How do I boot into single-user mode so I can run fsck?

[tgagne]

How do I boot into single-user mode so I can run fsck? My Amahi server is showing strange problems. Unexpected python crashes, freezing system, I'd like to check both the filesystem and RAM.

Speaking of which, what's the safe way to run a RAM test?

[moredruid]

during the Grub screen (in which you can select which OS to boot) you can edit the lines.
On the 2nd line of your preferred kernel you can put the word "single" after the rhgb quiet part to boot into single mode.

a memtest can be run from most linux live CDs: I know Ubuntu has it built in their menu.

[tgagne]

I'll have to watch mine reboot again. I don't remember it showing me a menu. It goes directly to "Loading Linux Operating System" without stopping to give me a choice.

This question goes along with an earlier one about my Amahi box freezing. I left a vmstat running, and when it appeared "hung" this AM vmstat was showing 100 under "wa", which I think is waiting for IO?

[bigfoot65]

You might try hitting the escape key or space bar and see if that gives you a menu.

[moredruid]

edit /boot/grub/menu.lst

find the line with "rhgb quiet" and append the word "single" to that line.

reboot -> it should go into single user mode (runlevel 1)

do what you must do

edit /boot/grub/menu.lst: remove the word "single" and reboot to get the default value back (either runlevel 3 or 5).

[whetu]

I don't know if this will work on Amahi but I've had it work on Centos VM's... it sounds like you can boot to a workable point, simply issue init 1

Otherwise you're stuck with grub trickery etc e.g.

http://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/Fed ... ingle.html

Ram test: I recommend downloading and running the Ultimate Boot CD. That's got a couple of memtesters on there, amongst many other useful things