I modified my rc.local startup script a few hours ago. I inserted a command whose purpose was to start JACK (Jack Audio Connection Kit) automatically on startup. After rebooting however, I realised that it's halting the startup procedure - it just stops. I can't even get to a terminal - never mind get into X.

I think (..in fact it seems very likely - or even obvious - that) the problem is due to the fact that I didn't _background_ the process - with the & switch at the end. This would be a problem wouldn't it? If not necessarily _the_ problem? I can't even remember the command now (...I simply copied and pasted from a `ps aux ¦ grep 'jack'`), and can't re-read the file to check it.

Can anyone tell me how to rectify this problem? (...I have to use another computer until I fix this problem.)

System: Slackware 10.1
Xorg installed

In case it's relevant, I'll mention that the command was issued as part of an `su -c` command - i.e.:

(...I think I've read somewhere that jack should be started as root, but I've found that not to be necessary for what I do.) I had done this before - 'su me -c `jackd ...`' and it worked fine (...I'm guessing I backgrounded the process that time though)!

Also, it's almost definitely the `jackd ...` command that's halting the startup process - it was fine until I made this modification.

If you can't get a console at all you can try booting save mode if available in slackware or boot from a (live) CD and mount the hard drive..

Yes - off the top of my head - that seems like an entirely viable suggestion - it didn't occur to me during my relative panic. I still have my slackware installation cds, and I'll try it once I get back to my computer.

Thanks!

I just wanted to say ...
...that worked - thank you!

For future reference, if you don't have a bootable CD around, you can always boot into single mode from LILO by adding the word single or the number 1 after you select a kernel. Single mode avoids most of the startup scripts and almost always allows you to log into a console and fix things.