Linux Server Hacks, Volume Two

Hack #89. Resolve Common Boot and Startup Problems

Malicious crackers, overenthusiastic software updates, or simple hardware failures can prevent you from rebooting or accessing a system. The first thing to do is to relax and try a few standard tips and tricks to get your ailing system back on its feet.

Sooner or later—usually just before one of your users is about to submit her thesis or you have a meeting to present the IT strategy document you've been working on for weeks—you'll find that attempting to boot one of your systems results in a variety of cryptic error messages, a blinking cursor, or a graphical user interface that won't accept any keyboard or mouse input. In other words, not the standard Linux login you're used to at all. Of course, you have backups of your critical files elsewhere, but if your system isn't running for one reason or another, backups are just a distant security blanket. In all likelihood, your data is probably still present on the host formerly known as "your desktop machine," but you just can't boot the box to get to it. What's a girl to do?

Depending on the types of errors you're seeing, you may need anything from a crash course in BIOS settings, a PhD in the use of fsck and its friends, or some way of booting your system and accessing your data quickly. This hack discusses some of the standard tips and tricks for trying to get your box running on its own. If the tips in this hack aren't sufficient, see "Rescue Me!" [Hack #90] for the big hammer, ...