Can't get system to boot.

[timsr]

I am running RH6.1 and have run into a problem trying to boot the system. When it trys to boot, it comes up with "No proceeses left for this runlevel". So I changed the runlevel from graphics, 5, to test, 3. Same error. So at the boot: I used the init=/bin/sh to get into the system. Of course none of the file ystems are mounted. I went through and mounted all of the files systems and tried to fix the problem. Here is the catch 22. When I try to recompile the kernel or make any changes to to OS, the files are in the / file system. I cannot change anything because the file system is mounted as a read only even though mtab shows rw permissions. I cannot umount the file system,(tried umount -v -f / et. al) and the message comes back stating that the file system is not mounted. When I try to remount it in rw mode, it says that mtab reports that the file system is already mounted. I believe this is because the file system is read only and cannot write the status change of the file system to mtab. Either way, I cannot use the system. Any ideas?

 

[AndyBo]

Get hold of one of the various Linux-on-a-floppy distros, such as Tom's Root and Boot at <A HREF="

http://www.toms.net/rb/"

TARGET="_new">

http://www.toms.net/rb/</A><br>

<br>
Boot off the resulting floppy into a working Linux system, then you should be able to mount your hard disk filesystems read-write.<br>
<br>
Once done, you need to look at your rc scripts. It looks like something is kicking off a heck of a lot of processes. To narrow things down, as the problem happens in run-level 3, the culprit has to be a run-level 3 script or below.<br>
<br>
If possible, rename any S* scripts that aren't required for essential, bare-bones, system running so that they don't run when you boot the system. Then restart the server and see if the problem re-occurs. If so, keep renaming rc S* files one at a time until the problem disappears.<br>
<br>
HTH.

 

[timsr]

Thanks, I will try it immediately. I have loaded RH6.0 on another hard drive and can mount the file sytems now. I will look for the script. Thanks again!

 

[timsr]

Found the problem, the inittab file was 0 bytes. Fortunately, the inittab~ was correct. Don't know how it got wasted which makes me nervous, but we're up and running again.