sdb3: LABEL="roothome" UUID="50f8625e-3eeb-4578-9229-e7030bd2a082" TYPE="ext4" 
/dev/sda1: UUID="7CAC3BEAAC3B9D98" TYPE="ntfs" LABEL="System Reserved" 
/dev/sda2: LABEL="halite_windows" UUID="92863FB7863F9AA5" TYPE="ntfs" 
/dev/sdc1: LABEL="citrine" UUID="35987e49-a4e7-4c5f-81cb-1a4e87373ecc" TYPE="ext4" 
# mkdir /mnt/roothome
# mount -t ext4 /dev/sdb3 /mnt/roothome
# vim /mnt/roothome/etc/fstab # to edit the fstab

Once chrooted, edit the /etc/fstab file with your favorite console editor, e.g. vim, nano, emacs, and remove all the stuff you pasted in. It might be helpful to copy the first 20-30 lines of the file – that should be about all your fstab should need – truncate it, and then add the mounts that you copied. (Indeed, it should be possible to use sed or another utility to truncate the file after the last line of the fstab, before the data image begins.)

In the future, if you see a message about not being able to find the file in /etc/fstab, create a mountpoint for it:

# mkdir /mnt/iso
# mount -t iso9660 image.iso /mnt/iso/

Last edited by Snowknight (2011-02-27 15:51:20)

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#4 2011-02-27 15:00:59

Encho
Member
Registered: 2010-09-12
Posts: 16

Re: [SOLVED] WARNING: bad format of line 333654 of /etc/fstab

Thanks guys.
@Snowknight you've been very helpful.

I realize how silly is the thing that I did and am grateful for the  support regardless the stupidity of my actions.

Last edited by Encho (2011-02-27 15:20:39)

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#5 2011-02-27 15:55:05

Snowknight
Member
Registered: 2009-06-11
Posts: 55
Website

Re: [SOLVED] WARNING: bad format of line 333654 of /etc/fstab

Encho wrote:

Thanks guys.
@Snowknight you've been very helpful.

I realize how silly is the thing that I did and am grateful for the  support regardless the stupidity of my actions.

No problem, and there's no need to apologize. If you don't know what an error means, just search Google or the Arch wiki with error messages before trying to fix it. But there's usually a way to fix any damage you might cause.

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