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This article is from the 3b1 computers FAQ, by John B. Bunch with numerous contributions by others.

8.5. What do I do when the machine hangs at the boot message?

	Version #.##x
	Real memory      = #######
	Available memory = #######
	Main board is ####

9 times out of 10 the /etc/inittab file is either deleted, corrupted, or truncated because of some filesystem damage during a system crash.

The machine will hang there at that Main board prompt forever since /etc/init is looking for the inittab file. This is where it is handy to have a floppy filesystem disk with saved copy of /etc/inittab on it. Boot the system using the "Floppy Boot Disk" (Disk 2 of ##), then insert your copy when it asks for the Floppy Filesystem Disk. Interrupt the script with <DEL> to get a "#" prompt when the first question appears. On your floppy, if you followed the previous advice, is /etc/inittab.save, which can be happily copied to the /mnt/etc/inittab file when the hard disk root filesystem (/dev/fp002) is mounted from the floppy as /mnt.

	# umount /dev/fp002
	# fsck -s /dev/rfp002
	# mount /dev/fp002 /mnt
	# ls -l /mnt/etc/inittab

If the file isn't there, or is corrupted:

	# cp /etc/inittab.save /mnt/etc/inittab
	# sync
	# umount /dev/fp002
	# sync
	# sync
	# reboot

The other one time (out of 10), the /etc/inittab file is okay but there is a /etc/utmp.lck file on the system. This happens in very rare race conditions involving the pututent(3C) routines. Removing this file and rebooting will generally recover the system.

 

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