Hi,
I updated my XFree86 in a bit to update kde (as I was getting these dependency run arounds) going through a procedure modifying some XF86 file (which I dont remember as it was from some url which is now in my favourites in my linux system which I cant access)..
Now, the system boots to the grub screen.. I select the linux version.. it boots successfully but instead of the login screen, I just see a black screen with ocassional flashes of the hourglass symbol....
Does anybody have any clue about how to get back to my original system?
I am a complete newbie when it comes to this? How can I even access the shell prompt as Ctrl+Alt+F4 also does not work?
Thanks for your time and patience
vij

how about ctrl+alt+f1 or f2 or f3, I'm a newbie myself but if that don't get you a command promt I'm pretty sure your fu**ed unless you can disable xfree at boot.

The easiest way would be to use a rescue floppy or cd, "tom's root and boot" or "rip" for example. Many distro's install cd #1 have a rescue mode. Used to keep rh8.0 cd #1 around for just that reason. That should let you edit /etc/initab to runlevel 3. A lot of us don't like to have 5 as the default, since if your x messes up you can't login as you have discovered.

like this:

id:3:initdefault:

Then you can boot normally to a text login and cli, where you can fix things.

Iirc, there is a way to edit the grub command line at the menu and force rl3, but I don't recall what you add. Seems like with some distro's at least you highlight the linux boot you want, hit the letter e, and add the word "single" without the quotes. But I don't know if that is universal, if fact I doubt that it is.

ok.. since I did not any helpful information..
I just backed up my imp stuff to a different hard disk and installed everything afresh..
Thats a big pain in the ass .. since now I will have to install most of the needed stuff again..
Thanks a lot for your help guys..

I think the command kevinalm is talking about is "init 3". If you add this to your kernel command line in LILO or GRUB, I'm pretty sure it will force the system to initialize in runlevel 3 (i.e. no X, in most distros). You can also just boot to signle user mode by appending "init 1" or "single" to the kernel command line, and fix the inittab there. A reinstall was overkill in this case.