remove ext4

[Justin Ferguson]

I don't want ext4, yet the documented methods for removing it do not work.

root at theory:/# mount | grep sda5
/dev/sda5 on / type ext4 (rw)
root at theory:/# mount -t ext4 -o remount,noextents /dev/sda5 /
mount: / not mounted already, or bad option
root at theory:/# dmesg | tail -n 1
[ 2466.236154] EXT4-fs (sda5): Unrecognized mount option "noextents"
or missing value
root at theory:/# mount -t ext3 -o remount,noextents /dev/sda5 /
mount: / not mounted already, or bad option
root at theory:/# dmesg | tail -n 1
[ 2475.204381] EXT4-fs (sda5): Unrecognized mount option "noextents"
or missing value
root at theory:/# lsattr /bin/ls
-----------------e- /bin/ls
root at theory:/# chattr -e /bin/ls
chattr: Clearing extent flag not supported on /bin/ls
root at theory:/# tune2fs -O noextents /dev/sda5
tune2fs 1.41.9 (22-Aug-2009)
Invalid filesystem option set: noextents
root at theory:/# tune2fs -O extents /dev/sda5
tune2fs 1.41.9 (22-Aug-2009)
root at theory:/# chattr -e /bin/ls
chattr: Clearing extent flag not supported on /bin/ls
root at theory:/# tune2fs -O extents /dev/sda5
tune2fs 1.41.9 (22-Aug-2009)
root at theory:/# chattr -e /bin/ls
chattr: Clearing extent flag not supported on /bin/ls
root at theory:/# uname -a
Linux theory 2.6.31-16-generic #53-Ubuntu SMP Tue Dec 8 04:01:29 UTC
2009 i686 GNU/Linux

Attempting to boot the kernel with the noextents flag specified in
fstab causes a drop to busybox which also does not know what to do
with the noextents flag.

Should of reformatting, how do I unstupid this situation? The box
doesn't have enough space to make an entire new partition/copy, so
that isn't an option.