I'm having a problem booting my Fedora 8 server. I've been reading threads all morning to help me troubleshoot it, so I won't ask about that problem here.
My question though...
You know how Linux creates its own partition for the Operating System and then leaves the rest of the drive for data?
If I format and re-install Fedora 8 will it automaticlly format both paritions thus erasing my important data?
[edit]
Ok, here is my problem from the beginning:
After Installing Fedora 8 on my homeserver, it worked flawlessly for 3 weeks. I installed all of my dedicated server games and they ran great on my network. Then the other day I played a cool free game called Padman on Fedora 8. It ran just fine, so next I tried to run it as a dedicated server and it locked up. I've never had Linux "lock-up" on me, so I was shocked. I forgot to go to the shell and shutdown -h, and instead used the power button. I started the computer and locked up on me again at the login screen. The next day I actually logged in and got into Fedora, but it "locked-up" again. I'm assuming there are some corrupt files in the boot sector because here is my error:
Quote:
|
kernel panic - not syncing :VFS: unable to mount root fs on unknown block (0,0)
|
I've been searching online and studying all the reasons for such an error and there are many. Some say it could be bad
RAM so
1. I tried the built-in Memtest on the Fedora 8 disc. It never started correctly, just said "Memtest..... ready" and basicly locked up.
2. booted from earlier kernel - same error
3. booted from Fedora disc in rescue mode and it just ran some strange code over and over... never finished
4. booted from Fedora disc in rescue mode and went to console - I can get it connected to the network but it won't give me access to the /home drive to copy my files. I can ping my other windows machines.
5. pulled the hard-drive and connected to Windows with adapter. windows shows the drive as "healthy" but since its FAT32 it won't assign a drive letter so I can explore it. I may try on another computer.
6. Tried new installation and looked at partitions. I have never done this before so I wasn't sure what to do.... I selected to install default layout on Extra Drive space (hoping it would leave my /home alone) but it failed.
7. I checked the BIOS and noticed that the ***On-Chip Serial ATA Setting*** was disabled. Its strange because everything has worked fine until this "lock-up" point. I tried other settings for Serial ATA and no success.
8. Out of curiosity I did a Media Check with the Fedora disc and it failed too.
9. I even pulled sticks of
RAM and no success...
10. I also noticed that after the BIOS screen it quickly shows
Normally that should be a big deal, but I can go into the Bios, make changes, and it saves just fine.
My main goal right now is getting some of my "work" files off the /home and then re-installing. I allready have the Asus PC-DL Deluxe BIOS, so I will try installing it.