hello today i installed mandrake
And went through the setup fine no problems
I got to the end of the setup
It said congrats and told me to press the reboot button
When the computer booted back up I got a a blue screen that was enabling certain services and a green ok would appear beside the service.
I got a red failure when trying to enable my dhcp server settings
Then when the blue screen disappears
I get the all black screen with the following:

Mandrake Linux Release 9.1 (Ramboo) For i586 kernel 2.4.21 - ).13mdk on an i686/ttyl dhcp - 141 - 12 login:

then after I enter my login in name and password when prompted I get this:

Last Login: Mon Aug 18 12:47:54 on vc/1
[helpwin2002@dhcp-141-12 helpwin2002]$


Then it stays like that waiting for me to type. There's only one problem with that I have no Idea what to type.
How do I relsolve this issue?
Thanks

You're trying to set up this system to be a DHCP server on your network, right? And you've given it the hostname "dhcp-141-12".
Hmm... It could be that the DHCP service is failing to initialize because you haven't yet configured it. I don't know if Mandrake has a tool for doing this, but the configuration file is /etc/dhcpd.conf, and you can get the documentation on that with the command: "man dhcpd.conf".

But it looks like there's a bigger problem. Your system isn't configured to start up a desktop, so you've logged into a command-line shell and you don't know what to type. Well, there's hundreds of commands you could type, so the question is: what are you trying to do with this system? Give us some more info, and maybe we can help you some more.

Wow yeah
Well I guess since this isn't a common issue I might have a currupted install or have of made some sort mistake when selecting the options for internet setup during the installation setup.
Cause Im not trying to set up a server. My cable provider uses the default dhcp server setting 10.0.0.2 so I don't know if it picked up a error there trying to detect the settings for my isp.
Im just guessing here.
But im going to reformat the partition again and rerun the setup I'll be sure this time to watch the options more carefully this time.
Are there any packages that I could of picked during the install that would try to set up a dhcp server.

Don't re-install yet!

I don't know how Mandrake splits out the package selection stuff, so
I can't tell you what to avoid. I was assuming that it had been set up as a DHCP server because of the line you said that failed during boot. Can you give us the exact text of that line?

It's possible that your system is being set up as a DHCP client, not a server, and I was just thrown off by that message. If so, that would explain the funky hostname: that's what your ISP dynamically assigned to it. If that's the case, try typing "ping -c5 www.linuxquestions.org" to see if your network is working. If so, you'll get a bunch of output about the responses that come back to your pings. If the network is working, what next? Do you want to get your desktop set up?

umm i was thikning .. did you install kde and gnome and stuff like that?? the desktop enviroments?? try typing startkde in the prompt and youlll get a graphical interface and then go from there... ?? but i guess youd ont need that for a dhcp server do you?

Wow guys
Ok I ll answer your questions and try your tests tonite to get you more info on the issue, cause im at work. So I wont reinstall it yet.

MackTheHack: Can you give us the exact text of that line?


Mandrake Linux Release 9.1 (Ramboo) For i586 kernel 2.4.21 - ).13mdk on an i686/ttyl dhcp - 141 - 12 login:

then after I enter my login in name and password when prompted I get this:

Last Login: Mon Aug 18 12:47:54 on vc/1
[helpwin2002@dhcp-141-12 helpwin2002]$

That is the exact text.

MackTheHack: If the network is working, what next? Do you want to get your desktop set up?
For sure. As soon as linux lets me get past this screen. With your help that is.

Onion56: did you install kde and gnome and stuff like that?? I installed kde. Yes and the desktop enviroments.

Onion56: but i guess youd ont need that for a dhcp server do you?
No don't want it. If I needed it for some reason I can figure that out once I can get to the OS and get to the control panel.

Actually, I wanted to see the exact text of the line that reports "failed" for the DHCP server as it's starting up your services. A few lines around it would be helpful too. Sorry, I should have been more explicit.

You don't need the DHCP server. Actually, running one might interfere with your ISP's DHCP server, which they wouldn't like. See if the "startkde" command does anything. If not, try "startx". I suspect what may have happened is that your system is coming up to run-level 3 by default, which is the non-graphical run-level. You can check this by typing the "runlevel" command (or /sbin/runlevel if it's not in your PATH), which should output something like "N 3" if you are really in run-level 3. If that's the case, you can type "telinit 5" (as root) to change to run-level 5 and it should try to start up X.

If I'm right about the run-level thing, you can change your default run-level by editing the line in /etc/inittab that reads "id:3:initdefault:" to be "id:5:initdefault:". Only do that if you really are in run-level 3.

hey I did all the tests you suggested and got a lot of errors
I figure it most likely was a currupt install
I reinstalled linux and was carefull not to pic any server packages
Everything works great now
Just wanted to say thanks for all your help and for being professional
Thanks

lol welcomes!