Help. I think my boot sector craped out

Mon Nov 14 15:20:44 MST 2011

You know.... the OS warned me it was going to do this! (sorta) A
couple of weeks ago the drive wouldn't start. I should've listned but
it started to work again. Take this as a warning all ye' merry
fellows, if the drive fails and then starts again..... REPLACE IT!

On 11/14/11, Lisa Kachold <lisakachold at obnosis.com> wrote:
> Just reinstall.  I am sending the distort tonight.
> On Nov 14, 2011 10:07 AM, "Michael Havens" <bmike1 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Thanks for being willing to send me a distro, Lisa. My address is
>>     3486 E Granite DR
>>     Cottonwood, AZ 86326
>>     The last name is Havens
>>
>> Last night a PLUGER and myself were up until 2AM and we determined the
>> drive was  toast. Here are a  couple of relevant correspondenses:
>>
>> Michael Havens
>> <bmike1 at gmail.com>      Mon, Nov 14, 2011 at 1:50 AM
>> To: michael at butash.net
>> root at 1[hda1]# fdisk -l /dev/hda1
>>
>> Disk /dev/hda1: 38.3 GB, 38329772544 bytes
>> 16 heads, 63 sectors/track, 74268 cylinders
>> Units = cylinders of 1008 * 512 = 516096 bytes
>>
>> Disk /dev/hda1 doesn't contain a valid partition table
>> root at 1[hda1]# ls /dev/hd*
>> /dev/hda  /dev/hda1  /dev/hda2  /dev/hda5  /dev/hdc
>> root at 1[hda1]#
>>
>> So this seems to indicate that my partiton table has been hosed
>> somehow. Is that all it says? Is it like I can repair the partition
>> table but after I do that I better replace the drive?
>> - Show quoted text -
>> --
>> :-)~MIKE~(-:
>>
>> Add star
>> Michael Butash
>> <michael at butash.net>    Mon, Nov 14, 2011 at 2:26 AM
>> Reply-To: michael at butash.net
>> To: Michael Havens <bmike1 at gmail.com>
>> Eww, yeah that's not good.  If you had a backup of your geometry
>> (fdisk -l) you could theoretically repartition right over it and just
>> go on with life, assuming the data is there, but I'm thinking it's
>> really not.  You're getting into forensics at this point to data
>> recover.
>>
>> On the flip side, i don't know what kind of forensic restore
>> applications might be out there to do this automagically.  Not had to
>> (knock on wood).  You can pay to have it done, but it is NOT cheap.
>>
>> Best case is you have a backup to move on, worst you will next time.
>> Might need to kick something and move on.
>>
>>
>>
>> On 11/14/11, Lisa Kachold <lisakachold at obnosis.com> wrote:
>> > The 240 error can happen:
>> >
>> > a) If you are trying to mount the drive in an EXT4 on an EXT2 partition
>> > (journaling is disabled).
>> > b) If you have mounted in EXT4 when using grub.
>> > *c)* If you have a ext4 root and don’t use grub2, you can obtain this
>> > error:
>> >
>> > EXT3-fs: sda1: couldn’t mount because of unsupported optional features
>> (240)
>> >
>> > Add "*rootfstype=ext4*" to the kernel line* or at the grub>  line when
>> > specifying the initrd?
>> >
>> > **ARE you CERTAIN you have ext4 and not ext2?
>> >
>> > You can "fdisk -l" to see a list of disks and types.**
>> > *
>> >
>> > Of course, there also is:
>> >
>> > d) Your drive journal is toast as your fsck failed.
>> >
>> > I suggest you boot into either recovery mode or LiveDistro/Knoppix and
>> > manually work on the drive or:
>> >
>> > 0) Boot into recovery mode and follow these instructions.
>> > https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCdRecovery
>> >
>> > if not successful:
>> >
>> > 0) Move off or backup your data.
>> >
>> > 1) Rebuild with new distro version following recovery recommendations:
>> >
>> > I can drop an Ubuntu Live and a knoppix tool distro into the mail for
>> > you
>> > today?  What is your distro version exactly, please and upgrade choice?
>> >
>> > Contact me offline with your address?
>> >
>> > Other references:
>> >
>> > Fsck:  https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SystemAdministration/Fsck
>> >
>> > Booting Ubuntu 10.10 into Recovery Mode:
>> > https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RecoveryMode
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > On Mon, Nov 14, 2011 at 6:36 AM, kitepilot at kitepilot.com <
>> > kitepilot at kitepilot.com> wrote:
