can't think of a better decsriptive subject line.

i'm owning up. i was playing around with the setting in my redhat linux box (don't ask what version, i can't find out, i'll tell you why in a second) and i changed the video card memory from 16 meg to 32 meg, restarted, and now linux is freezing up. genius me.

furthermore, i had it set to log me in automatically, so i can't pop into root x-server to change the setting there.

i was able to get into root command line, but this is as far as i'm able to get. i am totally clueless about using command line to change system settings.

it boots up past the login screen (at which i am unable to do anything because it blinks on, then logs me in a microsecond after that), starts loading up my desktop, then freezes.

please tell me i can change the memory setting for my video card back to 16meg from my command line. please.

just a bump. please help.

I had a similar problem ages ago, but it was because my video card was just plain lousy to begin with (2MB?). I ended up not installing X.

The first thing that came to mind was XF86Config. I believe that you can change the card memory setting in there. It's an intimidating file, but not too bad. The biggest problem is preventing X from booting. I am not sure how to do that, but you might try CTRL-BACKSPACE. I think that's the key combination that kills X.

I'm sure there are plenty of others who can give you more help, but hopefully this points you in the right direction

where is the XF86Config file?

The XF86Config file can be found in several places. On my Debian box, it's in /etc/X11.

You might also look in /usr/X11R6.

Looking through my config file, I found the section I believe is relevent to your problem:

Section "Device"
Identifier "GeForce4"
Driver "vga"
VideoRam 64000
EndSection

Notice the "VideoRam" line. That is probably where your problem lies. Yours probably says 32000, and you should change it back to 16000.

There is also a script that will configure the file for you. It's called xf86config. Just type that in on the command line, and it will run you through various questions. Have information on your peripherals and display hardware ready before you run it, and it will be nearly painless.

<EDIT>
man xf86config will give you more info on the configuration script, and man XF86Config covers the format of the actual config file.
Here's the online manual page for the config file:
http://www.xfree86.org/4.3.0/XF86Config.5.html
</EDIT>
</EDIT>

took me a while to figure out saving a file using vim, but i eventually got it. everything's working smoothly. so good to not have to go to the library again to update this post.

god bless you, sir! a thousand blessings upon your household!

Glad to hear it's working.