Hi,
I have installed Red Hat 8 on my DELL Inspiron 2650 laptop. I have also installed the NVidia display drivers that work fine with the current Kernel (2.4.18).

I recently compiled the kernel (2.4.25) as I wanted to access my NTFS parition (Win XP). The kernel compiled successfully. I made changes to the GRUB bootloader configuration file as needed. At boot up time when I select the new Kernel to boot up, it boots up until it comes to the point where it shows the login promt. It then tries to go into the graphical login screen and stops there....the text based login screen keeps flashing and it hangs there....

Any ideas as to how I can solve this?

Thanks
Rohit

hi,
the nvidia drivers u installed were only for THAT kernel version.
you'll have to do the same thing for every kernel u build.

so, dont start into gui, and re-compile nvidia drivers for the new kernel.

btw, you can access ntfs with 'modprobe ntfs" "mount -t ntfs ... "

of course, u need the ntfs module compiled (which u can check with 'modinfo ntfs')

So how do I not go into the GUI mode and stop at the text based login?
Also how do i set this by starting up the previous kernel?
Another thing....my previous kernel worked without the nVidia drivers too...then why is this the problem for the current kernel??

Thanks
Rohit

ok here's my progress

1. Go the nVidia drivers to compile for the new kernel (2.4.25).....but the resolution was really bad..only 800x600. I need at least 1024x768

2. Had to revert back to the old kernel.....2.4.18-14 as my wireless card and ethernet card stopped working in the new kernel...probably i did not select the modules while compiling (which i think i did....but am not sure)

3. In the previous kernel (2.4.18-14) I had the nVidia drivers installed properly with the res. at 1024x768. however now the resolution is only 800x600. I made changes to the XF86Config file....but it didnt make a difference. Tried many things....screwed up many times....now am back to a generic vesa driver. Here is the my XF86Config file..

# XFree86 4 configuration created by pyxf86config

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "DevInputMice" "AlwaysCore"
EndSection

Section "Files"
# RgbPath is the location of the RGB database. Note, this is the name of the
# file minus the extension (like ".txt" or ".db"). There is normally
# no need to change the default.

# Multiple FontPath entries are allowed (they are concatenated together)
# By default, Red Hat 6.0 and later now use a font server independent of
# the X server to render fonts.

RgbPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
FontPath "unix/:7100"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "dbe"
Load "extmod"
Load "fbdevhw"
Load "glx"
Load "record"
Load "freetype"
Load "type1"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
# Specify which keyboard LEDs can be user-controlled (eg, with xset(1))
# Option "Xleds" "1 2 3"

# To disable the XKEYBOARD extension, uncomment XkbDisable.
# Option "XkbDisable"

# To customise the XKB settings to suit your keyboard, modify the
# lines below (which are the defaults). For example, for a non-U.S.
# keyboard, you will probably want to use:
# Option "XkbModel" "pc102"
# If you have a US Microsoft Natural keyboard, you can use:
# Option "XkbModel" "microsoft"
# Then to change the language, change the Layout setting.
# For example, a german layout can be obtained with:
# Option "XkbLayout" "de"
# or:
# Option "XkbLayout" "de"
# Option "XkbVariant" "nodeadkeys"
#
# If you'd like to switch the positions of your capslock and
# control keys, use:
# Option "XkbOptions" "ctrl:swapcaps"
# Or if you just want both to be control, use:
# Option "XkbOptions" "ctrl:nocaps"
#
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "keyboard"
Option "XkbRules" "xfree86"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "PS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
# If the normal CorePointer mouse is not a USB mouse then
# this input device can be used in AlwaysCore mode to let you
# also use USB mice at the same time.
Identifier "DevInputMice"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
ModelName "Unknown monitor"
HorizSync 31.5 - 37.9
VertRefresh 50.0 - 70.0
ModeLine "1400x1050" 129.0 1400 1464 1656 1960 1050 1051 1054 1100 +
hsync +vsync
ModeLine "1400x1050" 151.0 1400 1464 1656 1960 1050 1051 1054 1100 +
hsync +vsync
ModeLine "1400x1050" 162.0 1400 1464 1656 1960 1050 1051 1054 1100 +
hsync +vsync
ModeLine "1400x1050" 184.0 1400 1464 1656 1960 1050 1051 1054 1100 +
hsync +vsync
Option "dpms"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard0"
Driver "vesa"
VendorName "nVidia"
BoardName "VESA driver (generic)"
VideoRam 16384
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Videocard0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 16
SubSection "Display"
Modes "1024x768" "800x600"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "DRI"
Group 0
Mode 0666
EndSection




PLEASE Help with this.....

modprobe ntfs gives me the output
modprobe: Can't locate module ntfs

and modinfo ntfs gives me the output
modinfo: ntfs: no module by that name found



Of course...these are in kernel 2.4.18-14 since i have reverted to this...

thanks
rohit

Yea, All the problems lie in your kernel .config file...... Took me about 20 times of recompiling before I got it completely tweaked for my laptop..... These stock configs are so bloated, it's crazy..... Go recompile your kernel..... Sounds like you don't have NTFS support as a module. Post the output of 'lspci' 'cat /etc/fstab' 'mount -l' and 'lsmod'..... You connect via broadband? Is that DSL or Cable? What file systems do you use? (all of them) Your probably better off not using modules for certain things and just statically compiling them into your kernel..... Post that stuff and I'll tweak my .config and mail it to you as long as we are using alot of the same hardware..... Any parellel or usb devices that you use? You can get it all worked out by trial and error on recompiling your kernel... Up to you.... The nvidia drivers need to be re-compiled EVERY time you build a new kernel. Even if it's the same version..... All your modules get deleted and replaced in the process, including your nvidia driver (only it doesn't get replaced unless you build it again)... You could always try to use the original redhat config file.... It would take eons to build tho. And you would have about 50-100 modules that you'll never use in your lifetime..... And you can avoid the GUI login by editing '/etc/inittab'... The line that says "id:5:initdefault:"... Change the 5 to a 3........

Jon

Thanks for the reply....I dont have that mcuh time to do all what you said....but will do it in the future...for the time being restored the system...got the nvidia drivers to work in 2.4.18-14. Am using that now....

rohit