ok, I was using grub to boot both fedora and win2k. I tried to install XP, but it sucked, so now I have win2k and fedora, but winxp wiped my MBR. So the only way I can boot into fedora is through a boot diskette, which I already made.
win2k is on my primary hard disk, and fedora on the secondary, using a drive controller that won't let me boot from cds. that's why i'm using a diskette.
I think I can use "grub-install" to reinstall grub onto the MBR, but that's not my main problem. A while ago, I tried to install a login "theme." (gnome) so when I login, I see a different image in the background. Well apparently it's corrupt and when I boot into fedora, it gives me a messagebox and my only option is the "ok" button. I click it and nothing happens. I hit Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Backspace and it goes to the login prompt, but the gui starts right back up again. I keep hitting those buttons and the same thing. For the life of me I can't get it to a text based login.
I have to hit the reset button.
So i think i can fix all of these problems if I can use a text login, but I can't figure out how to boot straight into the shell and stop fedora from loading gnome. When i boot off the diskette, it finds the linux partition and wants to boot from that (which boots into gnome) instead of the basic kernel on the diskette. At least I think there's a generic kernel on the diskette.
what do you guys suggest?
-Todd