LinuxQuestions.org
Review your favorite Linux distribution.
Go Back   LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - Newbie
User Name
Password
Linux - Newbie This Linux forum is for members that are new to Linux.
Just starting out and have a question? If it is not in the man pages or the how-to's this is the place!

Notices


Reply
  Search this Thread
Old 08-07-2004, 06:13 PM   #1
davy999
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Aug 2004
Location: UK
Posts: 9

Rep: Reputation: 0
Fedora 2 install with total Newbie


Help

I have installed Core 2 fedora but whenenver it tries to boot for the first time it either gives me a red screen with blue pinstripes, after a long wait, or if i say interactive start it gets some text with green OK's to the right

I have the bootloader working, I can choose between win XP ( that i am currently using ) or Fedora ( which as yet has never actually initialised since installation.
Please tell me what i did wrong, i have not even been into Linux once today and I have been trying all day to work this out.
Do not confuse me, as I have not managed to use Linux yet, I obviously know next to nothing about it, so any suggestions would have to be very simple.

Thanks in anticipation

Dave
Athlon XP2800+
1024 mb Ram
Nvidia FX 5950 Ultra AGP card
Soundblaster live 1024 Audio
Asus A7N8X Deluxe m/b
Win XP on C drive
Fedora currnetly installed on drive 2 ( 1st partition of that drive)
 
Old 08-07-2004, 07:11 PM   #2
J.W.
LQ Veteran
 
Registered: Mar 2003
Location: Boise, ID
Distribution: Mint
Posts: 6,642

Rep: Reputation: 87
Welcome to LQ davy999. During the interactive start, where you see a list of messages (in white on the left) and then "OK" in green on the right, the PC is indicating which steps it is executing as it starts up. These messages are totally normal and are a good sign. What are the last few messages that are displayed, and are they green "OK" or red "failed".

Based on your description, it may simply be that the PC is starting up just fine, but you are booting into a non-graphical environment, and so the missing step would be to just log in with your username and password. Like I said, if you can indicate what shows on the screen after the messages stop being produced, that should permit further diagnosis. -- J.W.
 
Old 08-07-2004, 07:13 PM   #3
davy999
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Aug 2004
Location: UK
Posts: 9

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 0
Hi JW

I get all Green OK's , the last one being about a SWAP or something, sorry its late and my memory is fading.
I did leave it for 30 mins and nothing happened, I get no prompt to type anything in, no username, no password or anything

Dave
 
Old 08-07-2004, 07:20 PM   #4
J.W.
LQ Veteran
 
Registered: Mar 2003
Location: Boise, ID
Distribution: Mint
Posts: 6,642

Rep: Reputation: 87
If you get all green OK's, then that is a very good sign, and probably the only thing you need to do is enter a username a password, or, if the system is logging you in automatically, then it may be dropping you into a terminal session, in which case you may just need to start the X environment by entering this command: startx

Rather than trying to rely on memory, how about just rebooting and making a note of the exact wording of the last 7 or 8 lines of text that are displayed. That would be much more effective than trying to guess at what might be happening. -- J.W.
 
Old 08-07-2004, 07:51 PM   #5
davy999
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Aug 2004
Location: UK
Posts: 9

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 0
Hi Again JW

I get the following

CHECK ROOT FILESYSTEM -OK
UNMOUNT :/INITRD: DEVICE IS BUSY
REMOUNTING ROOT FILESYSTEM IN READ/WRITE MODE -OK
ACTIVATING SWAP PARTITIONS -OK
CHECKING FILESYSTEM
/BOOT: RECOVERY JOURNAL
/BOOT:CLEAN 38/25584 FILES , 11153,102280 BLOCKS -OK
MOUNTING LOCAL FILE SYSTEM -OK
ENABLING LOCAL FILE SYSTEM QUOTAS -OK
ENABLING SWAP SPACE -OK

It just seems to hang from that point. after waiting 15 minutes I try a few things, one thing i have noticed is that I can still turn the num lock and caps lock on and off ( proving to me the system isnt totally locked) and if I press the scroll wheel on my logitech mouse it will do like a carriage return at the bottom, ( messing about with mouse etc sometimes gives me a cursor, but even when there is a cursor no input is allowed from the keyboard, i cannot type anything.

Thanks again

Dave

Last edited by davy999; 08-07-2004 at 07:52 PM.
 
Old 08-08-2004, 04:43 AM   #6
davy999
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Aug 2004
Location: UK
Posts: 9

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 0
Anyone had any thoughts on this since my posting?

Thanks

Dave
 
Old 08-08-2004, 04:57 AM   #7
Novacat
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Aug 2004
Distribution: Fedora Core 2
Posts: 19

Rep: Reputation: 0
How much swap did you put in?
I've had problems like this on a 2 GB drive.
 
Old 08-08-2004, 05:04 AM   #8
davy999
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Aug 2004
Location: UK
Posts: 9

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 0
This may seem stupid, but I will say it anyhow..

I do not remember being asked for a swap, and what the heck is it, and how do i find out how big it is?

If I look at the drive using disk management on WINXP, its hows the drive is in 3 partitions, 100mb (health active) 25.91GB Healthy unknown and 1.95GB healthy unknown

Yes it is 100 MB not GB in first parttion, Win XP is on another drive that drive is supposed to be Linux only
Dave

Last edited by davy999; 08-08-2004 at 05:06 AM.
 
