Reboot fails

[mcquam]

I have had Ubuntu Lucid server running for a few weeks trouble-free but now I get the following error and boot fails:

init: network-interface (lo) pre-start process (741) terminated with status 1
init: network-interface (eth0) pre-start process (744) terminated with status 1
init: network-interface (lo) post-stop process (747) terminated with status 1
init: network-interface (eth0) post-stop process (749) terminated with status 1

I managed to boot from CD and I have looked at /etc/network/interfaces but it seems fine.

 

[Noway2]

What did you do prior to reboot that could have altered things?

I am guessing that amongst other things you downloaded and installed the updated linux kernel image that came out recently? Were any other packages modified, or altered?

Off hand it sounds like something is messed up in one of the configurations scripts, such as pre-up.d. See if any of those have recent modification dates.

 

[mcquam]

I don't think I did any updates/upgrades but I will have done so in the past few days. It has been a while since I rebooted the server.

There was a further error relating to ureadahead but i deleted ureadahead.conf and ureadahead-other.conf which removed the error.

I did make a couple of changes in Webmin though. I created a fixed IP address for the server but I have checked the interfaces file and can't see anything wrong although I have seen comments elsewhere about webmin uncommenting the file which I'm sure hasn't happened. I also changed a share permission.

I don't have much experience with linux and i need to take a keyboard and monitor to the server that is sposed to be headless so more details about how to find pre-up.d would be much appreciated.

 

[Noway2]

Here are a couple of things that may be of interest. As a quick tip, I have found that putting error messages into quotes and submitting it to google can be very informative.

Using this technique I found a couple of things that may be relevant. One of them mentions ureadahead:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ifupdown/+bug/512253

and

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ureadahead/+bug/484677

Yes, putting a monitor and keyboard on the server is a good move. Watch the bootup and see if it hangs somewhere or gives any messages. You should also look at syslog, boot.log and dmesg, which will be in the logs directory (/var/log).

if-up and other scripts are all based off the /etc directory. Most configuration scripts will be. In this case, they are in the same directory as the interfaces, /etc/network. In actuality, these are directories. Just look to see if something was changed recently.

One real possibility is that you have a syntax error somewhere in a file. Yes, interfaces is the first place to look.

By the way, ureadahead terminating with exit status 4 is not an error. There is a bug that interprets this as an error code, but it is a valid termination - just in case this is what you were getting.

 

[mcquam]

Thanks for your help Noway2.

These are the files/folders within /etc that were changed in the 2 days before the fail:

init
mtab
samba
network
resolv.conf

I had a look but I don't have any idea what to look for. When I see samba there I remember changing of the the partitions to ntfs which I knew to be wrong but thought I would be able to change it later.

 

[Noway2]

Ok, things are starting to make a little more sense. The fact that 'init' changed and you are getting messages that say "init:" is a possible clue.

If you look in the init directory, you will see a number of scripts. If you do the command ls -a | grep '2010-05', it will show you a list of files that changed in May, doing 2010-06 will show you June, etc.

If you look in the directory you will see a several files associated with networking: networking.conf, network-interface.conf, and so forth.

These function typically do two things:
1 - they make a directory or file in /var/run/, with a call to "pre-start" which is also in your error message.
2 - they call and execute ifup to bring up the interface.

I have a feeling that something, possibly permissions wise changed. It could be in your /var/run directory. It sounds like these scripts are NOT able to create the running process files. For example in one of my systems, if you look in /var/run there is a network directory. It has the file ifstate which says lo=lo and eth0=eth0 - the definition of the interlaces that you are missing!

The file ifstate is owned by root:root and is root rw, but nobody else has access. The directories are also owned by root:root root rwx, and everyone else r-x.

I suggest that you look and see if anything has changed. Also, hook up the monitor and watch the reboot and look in the logs I mentioned. You will probably find an error message.

 

[mcquam]

When I look for file changes in /etc it lists init but when I look in there I can't see anything that's changed.

I noted the boot process as much as I could:

fsck from util -linux-ng 2.17.2
/dev/mapper/servername-root:clean
/dev/sda1 was not cleanly unmounted, check forced
init: (see stuff i liste before)

/dev/sda1: 211/124496 files (1.9% non-contiguous), 48 blocks blah blah
mountall: fsck /boot [306] terminated with status 1
init: networking main process (657) terminated status 1

also this is the networking.conf file:

start on (local filesystems and stopped udevtrigger)

task

pre-start exec mkdir -p /var/run/network

exec ifup -a

and network-interface.conf:

start on net-device-added
stop on net-device-removed interface=$interface

instance $interface

pre-start script
mkdir -p /var/run/network
exec ifup -- allow auto $interface
end script
post-stop exec ifdown -- allow auto $interface

I had a look in /var/run and couldn't find the file ifstate.

