Since repeated power cuts last week I've been a bit worried about the state of my server. Today it spontaneously rebooted - but failed to complete. Now it isn't recognising me as a user, by the look of it, so I've got some questions before I do something that might make things worse. I can boot as root, and it appears that all my files are present. System-config-user sees me as user 500, which is correct, so it must be my kde login that is trashed. Foolishly, I didn't install a second desktop system, so I can't deal with things there. While waiting for a reply I'm going to try to get essential files from my home directory onto an external disk (I did a huge backup yesterday of data files). I assume that the hdd is failing - but I haven't seen any messages from smartmontools. Is there any way I can check that? If it is I don't want to waste time trying to repair it. This is the information I gathered from /var/log/messages: shows a host of setroubleshoot messages, culminating in SELinux is preventing dovecot (dovecot_t) "append" to /var/log/mail/mail.info (sendmail_log_t). For complete SELinux messages run..... then syslogd 1.4.1:restart no reason given. Everything then continues as normal until suddenly EXT3-fs error (device sda7): ext3_lookup: unlinked inode 638978 in dir #638977. Lots of 'Last message repeated' messages, and eventualy it shut down. I did allow fsk to run when I restarted the box. That doesn't seem a lot to go on. Any advice? Thanks Anne
On Thu, Jan 29, 2009 at 9:15 AM, Anne Wilson <cannewilson at googlemail.com> wrote: <snip>> I assume that the hdd is failing - but I haven't seen any messages > from smartmontools. Is there any way I can check that? If it is I > don't want to waste time trying to repair it.<snip> Most hdd manufacturers have bootable CD images you can download which have utilities and thorough diagnostics. -- Jeff
On Thursday 29 January 2009 10:15:38 am Anne Wilson wrote:> I assume that the hdd is failing - but I haven't seen any messages > from smartmontools. ?Is there any way I can check that? ?If it is I > don't want to waste time trying to repair it.try smartctl to see what the monitors have been finding for you. man smartctl Alex == -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by Avantel Systems, and is believed to be clean.
On Friday 30 January 2009 17:17:00 Chris Boyd wrote:> On Jan 30, 2009, at 4:19 AM, Anne Wilson wrote: > > I know I was shocked at the price I had to pay last time I replaced > > the APC > > battery. My favourite vendor sells a lot of Liebert PowerSure UPSs, > > so I > > presume they have had no problems with them, or they'd have given up > > by now. > > There is a large range, and the prices are good, but the only thing > > I can say > > is that I haven't heard anyone complain. I'd prefer to hear a > > positive report > > before buying. > > My company is a Leibert UPS VAR. We became one after we started > having problems with the APC systems we were using (I mentioned the > shutdowns earlier on the list) and started buying Leibert for our own > use. Leibert's people contacted us so we could get better pricing. > I'll never use another APC again. >That's comforting. If I can't get an APC battery at a reasonable price I'll take a look at that. I'm using a Smart-UPS 700, and replacing it would be expensive for a home system. My son-in-law has a Leibert on his system (which uses a lot more power than mine) and is happy with it, but hasn't had it so long, so I'm glad to get another opinion.> In the US we have a specialty battery retailer called "Batteries Plus" > that's a good source for replacement batteries. If you are not too > far from a good sized city you should be able to find a similar > business where you are. Voltage and current ratings and the form > factors for batteries are worldwide industry standards, so you should > be able to find replacements for far less money than getting the > "certified" batteries from APC. >OK, thanks. I'll look around. I guess if they are selling 'standard' batteries they will have some way of making sure that what I buy is compatible. Another adventure :-) Anne -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: signature.asc Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 197 bytes Desc: This is a digitally signed message part. URL: <http://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos/attachments/20090130/49d68bed/attachment-0003.sig>
On Jan 30, 2009, at 11:28 AM, Anne Wilson wrote:> OK, thanks. I'll look around. I guess if they are selling 'standard' > batteries they will have some way of making sure that what I buy is > compatible. Another adventure :-)There's info on the battery that will identify it. Voltage (typically 12V for a small UPS) Ah or mAh (Amp-hours or milliamp-hours, typically 7.5 for a small UPS) A manufacturer model number (they should be able to cross-reference to get the equivalent) --Chris
on 2-3-2009 11:57 PM Sorin Srbu spake the following:>> -----Original Message----- >> From: centos-bounces at centos.org [mailto:centos-bounces at centos.org] On Behalf Of >> Scott Silva >> Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2009 10:45 PM >> To: centos at centos.org >> Subject: Re: [CentOS] Emergency rescue help needed >> >> I just had a Back-UPS of about 1998 vintage burst into flames about 6 months >> ago. Luckily, someone was near it and grabbed a fire extinguisher. It was a >> Saturday, and if this person hadn't been in on overtime, who knows what would >> have happened. > > Geez... I have a UPS for my admin-workstation just under the desk on the floor > in front of me. Suddenly I feel a bit anxious about that... >Looking again at the incident report, I think the unit might have been even older. It was the older Back-ups with the white metal case instead of black. It could have been mid-90's. Before me no one kept track of a lot of that stuff. -- MailScanner is like deodorant... You hope everybody uses it, and you notice quickly if they don't!!!! -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: signature.asc Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 258 bytes Desc: OpenPGP digital signature URL: <http://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos/attachments/20090204/95402341/attachment.sig>
on 2-4-2009 7:16 AM Sorin Srbu spake the following:>> -----Original Message----- >> From: centos-bounces at centos.org [mailto:centos-bounces at centos.org] On Behalf > Of >> Toby Bluhm >> Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2009 3:44 PM >> To: CentOS mailing list >> Subject: Re: [CentOS] Emergency rescue help needed >> >> Oh, there's lots of bad stuff that can happen to your home . . . >> >> http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/01/eastlake_city_and_state.html > > UFO:s blew up their house? I hear they are quite common in the US. ;-) > >Or a meth lab. http://carcino.gen.nz/images/index.php/35a796d8/567e04e7 -- MailScanner is like deodorant... You hope everybody uses it, and you notice quickly if they don't!!!! -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: signature.asc Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 258 bytes Desc: OpenPGP digital signature URL: <http://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos/attachments/20090204/708662c6/attachment.sig>