Swap does not exist

[Des Kinsman]

During boot I get at Mounting File Systems ..."Mount point swap does not exist".

Also

/etc/fstab.....Line 6 is bad

Also my fat32 sharedrive (/sda1) is no longer working correctly.

 

 

Here is the fstab

 

# This file is edited by fstab-sync - see 'man fstab-sync' for details
/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 / ext3 defaults 1 1
/dev/hdc /mnt/cdrom auto umask=0022,user,iocharset=iso8859-15,codepage=850,noauto,ro,exec,users 0 0
/dev/hdd /mnt/cdrom2 auto umask=0022,user,iocharset=iso8859-15,codepage=850,noauto,ro,exec,users 0 0
/dev/hda1 /mnt/win_c ntfs umask=0022,nls=iso8859-15,ro 0 0
/dev/sda1 /mnt/win_d vfat /home/des umask=0022,iocharset=iso8859-15,codepage=850 0 0


none /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/hda2/VolGroup00/LogVol01 swap defaults 0 0
/dev/sda1 /mnt/sharedrive vfat users,owner,rw,umask=022 0 0

 

[moved from Installing Mandriva by spinynorman]

[Des Kinsman]

Thank you for putting me in my place Spinynorman.

But I've got a bigger problem now.

I was messing with /fstab to try and correct things.....and now I can't boot.

How can I get back to edit /fstab?

Please help!

[Ixthusdan]

Use a live cd to gain access to your system. If you don't have one, you can gain access by using the rescue on the first install cd (at the splash, hit F1 and type "rescue") but you will have to be familiar with navigating the command line.

 

You could also perform an upgrade install without changing any software options. This would correct the fstab to a bootable point as well.

[Des Kinsman]

Thank you Ixthusdan.

Since I am not sure of the navigation I will go for your second option.

I just don't want to lose all my settings because I was just to a point when almost everything was working to my liking......that was until I did a silly thing.

[scarecrow]

Your fstab file must not have any empty lines, and after the very last character you should hit return so that your cursor moves to the next line (if this isn't done already). After doing all that, save and exit.

[Des Kinsman]

Thank you for that, Scarecrow.

I'm trying to rescue /fstab at boot. But when I edit it in Vim I can't save the edit even though I press "QM".

 

Apparently it is this line which is giving the problem :-

/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 / ext3 defaults 1 1

[scarecrow]

I don't see anything wrong with that line. The two lines that have weird syntax are

/dev/hda2/VolGroup00/LogVol01 swap defaults 0 0

( I guess the hda2 chunk should not exist, but since I didn't create the logical volumes myself I cannot know what you've done), as well as

/dev/sda1 /mnt/win_d vfat /home/des umask=0022,iocharset=iso8859-15,codepage=850 0 0

(the /home/des argument after vfat is not very comprehensible to me).

[AussieJohn]

When using vim the correct procedure after making the text change is to hit Esc then type :wq

It must be EXACTLY as shown, and not WQ, then press Enter.

That is why your changes are not saved.

 

John.

Edited May 14, 2006 by AussieJohn

[Des Kinsman]

Thank you AussieJohn and scarecrow.

I will now put your knowledge to the test.

[Des Kinsman]

I still can't save my fstab edit in Vim. I have done what AussieJohn suggested but it does not save. After I hit wq and press return should Vim disappear and I carry on with the boot.......or do I need to reboot ?

[Des Kinsman]

The failed message I receive is :-

"The superblock could not be read or does not describe a correct ext2 filesystem" etc etc.

It goes on to say, "Is a directory while trying to open /

Failed to check filesystem"

This just loses me completely.

I still can't understand why I can't save fstab in Vim.

I'm relying on you to get me out of this hole.

Thank you

[bvc]

Esc

:

wq

press Enter

[ianw1974]

That superblock error doesn't sound good. A drive normally has two superblocks, current and a backup in case things go wrong.

 

I would boot from a rescue CD, and then run:

 

fsck /dev/partition

 

where partition is the partition of the disk that you want to check. If the superblocks are gone, I think that means partition failure and a loss of data. I would also be tempted to boot from the install CD normally, and go into Custom partitioning to see how all your partitions are being recognised and their file system format, ext3, swap, etc, etc and their corresponding device /dev/hda1, etc, etc.

[AussieJohn]

As BVC has again pointed out, you are not typing in EXACTLY as I advised you to do. TYPE IN :wq. So naturally it wont save. Just in case you miss it, here it is again :wq

 

John.

[scarecrow]

...or simply use nano instead of vim, which is much more easier o handle (less options, but you will barely notice). Also, Midnight Commander ( "mc" under console ) has a nice vi wrapper, if you navigate to your file and press F4 - factly you cannot go wrong if using that one...

Edited May 15, 2006 by scarecrow