how do you use the rescue disk for Red Hat 8.0?
 

I made a mistake in my networks set up.
I set the modem to activate at start up.
Now I can not boot it just sits there waiting for ppp0 to become active.
I have a rescuce disk but I do not know how to use it.
Could some one enlight me on it use.

At the beginning it say to wait 10 seconds or type in "linux <parmas>
I tryed both thing but it still hanges.

How do I correct this problem?
I have also have a copy "damn small linux" can I use this to edit the file that is hanging up?

if you insert the floppy disk it should boot your system no problem. however you really shouldn't need it at all. When the message appears on screen, press "I" to enter interactive mode, this will then let you not load that specific service. once in you can disable it just fine. you can also add a "1" to the lilo boot prompt and that will get you in on single user mode, where those services will not be attempted at all.

Thanks for the reply, only problem I am using GRUB as my loader.

On the main screen is my choice of
Linux
dos[list=1][*] 'e' to edit the command before booting[*]'a' to modify the kernel arguments before booting [*]'c' for a command line[/list=1]

Then another menu shows up with the following:
[list=a][*]root (hd1,0)[*]kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.18-4 ro root=LABEL=/[*]initrd /boot/initrd -2.4.18-14.img[/list=a]
And the choice for this are[list=1][*]'b' boot[*]'e' edit the selected command in the boot sequence[*]'c' for command line[*]'d' to remove the selected line [/list=1]


Sorry but none of this makes and sense to me.

If it helps the line that is causing me problems is

Bringing up interface ppp0


This is the line that it hangs at. It just sits there waiting for something to happen. I was having problems getting with my browser, I keep getting "google or anything else can not be found." So I checked the "network device" and I saw that that "ppp0" was not active and I thought it should be active so I changed it to be active at boot up. Well I know now not to do that again.

So what do I do ? Can I get in and edit it so it does not try to become active?

You can do it without the rescue CD. The idea is to get into run level 1.

pick "e" to edit the grub boot command

pick
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.18-4 ro root=LABEL=/

and (I believe it's "e" again?) there's some option to edit this one.

add " 1" at the end so it reads

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.18-4 ro root=LABEL=/ 1

that is the run level. run level 1 gets you straight to a (root) shell without starting any network services (and without hanging). Your chance to set it right.

For jobs that actually require a rescue CD (say, you overwrite your master boot record), the RH8 or 9 rescue mode gets the job done, but there are better ones around. I myself maintain

http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/~purschke/RescueCD/

and there are several references to other nice Rescue CD sets in there.

Good luck
mlp

Hi mlp68,

I did not put in a space the first time I tried and got a Kernel panci.
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.18-4 ro root=LABEL=/ 1

Ok it work I am sitting in shell

sh-2.05b#

The problem is I have no idea as to where and what file I need to edit.
Also I have never edited any thing in a shell before.

Sorry but I am new have not had much experience with shells and line comnnand work.

The last time I used a line command was DOS 4.0 or somewhere around there.

So now what?

1) where is the file located that I have to edited?
2) What do you use to edit it with?
3) How do you start and stop the program?

I have used gedit before would this be of any use here. However it has always been inside a GUI.

I would try finding out information on it in google but I do not even know what it is called. So I would appriecate your continued good help.

Ok, so now it becomes fuzzy because what you need to do depends on how exactly you set your ppp0 to be active. Do a ls -l /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts and see if there is a file called
ifcfg-ppp0. (I don't use ppp except on demand, there could be other ways - can someone chime in? )

Look at that file if it exists. ("cat" more "more" is the command to view the file). See if there is a line that says "ONBOOT=YES" or so - the task will be then to change that to NO.

First see if that's how it's done.

mlp

Hi mlp,

I am happy to say this post is being sent on the linux machine that was looked up.

I would like to thank you very much for you help in solving this problem.
I do not think I could have done it on my own.
So again thank you for help me out.

I did find the ifcfg-ppp0 file and was able to edit once I found out how to use the vi editor.

It is amazing what changing one 3 letter word can lead to such pain and hair pulling. And I can not afford to lose any more hair.

I hope I can return the favor some day to someone else who need the help like I needed .
Once again thanks.