I had been using my new install of 5.3 for about 2 weeks and when I tried to reboot today I got the following error messages after the normal "Starting udev" appears:

Starting udev
EXT3-fs error (device dm-0): ext3_lookup: unlinked inode 2567752 in dir #2553423
EXT3-fs error (device dm-0): ext3_lookup: unlinked inode 2567752 in dir #2553423
/usr/bin/rhgb: error while loading shared libraries: libvte…: cannot open shared object file: no such file or directory
Loading default keymap (US):
Setting hostname localhost.localdomain:
Setting up Logical Volume Managemant: 2 logical volume(s) in volume group VolGroup00 now active

Checking filesystem
/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 contains a file system with errors, check forced
/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00:
Extanded attribute block 197676 has reference count 2, should be 1

/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00: UNEXPECTED INCONSISTENCY; RUNfsck MANUALLY

***An error occurred during the file system check
*** Dropping you to a shell; the system will reboot
*** when you leave the shell
Give root password for maintence
(or type Control-D to continue)

I went ahead and entered root's password and ran fsck. I answered all of the questions about fixing things with "y". After this I had to run fsck on other file systems. After doing this for 1000 times I got bored (none of them needed fixes) and exited. The system rebooted fine but some thing do not work anymore. I can't run a terminal and the clock is no longer working. I tried to uninstall gnome-terminal and re-install it but that didn't work. I don't know what else might be not working as well.

Does anyone have an idea about what went wrong and how I can get back to my system working? Thanks

Sounds to me like a fresh 5.4 install is in your future. Sorry.

Not enough information to guess what might have gone wrong. Obviously something caused your filesystems to be corrupted. Not completing the filesystem repairs is not a good idea. If you get tired of saying "y" use the "-p" flag. Nothing to loose at this point by retrying the fsck, but probably not much to gain either.

Thanks Phil. Fortunately I have a good backup. Should I do 5.4 or leave it at 5.3. Also (I should google this but maybe you won't mind a dumb question) how do I get a terminal without going into the GUI so I can try fsck? I can't get a terminal in the GUI due to the file system problem.

Installing the current release (5.4) is always recommended unless there is a good reason to do otherwise.

To get a virtual console type "ctrl-alt-F1", or boot in runlevel 3 - interrupt GRUB by hitting space, type "a" to append, followed by "3" <return>.

Thanks. I give the fsck thing a try and if that doesn't work I will install 5.4.