If fsck fails for some reason, the boot process continues as normal, getty appears etc., but the system is still in a single-userlike mode, partitions aren't mounted etc.
Bill, sholdn't this be already fixed ?
what version of initscripts are you running?
3.96-2 from the 5.9 cd image on gribble (not 100% sure about the box I saw the problem on, but it was installed from the same CD as this box, so I suppose...)
upgrade to 3.96-4 or later, either on ftp.redhat.com/starbuck, rawhide.redhat.com, or, if you need it, I'll mail it to you. ;) This should fix the problem.