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I have inadvertently taken the run level out of the inittab file and rebooted.I now cannot get into my Mandrake Linux system to change it. It defaults to run level 9 and says there are no more processes in this run level. How can I change the run level during boot time?
Type "single" at the boot prompt to enter single-user mode. From there you should be able to mount /etc and edit /etc/inittab. Re-enter the line id:x:initdefault:, where x is your desired runlevel.
hmmm... i'm guessing that perhaps you don't have a boot prompt. if so, i've got some bad news adam. what you've got is referred to as the runaway level 9 problem. if you have a rescue disk, now is the time to use it, or if your installation cd has an option to get to the prompt, those are your only hopes. i had this problem a while back, and not a single guru i asked had anything useful to add. you need to edit your /etc/inittab file, but i'm guessing that you already know that. the trick is to get to the file.
in my unfortunate case, i had to do a clean re-install, which wasn't that bad, because i had just done a back-up. the only other real options are to try to install a small linux on another partition and then use that to fix the old system, but i've never tried that personally. if you find another way around, let me know.
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