 

[mcquam]

I forgot to say, the contents of /var/run are:

Samba
screen
mysqld
landscape
dbus
motd
init.upgraded
utmp
named

 

[Noway2]

I am not certain what the problem is. I think you have a syntax error in one of your config files or init scripts. I have been using Ubuntu for several years and this is getting to be above my head.

I have provided a copy of my /var/run folder for comparison. I would suggest that if you haven't already that you make a post in an ubuntu specific forum where gurus may either be aware of a bug that was introduced that your experiencing or recognize what is wrong in the setup.

Here is my file. It looks like yours is missing things, which goes back to the concept of an error keeping the startup scripts from running. I wish I could be of more help.

total 60
-rw-r--r-- 1 root        root    5 2010-05-19 11:45 acpid.pid
srw-rw-rw- 1 root        root    0 2010-05-19 11:45 acpid.socket
drwxr-xr-x 2 root        root   40 2010-05-19 11:45 apache2
-rw-r--r-- 1 root        root    5 2010-06-06 07:38 apache2.pid
-rw-r--r-- 1 root        root    5 2010-05-19 11:45 atd.pid
drwxr-xr-x 2 avahi       root   80 2010-06-01 09:07 avahi-daemon
drwxr-xr-x 2 root        root  100 2010-06-08 14:48 console
drwxr-xr-x 2 root        root   60 2010-06-08 15:53 ConsoleKit
-rw-r--r-- 1 root        root    5 2010-05-19 11:45 console-kit-daemon.pid
-rw-r--r-- 1 root        root    6 2010-05-20 13:25 crond.pid
---------- 1 root        root    0 2010-05-19 11:45 crond.reboot
drwxr-xr-x 3 root        lp    120 2010-06-05 07:59 cups
drwxr-xr-x 2 messagebus  root   80 2010-05-19 11:45 dbus
-rw-r--r-- 1 root        root    0 2010-06-04 14:06 do-not-hibernate
drwxr-x--- 2 Debian-exim root   60 2010-05-19 11:45 exim4
drwx--x--x 4 root        root  100 2010-06-03 14:06 gdm
-rw-r--r-- 1 root        root    4 2010-05-19 11:45 gdm.pid
-rw-r--r-- 1 root        root  556 2010-06-08 15:53 motd
drwxr-xr-x 2 mysql       root   60 2010-05-25 10:18 mysqld
drwxr-xr-x 2 root        root   60 2010-06-08 11:29 network
-rw-r--r-- 1 root        root    3 2010-05-19 11:45 NetworkManager.pid
drwxr-xr-x 4 root        root   80 2010-05-19 11:45 pm-utils
drwxr-xr-x 2 root        root   40 2010-05-19 11:45 pppconfig
-rw-r--r-- 1 root        root   32 2010-06-04 14:06 reboot-required
-rw-r--r-- 1 root        root   30 2010-06-04 14:06 reboot-required.pkgs
-rw-r--r-- 1 root        root    4 2010-05-19 11:45 rsyslogd.pid
drwxr-xr-x 2 root        root  260 2010-05-24 11:24 samba
drwxrwxr-x 2 root        root   40 2010-05-19 11:45 screen
drwxr-xr-x 2 root        root   40 2010-05-19 11:45 sendsigs.omit.d
drwxr-xr-x 2 root        root   40 2010-05-19 11:45 sshd
-rw-r--r-- 1 root        root    4 2010-05-19 11:45 sshd.pid
drwx------ 4 root        root   80 2010-05-20 12:38 sudo
srwxr-xr-x 1 root        root    0 2010-05-26 13:53 synaptic.socket
drwxr-xr-x 2 root        root   60 2010-05-19 11:45 udev-configure-printer
-rw-r--r-- 1 root        root    4 2010-05-19 11:45 upstart-udev-bridge.pid
-rw-rw-r-- 1 root        root 6144 2010-06-08 15:53 utmp

 

[giafrata]

I had same problems, connected to Webmin use to set static ip... Just changing /etc/network/ folder permissions solves all problems.. not become crazy...