Re: mount/umount hangs after I messed with /etc/mtab

[Chris Majewski <majewski@cs.ubc.ca>]

Turns out the loop device is  broken in kernel 2.4.*, and when I tried
to  mount it,  the mount  hung, causing  a lock  that  prevented other
mounts/umounts from happening. 
-chris

Krzys Majewski <majewski@cs.ubc.ca> writes:

> I am unable  to mount/umount anything after messing  with my /etc/mtab
> last  night (I  had removed  a floppy  without umounting  it,  and was
> getting "Device  busy" when I tried  to remount/umount it,  so I nuked
> the floppy line  in mtab, without backing it up, yay).  Now when I try
> to mount or umount something, the command just hangs.  Any idea how to
> reset  this? Renaming  /etc/mtab doesn't  seem to  help!  Neither does
> rebooting! (Of  course, the box  won't shutdown cleanly since  it can't
> umount  anything, although  for some  reason  it does  mount stuff  on
> boot-up.) 
> -chris