Red Hat problem loading x

[RedBrian]

There's a server running red hat where I work, and I have no idea what version it is. I have been told it is 2.6 or something really old like that. We moved (physically) the server into another room and after booting it up it will not load X windows. Can someone tell me where I can find the configuration files for the video on the machine, or at least some log files that might point me in the right direction?

Thanks,

Brian

[portia]

When you say it will not load X you must get some errors. What are they?
Also, what's the output of:

cat /etc/redhat-release

and

uname -a

[RedBrian]

Thank you for posting the information. I'll see what I can do with this. When I have a time that I can re-boot the server I'll write down the error and let you know what it says.

Brian

[RedBrian]

When you say it will not load X you must get some errors. What are they?
Also, what's the output of:

and

The output of the uname command is 2.4.9-e which I think is the version of the kernel? When I boot the machine it tells me it is booting Redhat enterprise Linux release 2.1 (panama)

Then it proceeds to say:

Primary Slave Hard drive: S.M.A.R.T. status bad, backup and replace.
F1 to resume

Then it prompts me to boot either to version 2.4.9-e.57 SMP
or version 2.4.9-e.57

It defaults to the first option and then gives me a [Fail] at:

mounting local filesystem: Mount: wrong fs type dev/hdb2 bad superblock (which I assume has something to do with the initial Primary Slave error)

Eventually it tries to load X and I get a blank screen, then it shows me a login to the server, then flashes to a blank screen again, and back and forth until eventually It stops and just leaves me with the login at the terminal screen.

[waterhead]

It is telling you that it has a bad hard drive. You need to make a backup of it as soon as possible. You may have to boot with a live CD to do it, since it seems to not want to boot.

I don't know how to copy a drive that has bad superblock, and not copy the bad block. I think that there is a way to use an alternate superblock. The fsck command would be used.

Here's some info on it:
Linux: Recover Corrupted Partition From A Bad Superblock

[RedBrian]

Do you think moving the server could have caused this, or could this have been a problem we had for some time and did nor realize until we re-booted?


Thank you for the link and the assistance.

Brian

[waterhead]

I have heard of this happening to servers that have been running a long time. When they are powered down for maintenance or moving, they develop hard drive problems.