fstab messed up: stuck in boot process; help needed!

[oldman]

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Rob wrote:
> Hi,
>  
> By accident I have put an entry to /dev/hdb1 and /dev/hdb2 in my
> /etc/fstab, although there's no 2nd harddisk in my system.
> When I rebooted, the boot process gets stuck during or
> after the fsck and stops with the message to enter the
> root password for maintenance.
> When I do that, I get the prompt "(Repair filesystem)".
>  
> I thought I now simply edit and correct the /etc/fstab file and
> reboot; but, damn, the root filesystem is mounted as readonly.
> Whatever I do, it remains readonly.
>  
> Actually, I find this a rather silly situation: I get a readonly
> filesystem for maintenance. What the hack can that help me....
>  
> Anyway, can someone please tell me what to do in this case.
>  
> Thank you very much!
> Rob.
>  
I got two possibilities
IIRC if you boot into single-user mode I believe that only the root
partition is mounted so re-boot and press the "a" key when your grub
screen is displayed then tab to the end of the line and place a "1"
there. type <enter> and "b" to boot.  Once you get to the bash# prompt
you should be able to edit your fstab.

If I am wrong and you can't do that under single-user mode you can put
your install disc in the drive and boot to that. at the prompt type
"linux rescue" follow on-screen directions to the point where you can
"chroot mnt/sysimage" then you'll be able to edit your fstab.

Scott
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