System Crash

[Duane Attaway]

On Thu, 21 Aug 2003, Peter Amisano wrote:

> Last night I was updating my web site via ftp and telnet.  I walked away
> for a bit came back and my box was fried.  I rebooted and got a message
> stating that the "INIT" could not be found, or something like that.

init is the default application the kernel tries to run when booting up.  
The init process was designed to run your startup scripts and bring the 
environment to your liking, like servers, Xwindows, etc...  It looks like 
your filesystem may have changed since you set it up last, or is 
configured differently than you expected.

I would try booting from a bootable distribution and mounting your hard 
drive to recover non-applications, such as pictures.

Then, I would start over with a known good CD distribution.  And use ssh
and sftp from this day forward.

ftp and telnet are unencrypted protocols and may allow someone between
your routes to sniff your traffic and poke around, move stuff, and turn
your box into an internet battleship against his "enemies."  Who knows.  
That's why using telnet for shell access is considered a Bad Thing.