Linux errors at bootup (very rare)??

Edward78 · 30 Sep 2011 at 15:19

Sometimes I get no such partition from grub2 (before it even comes up) & sometime it boots to busy box & says gave up waiting on root dev. Sorry, didn't write down the details on that one, so it would seem my drive is dieing, but I have tested with the manufacturers lifeguard util more than once, no probs.?

masterluke · 30 Sep 2011 at 16:17

Please can you post the contents of /etc/fstab

Edward78 · 1 Oct 2011 at 04:44

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid -o value -s UUID' to print the universally unique identifier
# for a device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name
# devices that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc nodev,noexec,nosuid 0 0
# / was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=f733b732-d7d7-410c-ad19-df2c18a4fa81 / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# swap was on /dev/sda6 during installation
UUID=0e05a4c1-e898-422e-9e02-6dae7eb78e7c none swap sw 0 0
/dev/fd0 /media/floppy0 auto rw,user,noauto,exec,utf8 0 0

inSilica · 2 Oct 2011 at 08:46

The obvious: did you try: (as root / sudo)

Code:

fsck

look here since you only have one drive:
http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-force-fsck-on-the-next-reboot-or-boot-sequence/

Maybe your boot record is on a bad sector? not sure to be honest without further poking and prodding. I usually dedicate 32-64mb partition (ext2) on my Linux boxes for boot right at the beginning of the drive.

Oh dear it looks like your home is also your root. Have you tried a system update which may resolve the issue? Be safe backup your home directory before embarking on any adventures.

How old is your drive? is it really bugging you? If you decide to go for a fresh install consider breaking your drive up the next time you install:

/dev/sda1 ext2 32M Boot partition
/dev/sda2 (swap) 512M Swap partition
/dev/sda3 ext4 20GB Root partition
/dev/sda4 ext4 rest Home partition

you can then further set fstab options for boot partitions and it will become easier to fsck individual partitions

BigglesPiP · 8 Oct 2011 at 19:11

hmm, I don't think this is a failing drive (though it's never a bad time to think "what if my drive failed right now?", what would you loose?).

Has this been happening since a new kernel or other update?

Edward78 · 11 Oct 2011 at 16:12

BigglesPiP said:
hmm, I don't think this is a failing drive (though it's never a bad time to think "what if my drive failed right now?", what would you loose?).

Has this been happening since a new kernel or other update?

With Ubuntu 8 it didn't, but with Mint 10 it started. My drive is fine by the results of a few tests by the lifeguard util ran in windows.