fsck died with exit status 4

**mvalenti** · February 12th, 2009

I looked thru the threads and found some answers but I am such a beginner I am having a hard time fixing this...

lost power and upon reboot got this...

fsck died with exit status 4
* file system check failed
a log file is being saved in /var/log/fsck/checkfiles
please repair the system file manually
*a maintenance shell will now be started
control-d will terminate this shell and resume system boot
bash: no job control in this shell
root@mark-desktop:~#

when i try running fsck nothing happens.. so i "ctrl-d" and get into ubuntu, try to open mail and it wants me to set up a new account....

help please...

**mvalenti** · February 12th, 2009

contents of log file...

Log of fsck -C3 -R -A -a
Thu Feb 12 10:22:19 2009

fsck 1.41.3 (12-Oct-2008)
/dev/sda3 contains a file system with errors, check forced.
/dev/sda3: Duplicate or bad block in use!
/dev/sda3: Multiply-claimed block(s) in inode 292830: 598110 598134 598135 598136 598137 598138 598139 598140 598141 598142 598143 598144
/dev/sda3: Multiply-claimed block(s) in inode 292985: 610542
/dev/sda3: Multiply-claimed block(s) in inode 293096: 610542
/dev/sda3: Multiply-claimed block(s) in inode 293104: 598110 598134 598135 598136 598137 598138 598139 598140 598141 598142 598143 598144
/dev/sda3: (There are 4 inodes containing multiply-claimed blocks.)

/dev/sda3: File /mark/.evolution/mail/config/folder-tree-expand-state.xml (inode #292830, mod time Wed Feb 11 16:23:18 2009)
has 12 multiply-claimed block(s), shared with 1 file(s):
/dev/sda3: /mark/.recently-used.xbel (inode #293104, mod time Wed Feb 11 16:35:00 2009)
/dev/sda3:

/dev/sda3: UNEXPECTED INCONSISTENCY; RUN fsck MANUALLY.
(i.e., without -a or -p options)
fsck died with exit status 4

Thu Feb 12 10:22:30 2009

**mc4100** · February 12th, 2009

Originally Posted by mvalenti

/dev/sda3: UNEXPECTED INCONSISTENCY; RUN fsck MANUALLY.
(i.e., without -a or -p options)
fsck died with exit status 4

Thu Feb 12 10:22:30 2009

exit status 4 means, "File system errors left uncorrected".
Have you tried running it manually?

Code:

fsck /dev/sda3

Edit: Yes, you did try. What errors is it throwing up when you do that? Might need to force it, if necessary.

**mvalenti** · February 12th, 2009

mark@mark-desktop:~$ fsck /dev/sda3
fsck 1.41.3 (12-Oct-2008)
e2fsck 1.41.3 (12-Oct-2008)
/dev/sda3 is mounted.

WARNING!!! Running e2fsck on a mounted filesystem may cause
SEVERE filesystem damage.

Do you really want to continue (y/n)? cancelled!

check aborted.
mark@mark-desktop:~$

Do I really want to continue?

**jerome1232** · February 12th, 2009

no, you want to unmount it then fsck it.

Code:

umount /dev/sda3
fsck /dev/sda3

**mvalenti** · February 12th, 2009

mark@mark-desktop:/$ sudo umount /dev/sda3
umount: /home: device is busy.
(In some cases useful info about processes that use
the device is found by lsof(8) or fuser(1))
mark@mark-desktop:/$ fsck /dev/sda3
fsck 1.41.3 (12-Oct-2008)
e2fsck 1.41.3 (12-Oct-2008)
/dev/sda3 is mounted.

WARNING!!! Running e2fsck on a mounted filesystem may cause
SEVERE filesystem damage.

Do you really want to continue (y/n)?

**jerome1232** · February 12th, 2009

Okay it said the device was busy so it couldn't unmount it, you need to unmount the partition to run a fsck on it, I would either boot to recovery mode and unmount and fsck the partition there or Boot from a live cd then run fsck on /dev/sda3 from there.

To get recovery mode just select the recovery kernel in grub's boot list.

**mvalenti** · February 12th, 2009

Thanks Jerome,

Seemed to fix a lot of files. and now system boots normally. However, when I start Evolution its acting like it has never been setup before... where did all my mail files go? Should i back them up before reconfiguring?