Bad Magic Number in super-block while trying to open /dev/sda2

[tchoklat]

I have stuffed up I think.

I used GPartEd to create an extended partition to allow me to use more primary partitions to try other distros. All went well until I tried to reboot,this is where I get the error; "Bad Magic Number in super-block while trying to open /dev/sda2"

My / partition is sda1 and home partition is now renamed by GPartEd to sda5. sda2 as referred to in the error message is actaully the swap partition.

Simple request ..... what do I do?


tony

[bumanie]

Please post the output of

sudo fdisk -lu

[tchoklat]

Please post the output of

from the Ubuntu liveCD!

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -lu

Disk /dev/sda: 320.0 GB, 320071851520 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625140335 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 63 85112369 42556153+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda4 85112370 620815859 267851745 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 243738180 361205459 58733640 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 361205523 463764419 51279448+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda7 85112496 161887004 38387254+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 161887068 243738179 40925556 83 Linux
/dev/sda9 463764483 620815859 78525688+ 83 Linux

Partition table entries are not in disk order
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$


sd 1 is /
sd 5 is /home
sd 6 is the virus
I have deleted sd2 which was swap!
the others are the extended partition and the empty ext3 partitions I wanted to try other distros on.


Tony

[bumanie]

A bad magic number is not a good sign, as you probably realize. Here are a couple of pages with suggestions how you may be able to recover things, but it looks difficult and any attempted fix may make things worse. Read the following and post back with questions - someone may be able to help, but it looks it could be a hardware issue, but there is one mention about changing partitions causing the problem. I would be tempted to use something like testdisk to try and rewrite the disk back to how it was before you used gparted - but if you make a mistake with testdisk, you will probably make things worse. Do you have large enough external hard drive (or separate internal) to copy your hard drive to? Trying to fix these things can be difficult. Alternatively, you could copy important data via the live cd and reinstall. If you did that, place windows on the first partition - it doesn't behave well in logical partitions, but linux will operate fine from a logical partition. If you try testdisk, read the documentation well before using it - also look here.

[tchoklat]

A bad magic number is not a good sign, as you probably realize. Here are a couple of pages with suggestions how you may be able to recover things, but it looks difficult and any attempted fix may make things worse. Read the following and post back with questions - someone may be able to help, but it looks it could be a hardware issue, but there is one mention about changing partitions causing the problem. I would be tempted to use something like testdisk to try and rewrite the disk back to how it was before you used gparted - but if you make a mistake with testdisk, you will probably make things worse. Do you have large enough external hard drive (or separate internal) to copy your hard drive to? Trying to fix these things can be difficult. Alternatively, you could copy important data via the live cd and reinstall. If you did that, place windows on the first partition - it doesn't behave well in logical partitions, but linux will operate fine from a logical partition. If you try testdisk, read the documentation well before using it - also look here.

Hmmmm! If I copy the data from / and from /home to an external HDD, will I be able to copy it back after reformatting and partitioning the HDD? If so what commands do I use. I really need my /home partition, would like my / partition and can live without the ntfs partition?

I am unable to mount the partitions using the liveCD, I get
error: device /dev/sda7 is not removable
error: could not execute pmount


Your assistance is magic!

regards


Tony

[meierfra.]

Did you update your "fstab" after the partitioning? Post the output of

sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt
sudo blkid
cat /mnt/etc/fstab

[tchoklat]

Did you update your "fstab" after the partitioning? Post the output of

sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt
sudo blkid
cat /mnt/etc/fstab

Think you got it right. FStab was not correctly idintifying the partitions, it did not appear to have changed when I amended the partitions. I always thought that GPartEd did this, I was wrong, at least in this instance.

I have reconstructed a new install and all is well now, thanks!


Tchoklat

[meierfra.]

I always thought that GPartEd did this

Nope, GpartedEd does not edit fstab.

Glad you got it to work.

[kevinluu]

Nope, GpartedEd does not edit fstab.

Glad you got it to work.

Dear Bumanie, meierfra and tchoklat:

My name is Kevin.

I am very new to Linux.

I need help from you all to show me how can i fix the same problem "Bad magic number in super-block while trying to open /dev/sda2" i just encounter after i resize my /dev/sda2 partition.

On my system the command: fdisk -lu

Disk /dev/sda:500.1GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors

Units = sectors of 1* 512 =512 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System

/dev/sda1 * 63 208844 104391 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 208845 976768064 488279610 83 Linux


Would you please show me:

Where can i find the "fstab" that meierfra mentioned and how must i update this fstab using infomation disaplyed from the fdisk -lu command?

Thank you very much.

Kevin

[unutbu]

Please post the output to the commands

sudo mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
sudo blkid
cat /mnt/etc/fstab

Given that info, we should be able to set you right.