Topic: HELP !! SME 5.5 won't Boot

[Glen]

Hi all,
 I am hoping a Linux Guru might be able to help me.
I have SME 5.5 running for the last 6 monthes at update 2 level.
Today I installed update5, all RPMs installed,
performed the post install step, and then the signal-event -reboot
and she has not come up since !!
What I get is :-
INIT: version 2.78 booting
INIT: /etc/inittab[1]: missing action field
INIT: /etc/inittab[2]: id field too long (max 4 characters)
INIT: /etc/inittab[3]: id field too long (max 4 characters)
INIT: /etc/inittab[4]: id field too long (max 4 characters)
INIT: /etc/inittab[5]: id field too long (max 4 characters)
INIT: /etc/inittab[6]: id field too long (max 4 characters)
INIT: /etc/inittab[7]: id field too long (max 4 characters)
INIT: /etc/inittab[8]: id field too long (max 4 characters)
INIT: /etc/inittab[9]: id field too long (max 4 characters)
INIT: /etc/inittab[10]: id field too long (max 4 characters)

Enter runlevel:

at this point no matter what I enter 0 thru 7 does the same :-
INIT: Entering runlevel: 7
INIT: no more processes left in this runlevel

and the system is now Hung...

I am no Linux guru, and need some guidence on how to recover my Server / Gateway.

Thanks
  Glen

[Gene Cooper]

Try this (or something like this):

At the boot menu, hit control-x and type in 'linux single' to get to maintenance mode.

Then edit the /etc/inittab file and fix it.

Worst case, you use a bootable floppy (tomsrtbt), mount the HD partition containing the /etc directory, then edit the /etc/inittab file and fix it.

Sorry I was so specific...

G

[Glen]

Thanks for the pointer..
Out of interest 'linux single' came back with 'No such Image'
but 'esmith single' worked !!

now I am in 'pico inittab'

.so
LoadModule autoindex_module      modules/mod_autoindex.so
LoadModule dir_module                 modules/mod_dir.so
LoadModule cgi_module                modules/mod_cgi.so
LoadModule asis_module              modules/mod_asis.so
LoadModule imap_module             modules/mod_imap.so
LoadModule action_module           modules/mod_actions.so
#LoadModule speling_module        modules/mod_speling.so
LoadModule userdir_module          modules/mod_userdir.so
LoadModule p

and  that is it !!!
can someone tell me what a complete version of 'inittab' should look like?

Thanks

[Terry Brummell]

My 5.5 looks nothing like that......here's mine:

#------------------------------------------------------------
# DO NOT MODIFY THIS FILE! It is updated automatically by the
# e-smith server and gateway software. Instead, modify the source
# template in the /etc/e-smith/templates directory. For more
# information, see http://www.e-smith.org.
#
# copyright (C) 1999, 2000 e-smith, inc.
#------------------------------------------------------------

#
# inittab       This file describes how the INIT process should set up
#               the system in a certain run-level.
#
# Author:       Miquel van Smoorenburg,
#               Modified for RHS Linux by Marc Ewing and Donnie Barnes
#


# Default runlevel.
#
id:7:initdefault:
# Make sure that the loopback interface is up before
# starting named.
lo::bootwait:/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifup lo
# Now start named, before starting any other services
nd:3457:respawn:/usr/sbin/named -f -u dns -t /home/dns
sv:7:respawn:/usr/bin/env - PATH=/usr/local/bin:$PATH /usr/local/bin/svscan /service

# The runlevels used by RHS are:
#   0 - halt (Do NOT set initdefault to this)
#   1 - Single user mode
#   2 - Multiuser, without NFS (The same as 3, if you do not have networking)
#   3 - Full multiuser mode
#   4 - unused
#   5 - X11
#   6 - reboot (Do NOT set initdefault to this)
#   7 - e-smith server and gateway
#

# System initialization.
si::sysinit:/etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit

l0:0:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 0
l1:1:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 1
l2:2:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 2
l3:3:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 3
l4:4:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 4
l5:5:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 5
l6:6:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 6
l7:7:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 7

# Things to run in every runlevel.
ud::once:/sbin/update
# Now that the local network interface is up, we
# kill named, so that init starts a new copy
# The new copy will bind to both loopback and local
# network interfaces, and all will be happy
ndk:3457:wait:/usr/bin/killall named

# Trap CTRL-ALT-DELETE
ca::ctrlaltdel:/sbin/shutdown -t3 -r now
pptp:357:respawn:/usr/sbin/pptpd -f

# Run gettys in standard runlevels
1:123457:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty1
2:23457:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty2
3:23457:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty3

#------------------------------------------------------------
# TEMPLATE END
#------------------------------------------------------------

[Glen]

Wow...
 obviously something has gone seriously wrong with my update5 upgrade !!
I will attempt replacing the inittab with what you have posted, but feel that there will be more wrong.
Would it be a good option to install 5.5 over the top?  would this keep all my imap mail and other settings?
Or is now the time to load 5.6 and upgrade?  again will this keep everything?

appreciate the help
thanks Glen

[Glen]

OK, it looks like my system was far worse than just a corrupt inittab.
I attempted to copy the posted inttab from a floppy, but my mount floppy resulted in a message stating that vfat is not supported on /floppy after it had accessed the floppy. So I assume fstab was also corrupt, and probably more !!

So I 'upgraded' using the sme 5.5 CD and all is now up and running again !!
Now the question is.. Do I attempt Update5 again !!!

Thank you for your help, it was very appreciated

[Bill Talcott]

FYI, I just installed U5, and had no problems with it. Maybe redownload the RPMs to make sure they're not messed up?