How do I exit the X-Server in RH9. I need to exit the X-Server system to install nVidia display drivers.

ctrl-alt-backspace
log in as root
run the nvidia shell script
edit your XF86Config file according to readme
startx

Problem:

When I press ctrl-alt-backspace the computer looks as if its shutdown. I press the power button again and I see the text login thing but it goes right into X

ok well take the steps i take when i have to install nvidia drivers:
fire up your favorite text editor, and open up the file
/etc/inittab.
you will see a line close to the top that says:
id:5:initdefault
change the 5 to a 3...now reboot your computer, and you will boot directly to console..you will log in as root, navigate to your nvidia drivers, run the shell script, edit your xf86config file, and then exit out of root to your normal user, and then type startx...if it works, then you can then edit you /etc/inittab back to your default (id:5:initdefault) for you can boot directly back to X everytime you start your computer...the reason i don't tell you to change it back to 5 before you type startx, because if there is a problem, you can easily reboot the pc back to the console and troubleshoot whatever problem that exists...if you set it back to 5 before trying to startx for the first time using the nvidia drivers and there is a problem, then that is just going to be more grief for you....so anyways just follow the steps and you will be fine...whatever problems you have, if any, just post the issue, and we'll see if we can resolve it..

I cannot edit the text file inittab. I try to backspace the 5 but it does not work.

Ok I edited the file. Now I am gonna do the other steps you said.

During the installation it asked if I wanted to connect to the nVidia ftp site to update kernel or something. I did and it said it couldnt find a match. So it shut down installation. Im going to bed tonight so if you can help please leave the suggestion here. Thanks for all your help man.

dont connect to the site, just have it build the kernel from scratch, it works fine and is very quick (10 seconds).


Also, you dont have to change your inittab if you only want to boot in text mode once.

In LILO or grub, after the linux name (whatever it is), type "init 3" , and it will boot into text mode.

and thats why i told him not to do that, because if you go the nvidia fourms you will see that there is hundreds of problems and if you leave 5 in your inittab and something goes wrong then its going to keep booting 5 and then he will have to take additional steps to get back to console, thats why it is the safest to set the runlevel to 3 when installing the nvidia drivers...

but genesis as he said don't connect to the site...and i am wondering when you say you said yes and the installation aborted, did it say something like Unable to load the kernel module 'nvidia.o'.?? if so then you'll have to make a symlink to the right kernel because that means you updated your kernel and its pointing to the wrong one, but if it gave a message like this:
No precompiled kernel interface was found to match your kernel;
then this is just as easy as downloading your kernel sources, cause the nvidia installation needs this to complete...
so go to your console and type rpm -qa|grep -i kernel
you should see something like:
kernel-2.4.18-14
kernel-source-2.4.18-14
this is what i get but you see how there is a kernel package and a kernel source package, and if thats the error you got then more than likely you won't have the kernel-source package and all you have to do is install that and your installation will work..

Ok it seems I do need the Kernel Soruce. Do you know where I can get them? My Kernel has been updated since I installed RH9. I use the up2date tool and it told me to update my kernel. Not sure where to find the source files. Thanks for all your help.

hrmm, well if you did a kernel update through up2date then the kernel source package should of been one of them updates...if you don't have the check mark down by your clock for up2date then you still have updates so maybe that is one of them, and if you do have the checkmark, then click it and hit the "ignored packages" tab and see if kernel source is listed there and if so hit the left error in the center of the screen to move it back to available updates...
if none of that is the case then your going to have to find it and install it manually..i am not sure off hand where you'll get it cause you never told me what kernel you updated to ;-)...
but hopefully when you look through this list:
list of redhat rpm packages for kernel source
i assume you have kernel 2.4.20 but i maybe wrong, just look through that list and make sure its the exact version you download...there is 7 different 2.4.20 kernel sources if you can't see the whole filename to see the last couple digits just hold your mouse over the name and look at your bottom browser status bar to see the complete link and you'll see the whole version number.
have fun! :P

Ok so I downloaded the rpm file but when I double click it it just goes as afar as processing package headers then it quits. Any idea whats wrong?

*edit* I used the rpm -i command in terminal and got this error message:

error: Failed dependencies:
gcc >= 2.96-98 is needed by kernel-source-2.4.20-18.9

yes sometimes the rpm in redhat crashes and you have to for a lack of better terms "manually fix it"...
so just open your terminal, and log in as root and issue the command "cd /var/lib/rpm" and then issue the command "rm -f __db.*" and then you should be able to install your rpm package..

I used the rpm -i command in terminal and got this error message:

error: Failed dependencies:
gcc >= 2.96-98 is needed by kernel-source-2.4.20-18.9

I dowloaded gcc and tried to run it and it said I needed cpp as a dependency. I download cpp and it said I already had a new version of cpp installed. I try to unistall cpp and it says the xfree86 needs it. This is very complex.