Mandrake - Help
 

Hi

I recently installed Mandrake 8.1, and when it starts up, the screen flashes several times, and then stops for 5 minutes. I used to konw the commands to get into the setup and change it, but since I havent used it for a while, I have forgotten it. Does anyone know how to change this, thanks.

do you have the mandrake rescue disk?

if not you can make a boot disk (put the cd in a windows machine, and select make boot disk, then select the cdrom floppy image)

from there you can press F1 for options and select the rescue mode.

I didnt do that to fit it last time, I type somethig along xdrake
--help or something, and then got to the settings, since it detected an invalid video card.

kmistry's solution is correct, it will get you into a command prompt to be able to access the file you need to.

Once you are rescue mode, select "Command Prompt" This will put you at a bash prompt. Now you need to mount your hard drive somewhere, so:
mkdir /mnt/linux
mount -t ext3 /dev/hdX /mnt/linux (replacing X with your correct device letter/number, and the filesystem 'ext3' with your filesystem)
cd /mnt/linux
cd etc

Now you are in the directory you need to be in, and you now need to edit the inittab file in that directory. Using your favorite command line text editor:
pico inittab

If not pico, change that to your choice. Now locate the line:
# Default runlevel. (Do not set to 0 or 6)
id:5:initdefault:

And change that 5 to a 3.

Now save the file and exit your text editor.

Reboot, and take out your boot disc. Smile and login and fix your problem. If you want to go back to starting with a GUI (after you have fixed your problem of course) simply change the 3 back to a 5.

Cool