passwd problem

Hi there to all,
I have a problem with passwd and su.
If i try to change the password for a user on my sistem i get the following:
[root@CrazyDesign ~]# passwd alex
passwd: Unknown user context is not authorized to change the password of alex

If i try to add a user it says:
[root@CrazyDesign ~]# adduser testtest
adduser: cannot open /etc/passwd

I have verifiyed /etc/passwd and it looks ok to me
[root@CrazyDesign ~]# ls -al /etc/passwd
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8216 2010-12-23 18:51 /etc/passwd

And if i try to su from root to a user on the sistem it ask's me for the password.

Does anyone know how to solve this problem without restarting the server?
I am runing Fedora 12
[root@CrazyDesign ~]# uname -a
Linux CrazyDesign.biz 2.6.32.11-99.fc12.i686 #1 SMP Mon Apr 5 16:32:08 EDT 2010 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

Thank you all in advance for your answers

 

Is SELinux disabled?

 

Hi,
Sorry for the late answer.
SELinux is disabled since i have installed and configured the server.
I solved the problem with a restart but now it's back again.
I will start the sistem in safe mode and do a fsck -A -y
I think it might be a problem with the HDD.


L.E.
I'v found something after putting a monitor on the server.
The error says:
EXT4-fs error (device dm-0): ext4_journal_start_sbetected aborred journal
EXT4-fs (dm-0): Remounting filesystem read-only
EXT4-fs error (device dm-0) in ext4_da_writepages, ino 44549: err -30
EXT4-fs error (device dm-0) in ext4_reserve_inode_write: Journal has aborted

 

That explains why you cannot modify any files. That looks like a hard drive failure...

 

Yes, It was from one of the HDD's.
I have booted with Hiren's Boot CD and scanned the HDD's then entered in rescue mode and made a scan with fsck -A -y and it found and fixed alot of bad things.
Now it is working well but i am thinking to a full back'up and to replace both hdd's.