I bought a new computer with linux 7.0 and I couldn't get my printer to work. I bought a dummies book w/8.0 and after installation forgot my login or password. I re-installed and the computer crashed on the second cd. Now all I get is grub> the mess. is: minimal bash like line editing is supported. for the first word, tab lists possible command completions. anywhere else tab lists the possible completions of a device /filename. I spent 7 hours trying to find an answer in the questions and found none. Thank you, johnbuffone.

Are you speaking of Red Hat Linux?

Did you get a boot floppy? If so, see what options that gives you...

If not, maybe make an MSDOS one (with another comp... the one you're on now)? Then reformat, get yourself a fresh Linux CD - if possible Fedora 1 or Slackware 9.1 (that's what I use)... and start fresh. That's my advice. It'll more probably support all your hardware, too. Especially if you have new stuff.

But, if that isn't possible, keep trying to install, maybe go for the minimum installation (with X though) without using the second cd.

Cheers, oh, and don't be TOO afraid to ask... (7 hours is a bit overkill) I know some people get annoyed if you "don't read the manual," but overall Linux could use some more users, and we gotta support those who are just seeing the light

Thanks for the response. I made two bootable floppies and still get the same results.

Linux bootable ones? Or MSDOS ones?

Does it check the floppy when your comp starts up - if there's one in there? (like, the light goes green... makes a heck a noise)

Are there any important files on the harddrive? Do you want to save anything that was there (if anything)?

Btw... Fedora can be found here: http://fedora.redhat.com/

Slackware here: http://www.slackware.com (though this is somewhat less nice to newbies)

If you have the bandwidth, download Fedora... if not... http://damnsmalllinux.org/ is good for recovery - and weighs in at less than 50 megs.

Though if you want to stick with Red Hat 8.0 (?) - you did buy a book, after all (though I think most of the concepts are the same for Fedora... but I'm not sure), then that's alright.

Sorry, yes it is Red Hat. I made the bootables from two different sucessful installations. Neither one works. I changed the BIOS to different settings to force boot from floppy, cd-rom, & HD nothing works. There is nothing of value on HD. thanks, again.

What are the computer specs?

You have 2 other successful installations? What is different about this one?

Keep it on force floppy first for the moment. When this option is on, does it even attempt to read the floppy?

Does this command give you anything?

cat /etc/rc.d

via c3 samuel 2 giga pro 800mhz processor 128mb sdram 30gb hard drive 52x cdrom drive. The other two bootable floppies couldn't be used because I had the wrong login or password but that was before the current problem.

Try this: http://www.toms.net/rb/

FAQ here: http://www.toms.net/rb/tomsrtbt.FAQ

Cat/etc/rc.d/ unrecognized command

there's a space between "cat" and "/etc/rc.d"


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If you get that recovery floppy to work, use the command:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda

to wipe the whole harddrive, and then reboot and install 8.0, this time remembering the password.....

No, that doesn't work. still get unrecognized command.

Better instructions: go to your one of your other successful installation computers.

download this: http://www.tux.org/pub/distributions...2.0.103.tar.gz

"a) extract the .tar.gz archive [tar -zvxf toms*]
b) Be root [su root]
c) Be in the tomsrtbt-<version> directory [cd toms*]
d) Have a blank floppy with no bad sectors
e) Do './install.s'

The script assumes you have ELF and that your 3.5" 1.44M floppy is on fd0.

Virtually all 1.44 drives support 1.722 just fine, but it is possible for
an extended format to break a floppy drive, use tomsrtbt at your own risk.
The install does mknod to make /dev/fd0u1722 if you don't have it already.

If you use libc.so.6 / glibc, you might need something like:
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/i486-linux-libc5/lib; ./fdformat /dev/fd0u1722

Umount any mounted floppies before installing."

then put in your "bad" comp's floppy drive while it is off. switch it on, when it loads up (the floppy should load up too), type:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda

exactly as it is there.

reboot, install redhat 8.0 like you did before on your successful comps

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if the floppy doesn't work, try switching the floppy drive around with a working one from your other comp...
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that's all I can think of doing... anyone else have any suggestions?

and don't worry, we're going to get it working

thanks. the cat w/space says file not found. I took out the cd and put floppy in ( that I don't know the pw or login) typed in cat and it says could not find kernel then it went to boot: loading vm... now it has localhost login: what next?

well if you don't know the password, then there's not much you can do?

here is something of interest (requires reboot): http://www.skyenet.net/~aross/Linux/...tpassword.html

else, see my above posts........