can not edit/move/remove inittab

[dvsweden]

I have a p550 that we put a mksysb on. I addev xvfb to the system and added the following lines to inittab (via vi - yea yea I shouldn't have done it with vi)

:xvfb:2:respawn:/usr/bin/X11/X -force -vfb -x abx -x dbe -x GLX :n
/dev/null 2>&1

:startX:2nce:/etc/rc.startX > /dev/console 2>&1rc

commented out on purpose. - DBA wanted to start vi rc file to make sure X stuff started before Oracle.

Upon reboot hung on 517 - fsck'd fs and did

fsck -p /dev/hd4
fsck -p /dev/hd2
fsck -p /dev/hd3
fsck -p /dev/hd9var
fsck -p /dev/hd1

/usr/sbin/logform /dev/hd8

upon reboot hung on 553 (indicated problem with inittab)

Tried to go in and manipulate iniitab. I can not:

delete/move/chitab/lsitab/rmitab

I've tried everything I can think of including

ls -ali /etc/inittab

# ls -ali inittab
1995 -rw-r--r-- 1 root system 3024 Sep 14 15:16 inittab
#
#
# rm inittab
rm: remove inittab? y
rm: inittab not removed.
No such file or directory
#
#
# mv inittab bad.inittab
mv: cannot rename inittab to bad.inittab:
No such file or directory
#

# find . -inum 1995 -exec rm {} \;
rm: remove ./inittab? y
rm: ./inittab not removed.
No such file or directory
#
#

file systems are not full mounts look normal:

# mount
node mounted mounted over vfs date options
-------- --------------- --------------- ------ ------------ ---------------
/dev/ram0 / jfs Jan 01 00:03 rw
/dev/cd0 /SPOT cdrfs Sep 17 16:11 ro
/dev/hd4 / jfs2 Sep 17 16:13 rw,log=/dev/hd8
/dev/hd2 /usr jfs2 Sep 17 16:13 rw,log=/dev/hd8
/dev/hd3 /tmp jfs2 Sep 17 16:13 rw,rbw,rbr,log=/dev/hd8
/dev/hd9var /var jfs2 Sep 17 16:13 rw,rbw,rbr,log=/dev/hd8
#
#
# df -k
Filesystem 1024-blocks Free %Used Iused %Iused Mounted on
/dev/ram0 1179648 1162532 2% 1791 1% /
/dev/cd0
df: /SPOT: No such file or directory
/dev/hd4 1179648 1162532 2% 1791 1% /
/dev/hd2 4980736 2912212 42% 34391 6% /usr
/dev/hd3 3145728 2987936 6% 1005 1% /tmp
/dev/hd9var 1179648 1154684 3% 454 1% /var
#
#


IBM has not been terribly helpful so far. It seems like a long time ago I had a file (not inittab) that behaved the same way but I can't for the life of me remember what I did to finally get rid of it.

Help!!

 

[hfaix]

You might try.

/usr/bin/mv /etc/inittab /etc/inittab.bad

I did something similar once. Luckily I backed up inittab first. I couldn't even boot the the os up. I had to boot into service mode and move my backup into place. The reboot. You might try that.

 

[cts123]

/etc/inittab file I have changed couple of times with "vi" although it says it's not recommended. But in your case you can go to SMS menu and get into shell to rectify the inittab.

Regards,
Sam

 

[dvsweden]

Thanks guys. I don't think the problem I am having has anything to do with inittab per se.

I had a the exact same problem two years ago and fsck fixed it but this time fsck is not doing the trick

/usr/bin/mv was a good idea but I get the same thing:
"No such file or directory"
even though I can ls -ali /etc/inittab

I am booted into maintenance mode - tried from a nim spot and a cdrom spot both yield the same results.

IBM wanted me to try and update my bos.rte.control - but that fails (which I am assuming IS because of inittab being out to lunch).

If I could just move or delete the dang thing - I have a copy of inittab but I can't get rid of /etc/inittab to put the new one in place.

I've tried cp that doesn't work eiher. I appreciate the suggestions - I will probably just have to reclone the box tomorrow

 

[dvsweden]

I figure out a work around. I was able to mv the /etc directory to etc3 make a new /etc and copy everything over except for the two problem files and reboot.

So the system is up (I now also have a datavg that has 2 disks (mirrored) that are not active ay yi yi

In any case so I now have /etc3/inittab and /etc3/junk2 (hard linked files inode 1995)

If i try and rm -rf /etc3 I get the same ol message about inittab file not found.

Any other ideas? At this point it can't be anything to do with inittab since I have a known good on in /etc and the system boots ok.

 

[dvsweden]

The problem seems to be limited to the inode. Does anyone know of any way to manipulate inodes other than the find -inum -exec rm trick?

IBM had me break the mirror and that worked (breaking the mirror) still can't delete the two files. I was also able to remirror fine.