>> >
>> >> I have a problem, I can't download ubuntu with my live cd.
>> >>>
>> >> This is easy to do but I live in the corner of Alabama, Tennessee and
>> >> Georgia (in GA) and it is a fairly long drive (I've done it both ways
>> >> several times)
>> >> I'll be glad to help you over the phone.
>> >>
>> >>> root at 1[hda1]# mount /dev/hda1 hda1
>> >>>
>> >> Type:
>> >> cat /proc/partitions
>> >> You can only mount what shows in that file.
>> >> However:
>> >>
>> >>> [17196389.468000] EXT3-fs: hda1: couldn't mount because of unsupported
>> >>>
>> >> Points to an unrecognizable filesystem.
>> >> Try:
>> >> fsck -N /dev/...
>> >> but:
>> >> mount -o ro /dev/hda1 hda1
>> >> Sometimes works...
>> >>
>> >>> Is there antway to retreive the data w/o spending any money?
>> >>>
>> >> Yes, I've done it.  use (THEY ARE DIFFERENT):
>> >> ddrescue
>> >> (http://www.gnu.org/s/**ddrescue/ddrescue.html<
>> http://www.gnu.org/s/ddrescue/ddrescue.html>)
>> >> or
>> >> dd_rescue
>> >> (http://www.garloff.de/kurt/**linux/ddrescue/<
>> http://www.garloff.de/kurt/linux/ddrescue/>
>> >> )
>> >> One is "better" than the other but I can't remember which one/why.
>> >> The freezer trick works every time (or most every time anyway...  :)
>> >> ET
>> >> PS: As usual, "free advice, you can't sue me!  :)"
>> >> YMMV...
>> >>
>> >> Michael Havens writes:
>> >>
>> >>> I have a problem, I can't download ubuntu with my live cd. I live in
>> >>> cottonwood. Does anyone live around here who can copy it for me and
>> >>> I'll drive over to you to get it? Doesn't one of you live on Mingus
>> >>> Mountain?
>> >>> On 11/13/11, Stephen <cryptworks at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >>>
>> >>>> http://www.cgsecurity.org/**wiki/TestDisk<
>> http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk>has
>> >>>> been useful for me in the past.
>> >>>> On Sun, Nov 13, 2011 at 6:33 PM, Michael Havens <bmike1 at gmail.com>
>> >>>> wrote:
>> >>>>
>> >>>>> Is this the right command
>> >>>>> root at 1[hda1]# mount /dev/hda1 hda1
>> >>>>> mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/hda1,
>> >>>>>       missing codepage or other error
>> >>>>>       In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
>> >>>>>       dmesg | tail  or so
>> >>>>> root at 1[hda1]# mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/hda1
>> >>>>> mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/hda1,
>> >>>>>       missing codepage or other error
>> >>>>>       In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
>> >>>>>       dmesg | tail  or so
>> >>>>> root at 1[hda1]# dmesg |tail
>> >>>>> [17179619.724000] Adding 1646620k swap on /dev/hda5.  Priority:1
>> >>>>> extents:1 across:1646620k
>> >>>>> [17179621.012000] ACPI: Power Button (FF) [PWRF]
>> >>>>> [17179621.012000] ACPI: Power Button (CM) [PWRB]
>> >>>>> [17179621.248000] ibm_acpi: ec object not found
>> >>>>> [17179621.300000] pcc_acpi: loading...
>> >>>>> [17179621.416000] ACPI: Thermal Zone [THM0] (36 C)
>> >>>>> [17179635.144000] ppdev: user-space parallel port driver
>> >>>>> [17179639.016000] powernow: This module only works with AMD K7 CPUs
>> >>>>> [17196389.468000] EXT3-fs: hda1: couldn't mount because of
>> unsupported
>> >>>>> optional features (240).
>> >>>>> [17196610.992000] EXT3-fs: hda1: couldn't mount because of
>> unsupported
>> >>>>> optional features (240).
>> >>>>> root at 1[hda1]#
>> >>>>> Hmm. I am suspecting a crash. I s there antway to retreive the data
>> >>>>> w/o spending any money?
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>
>> >>>> --
>> >>>> A mouse trap, placed on top of your alarm clock, will prevent you
>> >>>> from
>> >>>> rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snooze button.
>> >>>> Stephen
>> >>>> ------------------------------**---------------------
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>> >>>
>> >>> --
>> >>> :-)~MIKE~(-:
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>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > --
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>>
>>
>> --
>> :-)~MIKE~(-:
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>

-- 
:-)~MIKE~(-: