*BSD News Article 77044


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From: Dave Blizzard <dblizzar@sprynet.com>
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: panic: can't mount root again!!!
Date: Tue, 27 Aug 1996 22:30:26 -0500
Organization: Sprynet News Service
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After more than a month of seeming stability, my freebsd 2.1.0 once
again cannot mount root during the boot process. The boot process seems
to go normally until the transfer to sd0 root and then the panic occurs.
I have bsd installed on a 1gb SCSI drive with no other OS. I don't use
the boot manager as I already got burned on that one.

Using the fixit floppy I can mount sd0 (on /mnt) and see all the files
in / (the original / on sd0)  but I can't make fsck work. After the last
time this happened I have even saved a copy of a valid fstab on the
fixit floppy but when I run fsck it says that /dev/rsd0a is invalid and
then says it can't cat the other files mentioned in the fstab.
This problem is a real problem for me as this OS seems to be so unstable
that I cannot trust it for real work. The only thing that has happened
(I think) is that I accidentally booted from a floppy instead of
entering boot: sd(1,a)/kernel.

Where can I learn what to do with the fixit floppy?
How do I attempt to salvage the drive when the one utility can't access
it?
Why doesn't the boot process properly fix these problems as it is
supposed to?
Please, someone , recommend a book or procedure that can at least
collect some info on what is happening to my drive.  
-- 
de Dave Blizzard
VE3 SVL
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