/dev almost empty

eje211 · Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 7:42 pm Post subject: /dev almost empty

I had to reboot my computer after it crashed due to (I think) the binary nVidia driver. During reboot, the / directory is mounted with its contents, but the filesystems cannot be remounted during the boot process. The boot script offers me to fsck it. When I enter the system as root during boot, and ls the /dev directory, here's ALL that's in it:

console
core
fd
initctl
null
pts
shm
stderr
stdin
stdout
zero

no hd*, nothing else at all. I can't mount without a /dev; actually, I can't do much of anything without it. I seem to be able to use the emerge command. I tried to unmerge and remerge udev. Note that / is fully populated. What should I do?

asiB4 · Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 8:15 pm Post subject:

check in /lost+found
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swingkyd · Guru Joined: 13 Jan 2005 Posts: 334

have you compiled your kernel recently? Are you using UDEV? what version of nvidia drivers are you using?

erik258 · Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 8:19 pm Post subject: had this problem

i've been in that exact situation (though for a completely different reason).

i have a good hack, although I am without a real fix. Hard to fix a problem that stops you from booting. ; ).

so boot from a CD and then edit your /etc/init.d/checkroot :

eje211 · Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 9:08 pm Post subject:

Thanks for all of your answers!

swingkyd:

1. I did not compile my kernel recently (about six months ago).
2. I'm nowhere near using the nVidia drivers now. They caused a freeze but don't prevent the reboot.
3. I'm using udev; it shows up when I run the "mount" command and ps ax.

asiB4:

What should I look FOR in lost+found (I've had a similar problem earlier and there's a LOT in the l+f.)

erik258:

I'll try your hack. I don't need a boot disk, that the weird thing. I get a full shell, only not the end of the boot process.

swingkyd · Guru Joined: 13 Jan 2005 Posts: 334

It's just that udev was recently updated and possibly something went wrong in the update. Just out of curiosity, is it a pure udev system? Just a guess, does etc-update have anything for the udev rules?

erik258 · Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 9:19 pm Post subject: you think so, huh?

eje211 · Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 9:32 pm Post subject:

I have write access. I can start the scripts in /etc/init.d, but they don't seem to be enough to connect my main computer to the net. So I can't post dmesg. The disk seems to be OK. I can't fsck it because it doesn't show up in /dev. When I run devfsd from the command line, it complains about the file .devfsd not existing. I didn't find where to change it in the script. I'll look again.

etc-update says all is up to date. I don't know whether my system is "pure" udev. It IS udev, that I do know. How can tell whether it's pure udev?

erik258 · Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 9:52 pm Post subject: some more ideas

eje211 · Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 10:17 pm Post subject:

I've looked at lot more closely at the boot sequence this time. It appears that there is a missing file /sbin/udevstart that is not made by "emerge udev". How can I get this file back?

eje211 · Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 10:39 pm Post subject: [SOLVED] /dev almost empty

I did it. I copied the tar file from /usr/portage/disfiles, compiled it and copied the missing file. I'm typing from the fixed computer now. Thanks to everyone who helped! (And sorry for missing the message during the boot sequence. I'm VERY tired.)

asiB4 · Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 11:26 pm Post subject:

NonDucor · Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 12:33 am Post subject:

Ok, since the problem has been already solved, I probably have nothing else to do here....

But, one hour ago, I had the same problem. It happened because I updated to UDEV-089, which is not compatible with a 2.6.13 kernel. Just upgrading the kernel to 2.6.16 (I don't know if it would have worked with .15 or .14) solved the problem.

Was it your problem also ? Should we file a bug asking for a kernel version check in the ebuild ? (I don't even know if it is possible). Or at least a warning (I checked the ebuild a didn't find anything related...)
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hrnick · Guru Joined: 31 Aug 2002 Posts: 429 Location: Sweden

swingkyd · Guru Joined: 13 Jan 2005 Posts: 334

mariourk · Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 4:11 pm Post subject:

I fixed a similar problem by updating udev to the latest version, udev-089-r2
udev-089-r1 has problems with raid and older kernels (2.6.14 and older)
check, hope that helps someone

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bexamous2 · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 18 Nov 2005 Posts: 80

Wow wtf I just got home from work today and my /dev was empty.

/dev/null and everything was gone there was one file, cannot remember what.

I googled and then searched these forums and found this thread.

I havn't updated anything for a week and have been having no problems. Computer hasn't been restarted for over a month. Nothing should have happened since last night that would cause /dev to be deleted heh.

I see these problems with udev89 however I'm at:
bexus / # udevinfo -V
udevinfo, version 079

Should I bother trying to update to 89? Is it masked?

Also after freaking out i tried /sbin/udevstart and dev got filled. That makes no sense to me. But things are still screwed I can't start any new xterms:

"
bexamous@bexus ~ $ screen -x
Must be connected to a terminal.
bexamous@bexus ~ $ screen
Must be connected to a terminal.
bexamous@bexus ~ $ xterm
xterm: Error 32, errno 2: No such file or directory
Reason: get_pty: not enough ptys
bexamous@bexus ~ $
"

This has to be some crazy udev problem, udev is the only thing that ever screws with me :/ I seriously have no idea what to try, and I'm afraid of rebooting now and not getting back in.

erik258 · Posted: Sun Apr 09, 2006 3:18 am Post subject: wow, wtf indeed

i have in my few short years with linux never heard of that ; (

i would reinstall udev though, that will probably solve the problems

bexamous2 · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 18 Nov 2005 Posts: 80

Well I have no idea what that was, after I did the /sbin/udevstart I had a /dev/null and emerge didn't freak out, so I re-emerged udev dealt with alot of ._cfg files.. rebooted and everything is fine. All is good now though, htnaks.

erik258 · Posted: Sun Apr 09, 2006 6:11 pm Post subject: way 2 go

glad to hear you're back up and running.

happy computing!