I have a Dell Latitude c840 that runs SuSE 8.0 Enterprise server that hangs on bootup on trying to create /var/log/boot.msg. It boots in rescue mode just fine. I've tried deleting the old boot.msg file that was in there, but that did no good.
Does anyone have any advice/know of a website with the answer?
Suggest you boot into rescue mode and check the permissions on /var/log/ and then try creating the file. Then check that the file's permissions are what you should have (sorry, no idea on what they should be).
Then attempt to boot up normal.
Also, I found many questions about boot.msg but could not read them (they were in German). The following suggest that you can boot with a flag set for no boot.msg. Translation by Babel Fish altavista.com .
Original link: linux hangs
first response:
I tried changing permissions of the entire directory, but I still have the same issue. I tried using "nobootmsg" by typing in as an option in the "grub" menu, and I got the same thing as well.
I'm going to have to learn German, aren't I?
Got it !!!! I had given up and started to wipe out the system, when, as a last ditch effort, I tried booting the installed system via the SuSE Install Disks. That got me up and going. Of course, I now need to see if there is any permanent damage, but I am back in the saddle again.