-866 PIII Processor / 512MB RAM / GeForceFX 128MB video card / 15GB HD
-Dell 1905FP LCD monitor

Hello Everyone,

I just finished my first install of Red Hat 9. I've never really used linux before but I do have a very mild understanding of UNIX. When I tried to install RH9, I could not launch graphic mode. It would detect my keyboard, mouse, monitor, etc., as well as load the generic video driver. Then my screen would go black and the monitor button would go orange, indicating no signal. I successfully installed in text mode, and when it restarted it saw the install and I selected it. However, it again lost the video signal.

I have searched forums and tried different things, like launching linux rescue and typing "lowres" in the "boot:" section. I also tried "resolution=1280x1024" as well as variants with different resolutions. That didn't work at all. I also tried "redhat-config-xfree86" in the shell, and that didn't seem to do anything.

Just for kicks, I booted FeatherLinux from CD and it worked without a hitch.

My goal is to install Maya and use my machine as an animation workstation, and per Alias' website, Maya needs Red Hat 9.

I'm kinda curious about Linux and Red Hat, so it would be neat to get it running. Especially cause I'm so sick of Windows. If anyone can help I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

I neglected to mention that after I ran "redhat-config-xfree86" under the shell, the screen went blank, I lost the video signal, and then it came back with

xconf.py:Fatal IO error 2 (connection reset by peer) on X server :17.0.

Don't know if that helps or not.

If you're ending up at a command prompt, try typing "startx"--minus the quotes. Any reason you're not running Fedora?

I typed "startx" in the linux rescue shell. Here's wah happened:

hostname: localhost.localdomain: Host name lookup failure
xauth: creating new authority file //.Xauthority
xauth: creating new authority file //.Xauthority
Using authority file //.Xauthority
Writing authority file //.Xauthority

Fatal server error:
Cannot open log file "/var/log/XFree86.0.log"

When reporting a problem related to a server crash, please send the full server output, not just the last messages.
Please report problems to xfree86@xfree86.org.

giving up.
xinit: No such file or directory (errno 2): unable to connect to X server
xinit: No such process (errno 3): Server error.

That was before I typed chroot /mnt/sysimage. After I did that, I got this:

sh-2.05b# chroot /mnt/sysimage
sh-2.05b# startx
sh: startx: command not found

I have a perfectly good reason for not running fedora: What's fedora?

I guess it's an open source version of Red Hat? Would running it solve my problem?

Sounds like X is not installed properly...and someone correct me if I'm wrong. I'd highly suggest upgrading to something more current (Fedora) before proceeding.

You need to install the Nvidia drivers.

How can I install the drivers if I can't boot up into the OS? I thought the generic Red Hat driver could at least get me into the GUI.

Also, how is Fedora different from Red Hat 9? Can I run Maya in Fedora?

Thanks all

You need to boot to the straight command line and then install the new driver.
http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/l...2-TROUBLE-GRUB

I don't know anything about Maya.

The thing is, I can't even boot into anything. I can get into rescue mode, in which there is no "inittab" file. When I first go to install Red Hat, if I choose "install in graphical mode", I loose my video signal. After successfully (I think) installing in text mode, there is no graphical mode on reboot. This is all on Red Hat's generic video driver. I can't log in as root anywhere other than rescue mode, because I can't get to any login screens. Shouldn't Red Hat at least boot into graphical mode on an install with a generic video driver? If not, how in the hell do they expect people to migrate from windows when this stuff happens?

So you do not even see a grub menu when you boot the PC?

In rescue mode the root partition is mounted at /mnt/sysimage. The inittab file is located at /mnt/sysimage/etc/

By executing the command:
chroot /mnt/sysimage

Changes /mnt/sysimage to be the new /.

Depends on which default video graphics driver you selected and whether it plays well with your LCD display..

Here is someone that was successfull installing maya using MDK 10.
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/history/298355

Thanks for the Maya link! Also, thanks for the path to inittab, I found it! However, the default is already at 5. I rebooted again without rescue, and here's what happened:

I did get the Grub screen, with a found version of Red Hat. After 5 or so seconds, it begins to boot the OS. There is a long list of text with things its finding and loading with lots of [ OK ]'s. I see a "welcome to Red Hat Linux" line, along with other things like "found firewire", "found soundcard", etc. After a while it says something like, "initializing firstboot". Then the screen goes blank and there is no video signal.

Hopefully this gives you a better clue as to whats happening. Thanks again.

Changing 5 to a 3 will boot without a GUI and hopefully allow you to install the nvidia drivers.

Ok...I feel like we're almost there. Thank you so much for your help so far. I changed the inittab and booted up into the console. However, now my problem is how to get the video drivers onto the machine and installed. I noticed that the "mnt" directory holds the cdrom, so I downloaded the drivers to my windows laptop and burned a cd. When I went into the /mnt/cdrom directory, I did not see a listing of my files. Any suggestions?

You need to mount the CD. This attaches the CD filesystem to the tree. The command is:
mount /mnt/cdrom

The CDROM drive is now locked and you need to unmount before you can eject.
umount /mnt/cdrom

Woo hoo! It worked! I'm in Red Hat. Thank you so much michaelk for you help and especially your patience. Also thanks to JSpired for your efforts as well.