[SuSE Linux] WARNING: Is this a VIRUS? HELP
I have a mobo with a PP200MMX. I believe it is an ASUS. The only number I can find on it is GA-586HX R. Yesterday I had my system lock up really hard. I'm pretty sure I was in Netscape 4.06 when this happened. When I cold booted I could no longer see the harddrive that has the Linux root on it. The error was someting about having an invalid partition table, attempt to read past end of device. I attempted to run the Linux setup but that didn't work correctly. Fortunately most of my valuable data is stored on a second HD. My current problem is this: I cannot get the S.u.S.E. setup to run. If I boot from CD it sends me into a YoMama command prompt when I select "Install System". I then run Yast from there and configure my HD. The next time I boot it says it can't execute any of the basic commands that would actually set up the vfstab. The partions are there. At least I can see them. If I attempt to boot from A: using either a S.u.S.E 5.2, or a 5.1 floppy I cannot execute even basic commands like ls. Now here's the real kicker, I can remove the hard drive that has the partition problem and I still get these problems with the S.u.S.E instalation. I have been running Linux on this system for six months. Did someting screw up my firmware? Has anybody seen this before? WHAT DO I DO????????? I can's say that these are related, but I revieved an email with a garbage header, and garbage text. I have no idea if this could be part of my problem. The mail was distributed on the kde-users list. The sender's address is pgyiyl@lqhl.lpehh.hhcl.com. TIA Steve - To get out of this list, please send email to majordomo@suse.com with this text in its body: unsubscribe suse-linux-e
Steven, When things go south as stated in your post, the best approach is to determine what the problem is in a structured manner. From the model no. GA.... it appears to be a GigaByte MB. 1. EXCEPT for the video card and the FLOPPY DRIVE, REMOVE all other cards and devices from your system. 2. When you power up the system, watch the screen for any error messages displayed by the system bios. Error message => problem with MB. 3. Otherwise, see if the system boots with a bootable Win9x floppy. 4. If yes, then attach the HD and boot again with Win9x floppy, run fdisk and see if it is able to display the partitions (albeit it may say unknown partition type) I hope this sets you in the right direction for debugging your problem. HTH -- Arun Khan At 12:22 PM 08/30/98 -0400, Steven T. Hatton wrote:
... stuff deleted for brevity ... I have been running Linux on this system for six months. Did someting
screw up
my firmware? Has anybody seen this before? WHAT DO I DO?????????
- To get out of this list, please send email to majordomo@suse.com with this text in its body: unsubscribe suse-linux-e
Arun, This is all good advice, and it is pretty much what I did. The one thing I didn't do is verify that I was using the correct CD. I had grabbed the 004 Live File System CD instead of the 001 install CD. Another piece of advice I should have taken is: "there are times one should stop and get some rest." I had been up until 04:00 or later when this happened. It is a Gigabyte mother board. I found that it has some shortcomings. For one my Matrox Millennium II would not run above 24 colors. I put the same card in my ASUS P2B (or whatever the heck it is) and it works like a champ. I did find a BIOS upgrade and applied it to the Gigabyte board. I don't know if that fixed the video problem because I had already switched cards. The reason I am paranoid about viruses that could attack firmware is because I once received an e-mail containing a url that when clicked wrote something to my video card registers causing my display to loose its vertical hold. The problem persisted even after I cycled the system power. I ended up pulling the card and reseating it. I wonder if S.u.S.E. could configure YAST to warn you that you are using the wrong CD when you do what I did and accidentally use the Live File CD instead of the install cd. When a person is tired and working in panic mode (both good reasons to take a break. ) it would be helpful to BTW all is running now. I lost my KDE setting and my bookmarks, etc., but all the important data is OK. This is actually a good learning experience. I hope the next time I have this opportunity I will have a tape backup. :-) Arun K. Khan wrote:
Steven,
When things go south as stated in your post, the best approach is to determine what the problem is in a structured manner. From the model no. GA.... it appears to be a GigaByte MB.
