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Old 09-24-2003, 02:56 PM   #1
rbayne
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Unhappy Red Hat 9 never boots


I have a Red Hat 9 system that was running great this morning. I ran the autoupdate/patches that it told me to and now it will not boot into the GUI. It just cycles back and forth from a black screen to the root login screen. The other thing I did was to configure LDAP for Edirectory on it, but I have shut that off via console one from another server.
Any ideas.

Roger
 
Old 09-24-2003, 09:28 PM   #2
jailbait
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"It just cycles back and forth from a black screen to the root login screen."

This means that your startx command is failing. This could be any one of a lot of possible problems with X Window. I would start by reconfiguring /etc/X11/XF86Config and see if the problem is in there.

Of course, first you have to get into your system to do any diagnosis. I would try to go to an alternate console with:
<ctrl> <alt> <F3>

Last edited by jailbait; 09-24-2003 at 09:31 PM.
 
Old 09-25-2003, 07:42 AM   #3
rbayne
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Great, that is where I will start. What should I look for in the XF86Config?
 
Old 09-25-2003, 08:22 AM   #4
yapp
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...what about going to another console, with Ctrl+Alt+F4, login as normal user, and run "startx". You'll get a lot of useful / helpful debug messages. Perhaps your driver is missing, caused by an kernel update.

You can also view /var/log/XFree86.<display>.log
Error- and warning-messages start with (WW) and (EE). Use the program "less" to view it, because it's quite huge.

If you jump to yet another console, you can run tail+grep, to monitor the file, and filter all errors. tail keeps monitoring the file until you press control+c
tail -f /var/log/XFree86.0.log | grep -E "\((WW|EE)\)"
Then go back to the previous console, and type startx.

There might be something you can relate to the /etc/X11/XF86Config file.
 
Old 09-25-2003, 08:49 AM   #5
rbayne
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Ok guys. I can't get to another console. When do I do the CTL-ALT-F3 or F4?
 
Old 09-25-2003, 09:05 AM   #6
yapp
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Maybe it's not loaded :-/ A console isn't useable until something is printed at it (or for example, a getty/login program is started)

Better try every function key, because there must be another console
 
Old 09-25-2003, 09:15 AM   #7
rbayne
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ok, got there by booting to the cd and running linux repari. I can see the XF86config file in vi. What the heck am I looking for? :-)
 
Old 09-25-2003, 10:12 AM   #8
jailbait
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Perhaps the first thing to do is to get your system to where it will boot into command line mode. Try editing /etc/inittab and changing the default run level to 3. Change a line that says:

id:5:initdefault:

to

id:3:initdefault:

Then boot
 
Old 09-26-2003, 04:56 AM   #9
yapp
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Quote:
Originally posted by rbayne
ok, got there by booting to the cd and running linux repari. I can see the XF86config file in vi. What the heck am I looking for? :-)
Have you tried to produce the debugging output, as I've explained in my previous post?

ie. run "startx" and see what it tells, and watch the log files.
 
Old 09-26-2003, 08:32 AM   #10
rbayne
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ok, linux admin said that I have tinkered enough. She rebuilt thte system. really do not know what happened
Thanks for the help folks
 
Old 09-26-2003, 10:34 AM   #11
jailbait
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"ok, linux admin said that I have tinkered enough."

Wow! There exists such a thing as linux admin. Open Source is going bureaurocratic.
 
Old 09-26-2003, 10:42 AM   #12
rbayne
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Yep and she is really great looking too.
Now I am atttempting to get EDIR form Novell working on system.
 
Old 11-22-2003, 01:28 PM   #13
ripple
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hello I am curious were you change the defualt level at , in the grub ? .. BEcuase my machine isa standlone trying to boot in lvevel 5 and I think if I can change to level 3 it will boot the GUI . So if anyone can be a bit more precise I would be greatful .

Last edited by ripple; 11-22-2003 at 02:17 PM.
 
Old 11-22-2003, 03:30 PM   #14
jailbait
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" I think if I can change to level 3 it will boot the GUI . "

You can change the run level by using the init command. To change to run level 3, log in as root and type in:
init 3

You can permantly change your default run level by changing /etc/inittab. Log in as root and edit /etc/inittab. Change the line:
id:5:initdefault:
to
id:3:initdefault:

___________________________________
Be prepared. Create a LifeBoat CD.
http://users.rcn.com/srstites/LifeBo...home.page.html

Steve Stites
 
Old 11-22-2003, 03:51 PM   #15
ripple
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ok , i logged in as root

I get "permission denied" when I type "/etc/inittab id:3:initdefault:"
 
  


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