>Ken Fuchs wrote: >>Of course, it is the kernel that is communicating the error to us. It >>could be the kernel and not a media error at all. >>Does the system boot after doing the fsck, mount and backup? Johnny Fulcrum wrote: >no - I can boot from Gentoo live CD, mount everything in the part table >and chroot into the system - I'm doing a backup now - but letting it >boot by itself - I get the same errors . Doing a chroot to the "/dev/hda3" mount-point is a good test, but there could still be problems with the hard drive. Can you boot using a "rescue" kernel and root=/dev/hda3 option via the Gentoo live CD? This will cause all the boot processes to be loaded from the hard drive rather than the CD and thus exercise the hard drive more and be more likely to detect problems with the hard drive. Since, booting directly from hard drive no longer works, it is possible that the kernel or initrd (if any) being loaded from /dev/hda1 are some how corrupt. >That doesn't really make sense to me. why can I get it up and going, >but it can not? The main difference between booting from the live CD and the hard drive is where the kernel (and initrd, if any) is loaded from: Booting from the live CD, the kernel and initrd is loaded from the live CD. The boot processes are also loaded from the CD, unless the root=/dev/hda3 option is passed to the kernel. Booting from the hard drive, the kernel and initrd is loaded from the hard drive. The boot processes are also loaded from the hard drive. It appears that either the kernel or initrd (if any) on /dev/hda1 is corrupt and needs to be replaced. The kernel and initrd (if any) on the Gentoo live CD will probably work fine with root=/dev/hda3. Sincerely, Ken Fuchs <kfuchs at winternet.com> _______________________________________________ TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota http://www.mn-linux.org tclug-list at mn-linux.org https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list