everytime i do a command on xterm it goes to the next line but then doesn't do anything
like i've been following peoples instructions on here how to install certain things or uninstall but it just goes to the next line and does nothing
eg:

[Fawker@my.ip.addy fawker]$

then i'll type something like rpm -qa | grep mplayer

and it will be

[Fawker@my.ip.addy fawker]$ rpm -qa | grep mplayer
(cursor appears here)


nothing!and i'm sure there must be a command or something that will bring it back to normal but i don't know what it is if anyone can help? it gets annoying having to close xterm and reopen it after every command

That command can take a long time to run. Does it do it with all commands eg "date"?

no small things like that work its just bigger commands the do that and i don't know why :/ i know for some of them its not just because it takes a while i mean waiting all night is a little excessive.. don't you think?

Is it just the rpm command? It may be a corrupt rpm database.

well actually to be quite honest none of the rpms i have been trying to install lately have been working at all if i do the command line it freezes like that and if i just click on the icon nothing happens at all if i click more than once i have to go into kpm and kill some weird things that pop up i can't remember what they were called off the top of my head but they didn't have anything to do with rpms that i could see
its so weird
i hate redhat 9 its been pissing me off from the install :/

Yes - but it depends on the speed of your computer. You could eliminate xterm by running the commands direct from a console.

Are the proccesses still running or do they stop and the cursor still stays in the same place?

whats the difference between console and xterm? i thought they were more or less the same thing..
and if that question: Are the proccesses still running or do they stop and the cursor still stays in the same place?
applies to xterm then the cursor just stays in that place
i can press enter and it moves down a line
i can type in things and press enter but it just displays them and doesn't do anything
:/

A console is a console and xterm is an X application (another layer of complexity)

I guessed that but if you start an rpm proccess - does it die or keep running?

i don't know how to find that out...

Go to a different console and run:
ps -ef | grep rpm

This should show any procceses that are running related to rpm.

a whole pile of stuff popped up..

[fawker@h24-70-70-13 fawker]$ ps -ef | grep rpm
root 30022 29902 0 02:01 ? 00:00:00 /usr/bin/redhat-install-packages /home/fawker/Desktop/shit/programs/pine-4.44-14.80.0.i386.rpm
root 30023 30022 0 02:01 ? 00:00:00 /usr/sbin/userhelper -w redhat-install-packages /home/fawker/Desktop/shit/programs/pine-4.44-14.80.0.i386.rpm
root 30024 30023 0 02:01 ? 00:00:00 python /usr/share/redhat-config-packages/SinglePackageWindow.py /home/fawker/Desktop/shit/programs/pine-4.44-14.80.0.i386.rpm
root 30039 1 0 02:05 ? 00:00:00 python /usr/share/redhat-config-packages/SinglePackageWindow.py /home/fawker/Desktop/shit/programs/pine-4.44-14.80.0.i386.rpm
root 4154 3678 0 04:03 ? 00:00:00 /bin/sh /etc/cron.daily/rpm
root 4155 3678 0 04:03 ? 00:00:00 awk -v progname=/etc/cron.daily/rpm progname {????? print progname ":\n"????? progname="";???? }???? { print; }
root 4156 4154 0 04:03 ? 00:00:00 /usr/lib/rpm/rpmq -q --all --qf %{name}-%{version}-%{release}.%{arch}.rpm\n
root 17141 29967 0 13:37 ? 00:00:00 /usr/lib/rpm/rpmq -q --all
fawker 17529 17273 0 14:22 pts/6 00:00:00 grep rpm
[fawker@h24-70-70-13 fawker]$

Is it possible for you to reboot the machine and try that command again as soon as it starts up.

ya i suppose i can do that .. brb

ok rebooted and this is what i got

[fawker@h24-70-70-13 fawker]$ ps -ef | grep rpm
fawker 2291 2168 0 14:35 pts/3 00:00:00 grep rpm
[fawker@h24-70-70-13 fawker]$

Tha is good - that entry is just the command that is looking for other rpm entries. Now rebuild the db again:
rm -f /var/lib/rpm/__db*
rpm --rebuilddb

Then try the rpm commands you wanted earlier on. You can use the "ps" command again to see what proccesses are started and when others die.