Boot failure because of fsck problem

I have installed openSUSE 11.1 apparently successfully, in that I could boot, login and work on all directories yesterday. But today I have tried unsuccessfully to boot four times. :frowning: I get a text screen containing the following messages (copied by hand so may be not completely accurate)

/dev/disk/by-id/usb-ST350062_OAS_ST3500620A9QM47GTC-0:0-part6
No such file or directory

The superblock could not be read or does not describe a correct ext2 filesystem

fsck failed for at least one filesystem (not /)

sdc2 <sdc5 sdc6>

When I log in as root and do fsck /dev/sdc6 it says the filesystem is clean but I still cannot boot after doing a CONTROL D restart.

My limited knowledge suggests the problem may be due to a removable usb hard disk (?which the system is calling sdc ?) on which I have a linux ext3 partition (for data not /). The boot problem exists whether I have the usb disk connected or not.
During installation I configured this partition - maybe this was a mistake?

Any ideas on what’s going wrong and how to put it right?
Thanks for any help.

I would recommend removing that partition from /etc/fstab then reboot with that USB disk disconnected. After booting try to connect it.

Thanks for this advice. I’m not very experienced with doing things from the command line so please could you tell me how to edit /etc/fstab
Thanks

Well to be honest i never had to use CLI except when installing nVidia drivers :slight_smile: Just type edit /etc/fstab (as ROOT) and delete that USB entry.

Since you are not logged in You can’t use graphical tools like kwrite or gedit.