Xref: utzoo unix-pc.general:4441 comp.sys.att:8397 Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!snorkelwacker!spdcc!gst From: gst@spdcc.COM (Gary Trujillo) Newsgroups: unix-pc.general,comp.sys.att Subject: Re: possible head crash :-( [I'm making progress!] Message-ID: <1146@ursa-major.SPDCC.COM> Date: 6 Jan 90 10:03:59 GMT References: <1108@ursa-major.SPDCC.COM> <1134@ursa-major.SPDCC.COM> Reply-To: gst@ursa-major.spdcc.COM (Gary Trujillo) Organization: S.P. Dyer Computer Consulting, Cambridge MA Lines: 73 Well, it looks as if I'm well on my way to solving my own problem. I haven't heard from anyone yet, but I suspect that messages are even now winging their way toward me regarding my problems cleaning up after a hard disk failure. I recalled from my PDP-11 UNIX days being able to fork a shell on a serial port from a single-user console shell, and succeeded on my 3B1 with the command: /mnt/bin/ksh /dev/tty000 2>&1& That allowed me to talk to the machine via a cable between it and my spare (a 7300). [The only problem is that I can't seem to set the "intr" function on the port, so I can't break out of a command. :-(] I discovered an "-s -" option in kermit that allows it to send from standard input, rather than a file, so I can use: tar cf - * | compress | kermit -s - Unfortunately, this version of kermit only supports speeds up to 9600 baud, whereas the ports will go up to 19.2KB. Sigh. Oh well, at least I'm able to recover stuff. BTW, I came across a message from John B. Milton that he posted back in April (which I'd cleverly written on my handmade floppy file system disk) where he describes how to fix up /etc/inittab to free up the floppy drive. However, I think it relies on being able to boot from the hard disk (right, jbm?): | From: jbm@uncle.UUCP (John B. Milton) | Newsgroups: comp.sys.att,unix-pc.general | Subject: Re: DISK CRASH! (quick boot info) | Message-ID: <513@uncle.UUCP> | Date: 20 Apr 89 06:12:05 GMT | References: <8904181249.AA22934@zorch.UU.NET> | Organization: U.N.C.L.E. | | In article <8904181249.AA22934@zorch.UU.NET> scott@zorch.UU.NET | (Scott Hazen Mueller) writes: (for David Melman) | ... | >It will not boot off the hard disk, but will boot off the floppy. | >The injured disk can be mounted, and some files can be read. | > | >How can the system allow the removal of the boot floppy (and stay up) | >so the readable files off the hard disk can be backed up to the floppy | >drive? | | ... | When booted from the floppy, cd to /mnt/etc and add these lines: | is:1:initdefault: | cn:1:respawn:/bin/sh >/dev/console &1 | and add a ":" to the beginning of these two lines: | is:2:initdefault: | rc::bootwait:/etc/rc > /dev/null 2>&1 | | Yes, you will have to use vi in open mode! | | Save out and try to reboot to the hard disk. You should get a # prompt about | 5 seconds after the "... Main board is ..." stuff. No window driver, no disk | check. This should free up the floppy drive so you can get stuff off. | | John Anyway, it appears things are gradually coming under control, even if my methods seem a bit primitive (I'm still open to better suggestions, though). I'd still like ideas on a good replacement drive, if I'm unable to reformat the Miniscribe. Thanks! Gary