Re: Help w/ Not-booting Problem

From: Peter T. Breuer (ptb_at_oboe.it.uc3m.es)
Date: 08/31/03 

Date: Sun, 31 Aug 2003 06:31:44 +0200

Ken Loomis <kloomis@notarealaddress.com> wrote:
> On Sun, 31 Aug 2003 05:45:31 +0200, "Peter T. Breuer" <ptb@oboe.it.uc3m.es> wrote:
>> How labored does the explanation have to be for
>>a human being with neurons in the head, for crissakes?

> Doesn't have to be labored. Precise will do.

No it won't. Telling you to "open the door" does not presuppose a
millimetric exposition of the position of your feet and hands at every
moment, partciularly when we can't know where your door is, what colour
it is, or what height the handle is at, or how else it may open.

>>> Can't boot beyond hostname:
>>You don't want to. What is your real problem?

> Are you saying that setting the hostname is the last event in the boot

No - setting the hostname is one element in the boot process. However I
took you to mean by the above ("can't boot beyond hostname") instead
that you arrive at a shell or login prompt containing the hostname,
which would be correct. Be precise, please.

What is the real problem?

> process? Previously the system has always gone to Gnome (or a prompt
> I believe.)

Are you saying that you always used to get an X login screen or a text
login prompt, and now you get neither?

Or are you saying that the boot process hangs somewhere along the way?
Well, tell us where it hangs. Better yet - you look where it hangs, run
the script concerned by hand, and see what's up.

>>>> but the following can't do too much harm ...
>>>>
>>>> mount -rno remount /
>>>> /sbin/fsck -yf /dev/whateveritis
>>>> mount -wno remount /
>>
>>> I'll give em all a try. Thanks, Peter.
>>
>>Don't "try". Do not use these.

> Why not? Didn't you suggest them?

No.

>>I am not psychic. You tell me what's wrong and I may be able to offer
>>a suggestion as to how to go about tackling it.

> Earlier post laid out the problem.

This is usenet. I don't see "earlier posts".

> 0. Apache and SSL working fine for several months.
> 1. Yesterday couldn't get into Apache Web server.

Doesn't mean anything as a phrase to me. Sounds like a personal
problem! Are other people experiencing the same problem? Are you
saying that the web server is not running? Those would be
(respectively) reliable evidence of malaise, and a fact.

Those are useful.

> 2. refreshed the router, still couldn't get it.

Doesn't mean anything as a phrase to me. What router? Nobody mentioned
a router. Why do you have a router and how is it involved in your
network?

> 3. tried to reboot the machine. It hung at setting hostname.

Oh!!!!!! You are saying that it looks up its own IP address via an
external DNS server on an adsl router! Why don't you say so!
Well, don't do that. Give it a proper hostname with a FQDN and
put it in /etc/hosts. SOmething like:

   127.0.0.2 nutty.farm.house nutty

and set your hostname to "nutty". Don't look it up over the net!
You probably have changed IP or something like that, and previously
you had your old IP engraved in stone somewhere.

> That's it. That's the problem.

> If you'd like to help I would appreciate it very much, but could you
> lay off the insults.

You're the one with the insults. I'm not used to having my intelligence
insulted by a person who can't do the most simple things without doing
them wrong or stupidly.

I believe you are saying that you can't look up your own hostname by
inverse DNS resolution over the net from an external dns server. Is
that correct?

Maybe the external dns server has changed IP. Maybe you have. Tell us
about your networking.

> I'm having enough trouble with the system. I've

No, you're not taking enough trouble with the system. You appear to be
a technoidiot.

> read what I could regarding Linux, I'd love to learn more, but there
> are not just not enough hours in the day to devote to it.

It takes no time! What you are saying is that you are so technically
challenged that it takes YOU hours to figure out anything. That doesn't
apply to anyone else. It takes the rest of us no time at all, since we
have normal technical intelligence, and "open the door" is not something
that we need to "study" in order to do.

> Ironically, I had planned on spending this weekend figuring out how to
> upgrade Apache and SSL.

Don't. Just do it. It's not a job that requires thinking or
intelligence. Install a new apache compiled with support for ssl.
Check that it works at least as well as old. End of story.

You appear to have a networking problem. Probably external. Probably
caused by misconfigured networking in the first place, and exposed by a
change in IP address either of your dns server or of your own IP
address.

The simplest fix is to give yourself a hostname and a resolution
mechanism that do not rely on external sources. Fin.

But your netconfig is fscked anyway, and you want to hire someone
competent to set up your network instead of breaking your
insufficiently qualified head for hours on the mundane details of
common or garden networking.

Peter

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