Here is what I did. There is a file called initab in /etc. I tried to change one of the commands inside it so it boots up in Console mode, not xwindows. The problem is that I edited the file in windows and then transfered it to linux box. Now I cant boot up in linux, and even failsafe. The good thing is that I made a back up, the bady thing is that I can't restore it since I can't get into linux.

it says this

INIT: /etc/initab[8]: missing action field

and it continues with these messages for few lines. Then it says:

INIT: Id "1" respawning too fast: disabled for 5 minutes

What do I do now. I really don't want to reinstall linux all over again.

How can I fix this!

Jnox

BTW I run Mandrake 8.1

hmm... I have no clue what the smart super techie linux thing to do would be but I would just stick my redhat cd in, reboot and tell it to "upgrade" and it should only take it a few minutes since everything already upgraded, and it will redo your system files that are screwed up. That should work

I dont think you can do that with mandrake!

Jnox

All that work when you could've just logged in as root and typed "init 3".

I would give the upgrade a go, if not dont be surprised if you have to reinstall the whole thang!

Mandrake does not have an actual upgrade option as far as I know.

You could try downloading an bootable CD version of Linux and burning it on a ROM, using that to boot and replace your damaged file.

Gahh.. wimps....

fairly sure MD can update. but that's irrelevant.

put the first MD cd in and boot to rescue mode (run 'linux rescue' at the prompt). the system shuold then be mounted under /mnt/sysimage and from there you can access the partitions to replace the file.

oh thats right..

Whoa thanks alot. I at linux rescue, but now how do I rename a file from initabBAKUP to initab. lol

Thats all I have to do

Jnox

mv /etc/initabBAKUP /etc/initab

But I suggest you make a copy than renaming it...

cp /etc/initabBAKUP /etc/initab

and what is the command to view all files that are in that directory?

Jnox

ls -a

if you want to see the filedate,owner etc..

ls -al

there is also a dir command

Oh now i'm in big trouble. For some reason it doesnt display all the files. Is it because I'm in Rescue Disc or something. It doesnt display my back up file. Actually a bunch of files are not being displayed. Could they have been deleted?

Jnox

Could maybe one of you guys ICQ me at 61724334 and help me out. That would be so much better!

Jnox

Do u have a boot disk ?
If you haven't made one. Forget everything and reinstall linux. :smash: