gpg: failed to create temporary file '/var/lib/lurker/.#lk0x5745f100.hantslug.org.uk.647': Permission denied
gpg: keyblock resource '/var/lib/lurker/pubring.gpg': Permission denied
gpg: Signature made Tue Jun 8 16:44:48 2010 BST
gpg: using DSA key 20ACB3BE515C238D
gpg: Can't check signature: No public key
On Tue, Jun 08, 2010 at 04:34:08PM +0100, Lisi wrote:
> I apologise for the length of this email. I am flummoxed and don't know which bits matter the most. I have googled and binged until I can think of no more ways of framing the problem.
>
> This m/c, having been running fairly continuously for the last couple of years (it has been switched off only to be moved larger distances, where larger sometimes means 11 miles but usually around 8000), suddenly wouldn't boot to the GUI on Saturday. (I don't know why it had been shutdown in the first place on that occasion.)
>
> It has 2 HDDs, both I believe IDE, one of about 6GB, and one much larger - 250GB, 500GB??- and a DVD ROM drive.
>
> Running openSUSE 11.0, with a Lucent wireless card.
>
> On bootup, all is well until the login screen, and it gives up and after a blank screen comes back to a fairly long screen, in tiny, cramped print. I am a lousy typist, and have deteriorating eyesight, which between them make copying the screen difficult, so I hope I can be forgiven for typing only the bits that I think may be relevant.
>
> First it seems to be listing results from various successful transactions, ending with:
>
> <quote>
> Loading required kernel modules done
> Activating swap devices in /etc/fstab done
> Adding 1052248k swap on /dev/sda2 Priority:-1 extents:1 across:1052248k failed
> [snip] no message logging because /var file system is not accessible [snip]
> fsck failed. Please repair manually and reboot.
> </quote>
>
> Attempting to boot into safe mode produces the same end result.
It can't find the relevant hard disk that /var and swap are found
on.
> So - I tried to boot up with a Live CD to look at the file system.
> I tried another, and another and... All had problems detecting a
> video card. Only Puppy (4?) would boot eventually to a GUI, but
> only after it had asked me to agree to a generic video card, since
> it could not find a video card.
I wouldn't necessarily suggest that this is a problem with the
hardware. If you can see stuff on the screen, the video card is
probably working fine. The failures are probably down to unusual (or
new) hardware and/or missing support in the live CD.
> Neither version of Knoppix that I tried (6.0.1 CD and 5.1.1 CD)
> would boot to a GUI, but both would boot to a CLI. 5.1.1, which was
> slightly slower so that I could read the odd thing, complained that
> there were I/O problems with /dev/hdb. They did not, however, tell
> me which /dev/hdb was and I could not discover.
If it finds /dev/hda, use fdisk to examine the partitions on it and
work out which one it is -- you've only got two in the machine, and
the sizes are so different it should be easy to tell the difference.
Again, this points to a failed disk.
> Other Live CDs all produced variations on a theme, and all agreed
> that they couldn't find a video card.
> The only drive acknowledged by the BIOS, and therefore the one from
> which it boots, is the 6GB one. Puppy calls that one sda1.
> So: that is file system, video card, and I/O on one of the IDE drives.
All of this merely points to the fact that the large hard disk has
failed. Try replacing that.
Hugo.
--
=== Hugo Mills: hugo@... carfax.org.uk | darksatanic.net | lug.org.uk ===
PGP key: 515C238D from wwwkeys.eu.pgp.net or http://www.carfax.org.uk
--- "I am the author. You are the audience. I outrank you!" ---
