Well I Killed My Linux

adambeazley · 04-27-2004, 10:57 PM

Im a complete newbie,
tying to install a bunch of stuff and now linux wont start. the last error i got was that the system was hanging on "shutting down ARP Damon" and then I shut ti down manually and started it and did an integridy check and it hung and thats all it does now.
Well im learning as I go but damn Its only been a week and I killed my operating system already. I guess Ill reinstall, hopefully this time Ill install the drivers correctly.
Adam

bigrigdriver · 04-27-2004, 11:15 PM

Hang in there, Adam. In my first year, I found 11 different ways to trash my system, and as many ways to fix the problems I made for myself. I found that I reinstalled unnessarily about 7 times, when I could have booted from the install CD and fixed things. The second year, I found a few more ways to trash and recover. Sometime in that second year, I realized, Damn, I could never fix things this way in windows. Now, I don't boot my windows partition anymore. I'm thinking about archiving that partition and using the space for Linux. The learning experience can be frustrating, but, in the end, the feeling of confidence is something I never experienced in the windows world. Now, I'm learning how to use tools I never imagined having (for lack of money) in windows, and they're free (free of money, but not free of the time it takes to learn). There's no going back now. I'm hooked on Linux.

adambeazley · 04-27-2004, 11:57 PM

teach me more about fixing stuff from the install cd.
Basically what its doing is it cant execute some file in the etc directory.

fancypiper · 04-28-2004, 12:19 AM

What's your distro? Usually you can boot rescue from either your install cd/floppy or boot floppy you make during install.

# ARRGH! I hosed my box
LILO fails: Error messages and their interpretation
LILO mini HOWTO
Multiboot with LILO HOWTO
LILO, Linux Crash Rescue HOW-TO
Installing a bootloader
Multiboot with GRUB Mini-HOWTO
Linux+Win9x+Grub HOWTO
KNOPPIX Linux Live CD
Linux Bootable Business Card
Windows 2000 Recovery Console
Windows XP Recovery Console

# Compiling/installing kernel modules
You will need to have installed:
1. The developmental packages (compiler)
2. The kernel-source code that matches your running kernel
3. The module source or install code

Check out your system and look under the hood and see if you installed the stuff you need to do the job. Open an x terminal and type in this sequence of commands to see what kernel we are running and see if you have the kernel source installed:

Code:

[fancy@tinwhistle fancy]$ su -
Password:
[root@tinwhistle root]# uname -r
2.4.20-28.7

I am running kernel version 2.4.20-28.7. Do I have the proper source code?

Code:

[root@tinwhistle root]# cd /usr/src
[root@tinwhistle src]# ls -alc
total 3
drwxr-xr-x    4 root     root          136 Jun 12 14:53 .
drwxr-xr-x   16 root     root          424 Jun  4 12:04 ..
lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root           14 Jun  4 12:11 linux-2.4 -> linux-2.4.20-28.7
drwxr-xr-x   16 root     root          584 Jun  4 12:11 linux-2.4.20-28.7
drwxr-xr-x    7 root     root          168 Jun  4 12:08 redhat
[root@tinwhistle src]#

I do have the same kernel version source code installed in the directory /usr/src/linux-2.4.20-28.7 and there is a symbolic link named linux-2.4 pointing to it.

If you don't see something similiar to this (but in color), you will need to install the kernel source.

NOTE: I noticed that Red Hat didn't make the symbolic link /usr/src/linux that all of the INSTALL files that I have read mentioned that I need. I may as well make one now to save editing the files in the source code every time I need to compile anything concerning the kernel. So, I'll make that link just now:

Code:

[root@tinwhistle src]# ln -s linux-2.4.20-28.7 linux         
[root@tinwhistle src]# ls -alc
total 3
drwxr-xr-x    4 root     root          160 Jun 12 15:46 .
drwxr-xr-x   16 root     root          424 Jun  4 12:04 ..
lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root           14 Jun 12 15:46 linux -> linux-2.4.20-28.7
lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root           14 Jun  4 12:11 linux-2.4 -> linux-2.4.20-28.7
drwxr-xr-x   16 root     root          584 Jun  4 12:11 linux-2.4.20-28.7
drwxr-xr-x    7 root     root          168 Jun  4 12:08 redhat
[root@tinwhistle src]#

Ah, there it is, so that's done.

Next, did I install the compiler?

Code:

[root@tinwhistle src]# gcc -v          
Reading specs from /usr/lib/gcc-lib/i386-redhat-linux/2.96/specs
gcc version 2.96 20000731 (Red Hat Linux 7.3 2.96-113)
[root@tinwhistle src]#

Yes, I have a compiler installed.

If you don't have those two things installed, you have to install them first off your install CD.

If they are installed, download the source and happy compiling.

Make sure you carefully read the README and INSTALL files after extracting and before compiling/installing.