won't let me enter root password in single-user mode

[cathyf]

I have a RHEL 6.1 server that had its power yanked yesterday, and I've been trying since then to get to a command line to run fsck. (I have no experience with any rh linux...) It's a Dell PowerEdge 2900 if that makes any difference.

I boot into single-user mode by stopping the countdown on the grub screen and editing the boot command to add an " 1" to the end. It starts a couple of services, then runs fsck on the disk. One partition fails, and it tells me I need to run fsck manually, and to enter the root password.

But I can't enter the password because I can't type anything in!!!

Here's what it looks like as it runs fsck:

Checking filesystems
/dev/sda3: clean, ...
/dev/sda9: clean, ...
/dev/sda1: clean, ...
/dev/sda6: clean, ...
/dev/sda7: clean, ...
/dev/sda5 contains a file system with errors, check forced.
Extended attribute block 9732610 has reference count 1025, should be 1017.

/dev/sda5: UNEXPECTED INCONSISTENCY; RUN fsck MANUALLY.
	(i.e., without -a or -p options)
/dev/sda8: clean, ...
							[FAILED]

*** An error occurred during the file system check.
*** Dropping you to a shell; the system will reboot
*** when you leave the shell.
*** Warning SELinux is active
*** Disabling security enforcement for system recovery.
*** Run 'setenforce 1' to reenable.
Give root password for maintenance
(or type Control-D to continue):

If I try to enter a password, or control-D, as I type, each keystroke I hit generates an error and a repeat of the password prompt. So if I type "foobar" which has 6 characters, it looks like:

Checking filesystems
/dev/sda3: clean, ...
/dev/sda9: clean, ...
/dev/sda1: clean, ...
/dev/sda6: clean, ...
/dev/sda7: clean, ...
/dev/sda5 contains a file system with errors, check forced.
Extended attribute block 9732610 has reference count 1025, should be 1017.

/dev/sda5: UNEXPECTED INCONSISTENCY; RUN fsck MANUALLY.
	(i.e., without -a or -p options)
/dev/sda8: clean, ...
							[FAILED]

*** An error occurred during the file system check.
*** Dropping you to a shell; the system will reboot
*** when you leave the shell.
*** Warning SELinux is active
*** Disabling security enforcement for system recovery.
*** Run 'setenforce 1' to reenable.
Give root password for maintenance
(or type Control-D to continue):
Login incorrect.
Give root password for maintenance
(or type Control-D to continue):
Login incorrect.
Give root password for maintenance
(or type Control-D to continue):
Login incorrect.
Give root password for maintenance
(or type Control-D to continue):
Login incorrect.
Give root password for maintenance
(or type Control-D to continue):
Login incorrect.
Give root password for maintenance
(or type Control-D to continue):
Login incorrect.
Give root password for maintenance
(or type Control-D to continue):

and each of those 3-lines of error-then-prompt gets generated as I type each of the letters of "foobar"

I have tried ESC, ctrl-D, ctrl-C -- actually, ctrl-everything-in-the-alphabet, every character in upper and lower case, every number and punctuation key with and without shift. In every case each individual character generates 3 lines of error and re-prompt.

The only keystroke which causes anything different to happen is ctrl-alt-del which shuts down and reboots the machine.

I feel like a total dunce -- I mean "Give root password..." followed by a flashing cursor means that I'm supposed to put my fingers on the keys on the keyboard and push down, right? One key after another? What am I missing?

[mikee]

You type in the root password, one character after another.
When you are done, you press the "enter" key.
Make sure the caps locked is off?

---------- Post added at 02:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:35 PM ----------

make sure your keyboard is plugged in good?
try another keyboard if you have one handy?

[cathyf]

Ok, so I'm NOT crazy and it really is just asking for the password!

I solved my immediate problem by booting off of a Centos CD, dismounting the partition, and running fsck from there. The two different keyboards I used to try to enter the password in single-user mode work just fine in CD mode.

It was good that I got my disk fsck'd and my machine back up, but it is still somewhat disconcerting that single-user mode doesn't work. Depending on what is broken the next time something breaks I could be pretty well screwed.

Oh and thanks for the input! I was worried that I'm losing my mind and don't know what "Give root password" means!

[smr54]

As it's RH, do you or your company have paid support? (Also, if you have support from Dell, their RH people can be pretty good.)

I'm not sure why it didn't work--I've never run into that exact combination of circumstances. Generally, yes, you should have typed in your root password at the prompt and had the opportunity to run fsck.

If you have paid support from either RH or Dell, I'd speak to them about it.

Sorry I can't be of more help.

[Gareth Jones]

Moved to Linux Chat as not about Fedora.

I second the suggestions about Red Hat support.

However, does booting in single user mode work? (Add "single" to the kernel command line in GRUB.)

[cathyf]

I think that what may have got me into trouble was the command I used to get to single-user mode, which was to add a space and then a '1' at the end of the command that was in grub. This was the instructions I got from the Dell service guy. (Who was much more interested in getting me to apply all available firmware updates, and pooh-pooh'd my theory that the disk needed fsck. Even though yanking the power while running usually does mess up the disk in ways that are fixed via fsck, old firmware doesn't just suddenly cause problems like that, and the fact that the machine would boot just fine off of the CD indicated that the hardware was fine and the sw was what was damaged.)

Next time I get an opportunity to take the server down, I will test to see whether "single" at the end of the kernel command as opposed to "1" puts me in a state that accepts keyboard input.

And I guess this also illustrates my ignorance -- is the procedure to get to single-user mode a dell question or a RHEL question? Or is it a falls-between-the-crack question?

[Gareth Jones]

"single" and "1" should be equivalent. It's more of a general Linux question than Dell or Red Hat, as single-user mode is available on all mainstream Linux distros. The subtlety of which boot-loader a particular distro is using might factor into how to add "single" or "1" to the kernel's command-line though.