You should be able to select the run level into which you boot from the initial boot screen.
I don't know which boot manager Mandriva uses, but -- if it's GRUB -- all you need to do is
1) press the Escape key when the GRUB message is displayed,
2) select the system to which you want to boot from the menu,
3) press "e" to edit the boot commands,
4) select the "kernel=" line,
5) press "e" again,
6) press the "End" key to go to the end of the line,
7) type " 3" (without the quotes) and the Enter key,
8) press "b" to boot.
That should boot you to a command line in run level 3 where you can log in as "root" and fix your problem. (Look at
man chkconfig for instructions on how to change which services start during boot at various run levels.) If the system still hangs, try run level 1 instead of 3.
The
chkconfig --list network command should tell you the run levels where the network service is started:
Code:
$ /sbin/chkconfig --list network
network 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
If Mandrivia uses the typical run level settings, you want to change the settings for run level 5, using
chkconfig --level 5 network off
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Note: I don't use Mandriva, so my comments may not apply to that distribution.
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