/dev/hda3 always dirty at bootup; why?

[chethcoat]

I did a Knoppix 3.4 HD install to a Compaq 433 Mhz box. I partitioned the disk like this:

/dev/hda2 to / (about 2.5 GB)
/dev/hda3 to /usr (about 18 GB)

I selected the ext2 filesystem type. Everything works pretty well, except that when I shut down I have been noticing a message like "/dev/hda3 not mounted". This is *not* true--it is mounted, is listed in /etc/fstab and also in /etc/mtab (and of course the system would not operate without access to /usr). Later, when I start it up, another message says "/dev/hda3 not cleanly unmounted, forcing filesystem check". The check takes a couple of extra minutes during bootup. This happens at *every* boot. Of course, the check completes with no problems reported, and the boot sequence continues. Once booted, everything's functionally OK.

I've checked the boot scripts for mount and umount commands and it all seems in order.

I used a non-Knoppix rescue disk to boot up, then mounted and manually checked both /dev/hda2 and /dev/hda3. Using the ext2 filesystem utilities, I discover that /dev/hda3 is, for some reason, marked "dirty" at first, but I can clean it up, restart Knoppix, and it mounts right up with no problems. I shutdown and restart Knoppix, and /dev/hda3 is dirty again--another check forced.

I'm beginning to think that either Knoppix or Debian are somehow bypassing /etc/fstab and the boot scripts.

The only other odd behavior I can see is that a "shutdown -h now" command seems to power off the system before the shutdown scripts finish...

[baldyeti]

Hmm ... weird indeed. Wouldn't you by chance have two entries for hda3 in fstab, say one for /usr and another for /mnt/hda3, or something?