1. EXCEPT for the video card and the FLOPPY DRIVE, REMOVE all other cards and devices from your system.
2. When you power up the system, watch the screen for any error messages displayed by the system bios. Error message => problem with MB.
3. Otherwise, see if the system boots with a bootable Win9x floppy.
4. If yes, then attach the HD and boot again with Win9x floppy, run fdisk and see if it is able to display the partitions (albeit it may say unknown partition type)
I hope this sets you in the right direction for debugging your problem.
HTH -- Arun Khan
At 12:22 PM 08/30/98 -0400, Steven T. Hatton wrote:
... stuff deleted for brevity ... I have been running Linux on this system for six months. Did someting
screw up
my firmware? Has anybody seen this before? WHAT DO I DO?????????
- To get out of this list, please send email to majordomo@suse.com with this text in its body: unsubscribe suse-linux-e
-- Please note: my e-mail address is hattons@cpkwebser5.ncr.disa.mil. This is the only e-mail I check on a regular basis. - To get out of this list, please send email to majordomo@suse.com with this text in its body: unsubscribe suse-linux-e
It wasn't me with the problem ;) oh duh same first name :) But yes, Arun K. Khan your right on with the advice on how to approach and debug your system that is giveing you problem. Added comments: When you take all your hds out and put just one back in be reminded to switch the jumpers not as Master but as the only drive in the system. Which is useually across the top pins of both Master/Slave. Glad ya found out it was the wrong CD of the suse group to use. Now with SuSE 5.3 you gona have to be more careful with 5 cds to read the label on :P Steve Udell hettar@teleport.com Arun K. Khan wrote:
Steven,
When things go south as stated in your post, the best approach is to determine what the problem is in a structured manner. From the model no. GA.... it appears to be a GigaByte MB.
1. EXCEPT for the video card and the FLOPPY DRIVE, REMOVE all other cards and devices from your system.
2. When you power up the system, watch the screen for any error messages displayed by the system bios. Error message => problem with MB.
3. Otherwise, see if the system boots with a bootable Win9x floppy.
4. If yes, then attach the HD and boot again with Win9x floppy, run fdisk and see if it is able to display the partitions (albeit it may say unknown partition type)
I hope this sets you in the right direction for debugging your problem.
HTH -- Arun Khan
At 12:22 PM 08/30/98 -0400, Steven T. Hatton wrote:
... stuff deleted for brevity ... I have been running Linux on this system for six months. Did someting
screw up
my firmware? Has anybody seen this before? WHAT DO I DO?????????
- To get out of this list, please send email to majordomo@suse.com with this text in its body: unsubscribe suse-linux-e
- To get out of this list, please send email to majordomo@suse.com with this text in its body: unsubscribe suse-linux-e
Steven T. Hatton wrote:
My current problem is this: I cannot get the S.u.S.E. setup to run. If I boot from CD it sends me into a YoMama command prompt when I select "Install System". I then run Yast from there and configure my HD. The next time I boot it says it can't execute any of the basic commands that would actually set up the vfstab. The partions are there. At least I can see them.
The last time that I run into this type of problem was because some of the files got corrupted. Run your exfs utility in manual mode. That's what I did, found a lot of corrupted areas that got deleted (for one reason or another) at any rate, once the drives got corrected, (even with the missing files) I was able to reinstall everything and everything was just fine. To tell you the truth, it didn't hit me quite as bad as it hit you, I basically just lost all of my xfree drivers and files, (BTW, the lib sections were pretty much wiped out as was the "bin" areas). Good luck, It took me a couple hours or so to get everything straightened back out here:-( You will have to run in single user mode to accomplish this by the way -- cya l8r Leon McClatchey leonmcclatchey@homemail.com Linux User 78912 (Win95 Box) - To get out of this list, please send email to majordomo@suse.com with this text in its body: unsubscribe suse-linux-e
participants (4)
-
arunkhan＠xnet.com -
hattons＠CPKWEBSER5.ncr.disa.mil -
hettar＠teleport.com -
leonmcclatchey＠homemail.com