Re: [cobalt-users] Urgent - RAQ3 in constant "Checking Disk"

["Nico Meijer" <nico.meijer@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Christina,

> We have a power outage last night and instead of rebooting like usual, the
> RAQ has been "checking disk" for over 7 hours.  We have turned the machine
> off and let it wait until restarting again.  It goes through the initial
> startup, gets to checking disk and then stalls there.  I can't telnet to
it
> directly, so I'm not sure what else to do!

Somehow, the machine hasn't been able to boot into the operating system, so
*any* service (web, telnet, ftp, ssh) will be unavailable to you. Go get
your serial cable!

> This is a web server and we are now dealing with angry clients - ideas?

Two things, in random order:

1) roll out your backups onto another server/other servers and get those DNS
changes done fast.
2) connect to the RaQ with a serial cable using your favorite computer.
Hyperterminal will do fine if you run Wintendo 95/98. You should set the com
settings to 115200,8,N,1. That is: IIRC, do a search in the archives, the
answer is there. Before you get any info on your screen, you may want to
reboot te RaQ again (careful!), or you might have to hit the return key to
get some data on screen.

Perhaps it is wise to reboot the RaQ anyhow with the cable connection on, a
terminal program with a nice long history (1000> lines?) and post what you
cut'n'paste from the terminal here.

I am not a
"serial-cable-specialist-so-what-if-my-machine-is-down-i'll-just-fix-that-wi
th-some-fsck" type of guy (although I have done it), but my assumption is
others are way, way more experienced than I am and could be of assistance.

Hope to have provided at least *some* pointers... Nico

P.S. Once the sites are back up, deal with the clients. Don't worry about
them now, but be honest with them at all times.