Okay, I've got a rh linux 7.0 drive and I have important data on there that I don't want to lose. For whatever reason, the drive got mucked up and fails when initializing a few processes. It gives me a gnome log in screen. However, it looks like it's in 600x480 mode. This screen only gives me the option to log in.

When I log in, I simply get a blue screen. When I click on it, I get a funny window entitled "Tvm". That window has 9 options to it, none of which really do anything. When I let go of the mouse button, it goes away. Now the deal is, I've seen something like this before and I solved the problem by just wiping the drive clean and starting from scratch. Of course in this case, I don't want to do that.

So I stick disk 1 of rh 9.0 to do an upgrade. I'm moving along and get a message that complains that one of the partions was not unmounted cleanly and that that has to be done first before an upgrade can happen. The only problem is, I can't shutdown the system gracefully because I only get a blue screen with options like Iconify, resize, nothing useful. Any ideas would be GREATLY appreciated.

colpaarm

Instead of booting into your existing Linux and trying to upgrade, try booting off the RH9 cd and select the upgrade process. That should be easier.

For you shutdown problem...

You can get into one of the virtual consoles by using the key combo Ctrl+Alt+F1 thru F6, login as root and issue the shutdown command OR, do a Ctrl+Alt+Del on the virtual console.

log in single user mode then shutdown
just add "single" to your boot loader prompt
as example, using lilo, I type this to start a single user :
linux single

Unfortunately, ppuru, booting off the cd is where I get the problem. I can't boot off the hard drive because it has become unstable (for whatever reason) and shows that blue screen I mentioned.

Half_Elf, I hit control x when booting, got to a boot: prompt and typed "linux single". So far it looks like the normal boot process and I'm not really sure what to be looking for. Anyway, I'll let you know how it goes.

Perhaps it is just your X settings and not the disk.

Once you are into single mode, edit /etc/inittab

set the initdefault to 3 instead of 5. Be careful while editing this file. an incorrect entry can land you into further boot problems.

runlevel 3 will not start X.

Thanks guys! Looks like Half_Elf's solution is going to work. I was able to log on in single user mode and see that my files indeed are still on the drive and in tact. I was then able to shut down and unmount everything. I'm now installing rh 9 as we speak.

I have tons of data on my drive that I just could not lose. Highlighting this are pictures of my first daughter, born one pound, nine ounces. She's 3 1/2 now and you'd never know how perilous her beginnings were. I OBVIOUSLY did not want to lose that data! Thanks to you guys, it looks like I'll get that data. I'll post back in the morning if any problems arise. Other than that, thanks again guys!

Burn backups to cd, slowly