Yes, I agree that it is the best policy to try all of the easy things first, like rebooting to single and running fsck. And checking the dameons.
That is my basic philosophy of troubleshooting. 1) Easiest, 2) least time consuming and 3) least expensive, in that order.
Then possibly restoring from tape or other backup media.
Lastly, a reinstall would be drastic, but sometimes necessary.