Hello,

First off, I am brand new to Linux. I installed FC2 on a new Dell Dimension 8200. The install went well and the system ran flawlessly. That same day, I realized that I had mistakenly installed FC2 instead of FC4. I just overlooked it when downloading from the mirror.

So I downloaded the FC4 and installed it on the same computer (which should have formated the HD). After the install of FC4 completed, I rebooted. When it booted up, it asked me for a Username and password--unlike FC2 did. I presumed it was asking for the SU so I entered SU and the correct password that I entered during FC4 setup. I keep getting the message that I have entered an invalid login. I am positive that I am entering the correct password and I have not setup any additional users accounts. Could someone explain my oversight/confusion?

Thanks in advance...

It sounds like gdm is damaged or absent, or at least the symptoms are similar to what I encountered when gdm was removed during an FC3>FC4 upgrade.

As another possibility, you may have either inadvertently upgraded from FC2 to FC4 or did not specify that the partitions be reformatted as ext3 during the FC4 installation, leaving in place all of the FC2 stuff.

In either case, you have to wonder what else will not work properly. You can either spend the next few days trying to fix the problem or bite the bullet and do a fresh installation of FC4. In the end, doing a fresh installation will likely be the least painful choice.


If you want to have a look around the installation, you can boot into runlevel 3 and then start X manually. Start the boot normally, but “press any key” when the grub menu question appears. Then, following the instructions below the grub menu list, enter the edit mode for the first entry and then edit the “kernel...” line. (My instructions will make more sense to you when you are actually looking at the screen.) To the end of the “kernel” line, after “...rhgb quiet”, add:

init 3

Save the changes and boot, following the instructions at the bottom of the screen. At the login prompt, log in as root and run:

startx

which will start X. You can then look around and get an idea as to what is wrong. Specifically, look at the login options under “System Settings > Login Screen”.

It makes sense to me that it has something to do with FC2 being on the HDD previously. What I don't understand is that when began FC4 setup, I chose fresh install. I agree that maybe I should have formatted the HDD prior to inserting the FC4 cd. I don't have any sensitive info on the HDD so I can go ahead and start over.

Being new to Linux, I wanted to be sure that there was an error and that I didn't just miss a step--just to keep from wasting a lot of time.

My ultimate goal is to use this server to serve up a couple websites via Apache, but I would also like to setup a network on this server for file and print services for my two other computers (Del Windows XP). I currently connect both XP computers to my Linksys router which is connected to my DSL modem.

Can you offer any suggestions on how to begin my setup of this network? I know I will probably need Samba. Are there any tutorials out there that are specific to this type of installation?

Thanks so much for your help...

It is very easy to reuse the previous installation’s partitions and to overlook the option to reformat them as ext3. The default is to NOT reformat them, so everything from the previous installation is preserved. That’s good if the partition is /home, but bad if it’s /usr.

Regarding your other questions, you should start a new thread with a title reflecting your questions. Otherwise, you will probably get a poor response in the current thread.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you did, but su is the Unix Switch User command -- most often used on the command line to temporarily switch from a normal user to root user to execute commands. Unless you made a user account with the name "SU", then you shouldn't enter it in as a user name.

If you were to log in as root graphically (which I really would not recommend at all!), you'd have to enter the user name root and then give the root password. During setup though, you should have set up a normal user account sometime though, so you should be able to just enter that user's name and password.

I haven't used Fedora in quite some time, but I assume that the problems you're having is that Fedora Core 2 used automatic login or something similar so that you never had to manually log in at the GDM screen, whereas Fedora Core 4 isn't using auto-login (correct me if I'm wrong? ). As long as you set up some sort of account, you should be able to log in with that, otherwise you can create a user account via the root account

Hope that helps!

Excellent help guys...

I am beginning to understand what is going on now.

WhatsHisName:

When I manually set the partitions when installing FC4, I did notice that the Format column was selected for each partition (/ and /boot, both ext3, and a swap file.) Everything looked appropriate, but I will agree that I must have missed something somewhere. I will keep a close eye when I reinstall it.

Also, I will repost my other questions as you recommended.

Thanks!

Gato Azul:

I believe I misunderstood that SU means "Super User". I understand how to login as root now. I will try is before I begin my reinstall. If anything, maybe I will learn what happened.

I remember being asked to create a user account in FC2, but I never was prompted to do so with FC4. Would it ask before or after rebotting after the install? I have only gone as far as the reboot after install of FC4 when it asked me for the login.

Thanks!

Gato Azul: The FC1/2/3/4 default is to allow the root user to log in, but that can be changed. If gdm is screwed up during the installation, that option goes away and you can only log in as a regular user.

ctroyp: If you were not asked to create a regular user, then you upgraded the FC2 installation. The only other way that happens is during a kickstart installation.

Great. It is all starting to make sense and become apparent what really happened.

I appreciate your help...