Solaris 9 - INIT: Cannot create /var/adm/utmpx (System Hangs)

Question

Hello,
I am unable to boot into solaris 9 after I did a init 0. I did init 0 because shutdown -y -g0 -i0 did not work.
This is the error message I get
Hardware watchdog enabled
INIT: Cannot create /var/adm/utmpx
INIT: failed write of utmpx entry:" "
INIT: failed write of utmpx entry:" "
INIT: SINGLE USER MODE
Type control-d to proceed with normal startup,
(or give root password for system maintenance):
After it asks for the password it HANGS.
I entered the password, but NOTHING HAPPENS.
I can go into sc console though.
I also rebooted using Solaris 9 cdrom in single user mode. Checked the filesystem using fsck, and no faults were found. I also tried creating a new /var/adm/utmpx file but that did not work too.
Any help would be appreciated,
Thank you,
Jacob.

Answer 1

Hello,
Check for /var filesystem usage,if it is not mouted as seperate filesystem then check for "/" FS usage.
There may be chances you get to have this problem if your FS is full.
If everything normal then follow the below steps, which solved similar kind of issues in the past for me.
Logon to the system and when you get prompt just run fsck on your root filesystem.
Check /etc/vfstab file to ensure that you are running fsck on correct fs name.
After completing fsck just say "reboot". The machine will boot normally.
In b/w is this machine disks are mirrored?? if so then you may need to choose the disks carefully before you run fsck.
thanks.