[SGVLUG] a pxe bootdisk that includes e2fsck?

[Sean O'Donnell]

Emerson, Tom (*IC) wrote:
>> -----Original Message----- Of Sean O'Donnell
>> Emerson, Tom (*IC) wrote:
>>     
>>>> -----Original Message----- Of Sean O'Donnell
>>>>
>>>>         
>>> boot-server, right?  Couldn't you make an NFS share 
>>>       
>> available on the 
>>     
>>> boot-server which contains the program you're looking for?
>>>       
>> Good idea. However, after trying to do so, it seems that e2fsck (and
>> fsck) cause errors when trying to run when mounted via NFS.
>>
>> It's something like... syntax error ('
>>     
>
> OK, next best thing: do you have a small partition (or any partition) on
> the HD that is available for writing?  Perhaps the "swap" partition?
> [bear with me a moment...]  Once you've booted via the net, mount that
> partition and COPY the files from the network share -- at that point,
> the program should be running "locally" [and if it still fails, perhaps
> there is a library or something it's trying to load?  Of course, "syntax
> error" is a rather deceptively <wrong> error message if that's the
> case...]
>
> As for the swap -- if you're booting from the network, see if you can
> boot without a swap file, this frees up the swap partition for
> reformatting as a regular partition for copying the files (it might even
> be large enough to copy in the contents of the "rescue disk" and
> actually boot from it, then you can repair the rest of the partition(s)
> from there)
>
> Don't forget to change it back to a "swap" partition when you're done
>   

Tom, thanks for the suggestion/reminder. I spent some time this weekend 
and got everything backed-up and now I have a clean install of debian on 
my laptop. It took a bit of repartitioning as you suggested, but in the 
end, it worked great, and didn't take too long.

Unfortunately, I forgot what a pain in the butt it was to get the 
ipw2200 drivers installed when I had configured it (previously) with 
Slackware 10.0. Debian doesn't seem to be any easier, although I'm sure 
when I have enough time I'll get it sorted.

I'm just glad I was able to back-up the data I thought I was going to 
lose. *whew*

> Tom
>
> P.s.  This is kind of "after the fact", but for reasons like this I
> actually create a "/boot" partition, generally all of "one track" in
> length nowadays (and it remains 80% empty...)  this gives me room to
> copy in /essential/ utilities when I find they aren't on a bootable
> repair disk...  (it also helps guarantee I can "boot" from the hard
> drive as once the system is loaded, this partition is rarely accessed,
> so errors that overwrite sectors aren't likely to affect this partition)
>   
Thanks for all your suggestions.

-Sean