File system check (fsck) reports error in number of days

Condition

When a file system check (fsck) is performed during the boot up process, it indicates an error of extremely large number of days since the file system was checked.

Following is an example of the error message:

Sep 20 13:34:35 i3250-mpp fsck: RHE4.0-AV11.3EP2 has gone 49706 days without being checked, check forced.

Sep 20 13:34:35 i3250-mpp fsck:  RHE4.0-AV11.3EP2:

Cause

The system's clock was set backwards manually.
NTP was reconfigured and then restarted at the time of OS or software installation.

Solution

You can ignore the number of days reported since the last check. Regardless of the exact number of days since the file system was last checked, fsck performs this check and reports the file system errors.