[Blackduck]

I installed MEPIS as a dual boot w/ Windows 98 about 8 months ago and did nothing else because all I want to do is browse the web, check stocks, run a spreadsheet, and download a file or two. I installed MEPIS as the default. Konqueror was fast and worked great as a browser and file manager. Therefore I have had to learn nothing else about Linux. Things went great (no popups, no spyware, no viruses, etc.) until last night. I booted up and got the menu screen (choose MEPIS or Windows). It usually boots to MEPIS in about 15 seconds if you do nothing. Last night I had to hit the enter key to boot MEPIS.

While loading I got the following lines:

Checking root file system…
>Fsck 1.35 (28-Feb-2004)
>/dev/hdb1 contains a file system with errors, check forced.
>Inodes that were part of a corrupted orphan linked list found.
>/dev/hdb1:UNEXPECTED INCONSISTENCY: RUN fsck MANUALLY
(i.e., without –a or –p options)
>fsck failed. Please repair manually and reboot. Please note that the root file system is currently mounted read-only. To remount it read-write:
# mount –n –o remount, rw /

>I entered: the root password (Multiple times) then "mount –n –o remount, rw /" when it finally gave me a "root@console[~] #" prompt.

>MEPIS responded: EXT3 –fs warning: mounting unchecked fs. Running E2fsck is recommended

>I entered e2fsck at the "root@console[~] #" prompt

>MEPIS: Usage: e2fsck [-panyredfsDFSV][-b superblock][-B blocksize]
[-I inode_buffer_blocks][-P process_inode_size]
[-I 1-L bed_blocks_file][-c fd][-j ext-journal]
[-E extended-options] device

Emergency help:
-p Automatic Repairs (no questions)
-n Make no changes to the filesystem
-y Assume yes to all questions
-c Check for bad blocks and add them to the bad block list.
-f Force checking even if filesystem is marked clear
-v Be verbose
-b Superblock Use alternate superblock
-B blocksize Force blocksize when looking for superblock
-j external journal Set location of the external journal
-1 bad_blocks_file Add to badblocks list
-L bad_blocks_file Set bad blocks list.

Now I'm stuck. I don't know how to enter a MEPIS command or how to proceed. I haven't turned the computer off since last night because I had a bear of a time getting the root password to work and I'm afraid of getting locked out entirely.

Can somebody help? (Sorry about the length of this posting.)

[lynch]

Try typing Ctrl-c and then re-run the e2fsck command with the -p option: like this: e2fsck -p
If that does'nt work, you may need to get the hard drive manufacteror's diagnostic utility disk and run that. The drive may be going south on you.
HTH
lynch

[Blackduck]

I have some more ideas. I'm gonna boot from the installation disc and see if it has any utilities or other suggestions. If anyone has more, I'd like to hear them.

[Blackduck]

I ran the e2fsck with extensions checks and tried Contrl-D with no luck. I have Mepis on Drive D and Windows 98 on C. I ran a thorough scandisk on both drives and no problems so I think the problem may have been in Mepis itself. I reinstalled from the installation disk and it now runs fine, EXCEPT, on my original installation after I repartitioned Drive D it asked me if I wanted Windows or MEpis as the default. I said Linux so each time I booted it took me to a countdown menu that booted Linux if I didn't cursor down to highlite windows within something like 15 seconds. Now with the reinstallation, it boots straight to a Linux menu asking me which Kernel I want, but there's no windows choice.

The windows files are still on drive D, I just can't access them to boot them. If I boot with a floppy, it gives me a DOS A>, but it doesn't recognize the C-Drive. If I try tapping F-8 while I'm booting to get to safe boot mode, it checks the BIOS and does nothing else until I stop tapping F8. When I stopped it boots straight to MEPis.

Got any ideas how I can access Windows?

[Blackduck]

Scuze me. I said in one place above the windows files are still on D. That's a mistake. They never were on D, just on C where they are right now. Linux is on D. Thanks.