Old 08-08-2004, 05:16 AM   #9
Novacat
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Aug 2004
Distribution: Fedora Core 2
Posts: 19

Rep: Reputation: 0
I think that's your problem. Fedora seems to dislike having small ammounts of space.
 
Old 08-08-2004, 05:21 AM   #10
davy999
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Aug 2004
Location: UK
Posts: 9

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 0
Ok

buit how do i change it?

I must admit i got confused at the set up of teh partitions during installation.

Dave
 
Old 08-08-2004, 06:50 AM   #11
dmschimanski
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Mar 2004
Posts: 3

Rep: Reputation: 0
You get the choice to partition it manually through the setup menu on the disks but I don't think thats the problem because the partitions you describe are exactly how fedora sets itself up when told to partition automatically. The main cause I have had with installing linux was because the media I used was faulty. Did you perform the disk checks when you first installed it?
 
Old 08-08-2004, 07:23 AM   #12
davy999
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Aug 2004
Location: UK
Posts: 9

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 0
Ok

I reinstalled and think it got a 4GB drive and a 26GB drive
Not sure which is which,, but..

I GOT INTO LINUX
It takes about 5-8 minuts to start up ( is that normal ??)
and.. I get a red screen with blue lines on a bit, then the login page.. which got me into it

I set up my printer. got a test print done. I was very happy

then ... I tried to set up my monitor. I set driver to one in the list "Proview LCD" and I think I changed resolution.
It told me to restart or someting to finalise .. so i did

now..

Whenever it tries to go from text to graphics at log-in i lose my screen, i get a display mesage that "the mode is not supported"
This is obvioulsy to do with resoltion / frequency..

How can i change it back to someting that works??? I liked the look of linux, but now i cant get into it


btw.. i can get some sort of text environment "bash or something????" if this helps

Dave
 
Old 08-08-2004, 08:29 AM   #13
dmschimanski
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Mar 2004
Posts: 3

Rep: Reputation: 0
With regards to the drives. In windows each partition gets a drive letter. In Linux each partition mounted onto the directory structure. The one partition is always / which known as the root directory. Each further partition is mounted as a branch partition. For example on my unit I have a /home, /usr and a /tmp partition.

I find Linux takes longer to boot than windows also. however that is because loads up the interface and then all the other bits and pieces. Have you noticed with Windows you can click icons etc. but they slowly at first. That does not happen with Linux because it loads all the background processes first.

If you can get into bash then you should be able to fix the problem.
Log in as root and type

vi /etc/X11/XF86Config

This brings up vi which text editor with file thats configures your graphics settings.

Use your cursor keys to find a line with the text.

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
HorizSync 30-121
VertRefresh 60-150
Option "DPMS"

Here you can the refresh setting for your monitor. NB the setting above are for my monitor I am not sure what your monitor needs. If you will need to change them. Press INSERT to be able edit the text. Also check further along fot the part that along these lines.

Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1600x1200" "1792x1344" "1400x1050" "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
ViewPort 0 0 # initial origin if mode is smaller than desktop
# Virtual 1280 1024
EndSubsection

Again the setting shown are for my system but remove the higher resolutions that dont work with your monitor. Once you have changed the setting. Press ESCAPE to leave insert mode and type :wq. That should write to file and drop back into bash.

From the prompt type startx and if it's fixed you go back into the windowing system.
 
Old 08-08-2004, 09:42 AM   #14
davy999
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Aug 2004
Location: UK
Posts: 9

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 0
Thanks for the help

I couldnt wait and re-installed.. but now my grub seems messed up

it comes up with a GRUB prompt
I have also had another prompt that was something like SCH_20B (cant remember sorry)
I have tried allsorts ( not that i know what i am doing) and I dont get any options about what operating system i want to run. I typed startx and other things and all to no avail.

but I had to fix the MBR on my WINXP drive as the new install seemed not to work just to get back here

Is there a quick way to repair my loader? or would it be better to reinstall again ?(5th time) >?

Dave

Last edited by davy999; 08-08-2004 at 09:44 AM.
 
Old 08-08-2004, 10:51 AM   #15
dmschimanski
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Mar 2004
Posts: 3

Rep: Reputation: 0
If you boot the first linux CD and type linux rescue in the prompt. It will bring you to a command line from there.

chroot /mnt/sysimage
grub-install /dev/hda ( assuming grub installed on the MBR of your first hard drive)
 
  


Reply


Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off



Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Total newbie ? for fedora core2 oldschoolgamerz Linux - Wireless Networking 2 11-01-2004 11:02 AM
Fedora Core 1 - Won't Update! Total Linux Newbie... big_syner Fedora 3 10-23-2004 10:34 AM
sound not working on fedora core 2... total linuxian newbie here... pc tweakz Linux - Newbie 5 08-04-2004 10:50 PM
Total newbie, sorry. How do you install software in Linux? chriswhitworth Linux - Software 10 11-08-2003 07:19 PM
Total Newbie, pleae help me out: post install problems. Venomous Squirr Linux - General 18 10-17-2002 08:34 PM

LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - Newbie

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 02:12 AM.

Main Menu
Advertisement
My LQ
Write for LQ
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute content, let us know.
Main Menu
Syndicate
RSS1  Latest Threads
RSS1  LQ News
Twitter: @linuxquestions
Open Source Consulting | Domain Registration