Nothing is supposed to "happen". If you don't see anything then you didn't see any error messages. try cd-ing to the destination directory and do an "ls -l" to see if the file is now there.

Hmmm it didnt work though, it is still read only...I made a small Fat32 partition..where will this be mounted to in Mandrake?

Hi,

OK, can I just clarify something here - is Linux working at all, or has the 'reinstall' killed it completely?

If you've got a command line, I should be able to walk you through getting your GUI back (hopefully..)

Yeh I have a command line

OK, good.

First thing to establish is what run level you're currently in. As the root user, enter -

And post back what it returns..

Ok ill brb..I got the coursework back with Explore2fs...great little program, you can explore your Linux partitions from Windows and then export files into windows...

runlevel gave me N 5 , is this a valid answer?

Hi,

N 5 is indeed a valid answer... it's the run level at which the GUI should run if everything is OK with the config. I just wanted to check first that your machine is actually booting into the correct runlevel.

Are you able to view this thread whilst working on the Linux machine, or are you having to boot back into Windows?

As it is, there's obviously a problem with your X configuration. Still as root, could you try -

It will fail, but it should spit out some stuff which could help trace the problem. Could you post back what it says?

Now change to the /etc/X11 directory. In there should be your XFree86 configuration file - XF86Config-4. Could you also post the contents of this file?

Yeh im having to boot back into windows...How do i read the contents of a file...just ./[Filename]

Hi,

To read the contents of a file, use the 'less' command, eg -

However, since you're booting backinto Windows to check the forum, you might find it easier to use Explore2fs to find the file from within Windows...

ok..ill try that less command..i did startx, and I got command not found, do i have to do this from a specific directory?


PS: What is the command to restart pc

You know it might just be eazier to backup your data using explorer2fs and reinstall mandrake 10

If not it looks like the xfree86 stuff has gotten removed or removed from your path varible


do this command
if this comes back with :/usr/X11R6/bin:
somewhere in the path statement then your pathing is correct and your xfree86 has gotten uninstalled somehow. If that is the case then your gonna need to reinstall mandrake

If it is not there then do the following command
then try startx

If you get errors then your xf86config file is incorrect and needs rebuilt

You can rebuild it using the xf86config command as root but you really have to know about your monitor specs to get this to work correctly.

Hi,

startx should work from any directory... strange. Check that it exists in the /usr/X11R6/bin directory. If it does, try issuing -

(But like I said, it should work from any directory, unless something in your $PATH is broken, but that's another story for now...)

To restart your PC, as root enter -

Or to shutdown the machine completely -

debian_dummy gave excellent advice that simply was'nt verified by anyone after he posted it. Knoppix is excellent "insurance" if you're doing something new and different or if one has a general fear that something will go wrong. It's fully featured, has pretty pictures to click on, and is a nice reassurance to most that your information really isn't lost.

Yeh I might back up my data and reinstall, as im really starting to like Mandrake, anways I tried those commands and they all return either no reuslts or startx doesnt exist....is a reinstall in order?