Fsck complains during bootup but doesn't find anything to repair.

[Mark Hessler]

     Hello,
   Given X not running, is there a way to interrupt/shutdown the system 
when it doesn't respond to ctrl^c?  My Intel system running a recent 
5.1-Release -> 5.2-Release upgrade hung when I typed 'xdm' for the first 
time.  (Normally I start x with 'startx'.)  I waited for a while, then 
powered down.
   Now the system boots with all four ad0sd1x partitions reporting 
Warning:  'NO WRITE' and 'UNEXPECTED INCONSISTENCY' during bootup.
   In single-user mode, I can remount them read/write, as I saw 
described in a mail thread:
   mount -u -o ro /dev/ad0sd1a  /   (example for /, also applies to 
/tmp, /var and /usr)... then run fsck:
   fsck /
   ... all mounts pass- fsck doesn't complain.  But each time it boots, 
fsck run manually reports the same errors as above for all the hard 
drive mounts.
   So, to summarize:
   Question 1:  is there a way to shutdown the system properly when it 
hangs on starting X?  I tried logging in remotely and couldn't- 
apparently sshd wasn't happy.
   Question 2:  what might I do to repair my filesystems or hard drive 
if either is broken, given that fsck run manually doesn't complain or 
fix anything once the filesystems have been remounted r/w?
   (Question 3:  why does fsck seem to contradict itself, reporting 
errors during bootup but not when run manually in single-user mode?)
   --Mark Hessler, excited new migrant from microsoft.