Problems booting up
 

I am fairly new to the wonders of linux...i fixed some minor bugs initially..however every time my machine boots up now, for some reason it is stuck in DHCP mode. It says it finds it..then, it exits..then finds it again...then exits...after about 3 tries, it says boot failure...any ideas guys...btw, i have mandriva 2008.
thanks

Hya,

Welcome to Penguin World.

If you post log file, (/var/log/messages, /var/log/syslog or dmesg), it is easier to figure out. If these files are huge, find related part.

Happy Penguins!

the thing is, the comp does not even take me into shell...i can't type any commands...

Hya,

In that scenario, can you type the messages you see as is? (not summary as you did in post #1)

Another thing is: boot from CD or whatever install media, go to shell (it has been a while since I used mandrake), the n inspect boot process. As your penguin does not hatch, you have to go back to this step to correct.

Happy Penguins!

You can use a LiveCD to boot up and access the logs on your hard drive.

no joy
 

If it worked before (especially if it's an iternet thing) and you have an external, broadband, modem then try plugging everything out and try again. Plug in Modem first. Will it work with no connection to the internet? Don't wish to sound patronising or stupid but it seems odd that it 'crashes' at the net connection.