Re: Newbie X problem
You don't need to reinstall. You system hangs because xdm is being run as part of the
boot up. You need to boot into 'single user mode' to fix this problem. At the lilo
prompt you'll need to type 'Linux single' where "Linux" is whatever label you used in
your lilo.conf. This will bring you to a password prompt for the root account. Once
logged in you can remove whatever boot file is starting xdm (I'm not sure what it
would be since you're not using the standard debian package). /etc/init.d/xdm? For the
debian package xdm startup is controlled by the file /etc/X11/config. There would be a
line 'xdm-start-server' and 'start-xdm' which could be commented out or changed to
'no-start-xdm', and 'no-xdm-start-server'. You may then reboot into normal multi-user
mode. Check /var/log/xdm-errors to see any error messages which may have been
generated.
"Small, Bradley" wrote:
> I just installed the (slink) Debian distribution. It worked ok and seemed to
> be rather painless. I got lilo working even though I installed to a second
> disk in my system... So what's my problem? Here goes:
>
> I read the readme's and found that for my video card SiS 5597/5598 I would
> need the 3.3.3.1 Distribution of XFree86, so I went to their ftp site and
> D/L it. I followed the installation instructions and when I got done, I ran
> XF86Config. This seemed to run ok, however, when all was said and done,
> startx wouldn't show me anything on the screen. I could have lived with
> that, as I might be able to troubleshoot it, however now when I try to boot
> the system, it goes until I get he message that it is loading xfs and it
> just sits there and does nothing further. I assume this is not normal.
> However, the only advice I am getting from people on IRC is that I need to
> reinstall. This would only be my 6th reinstall (as that thought already
> occurred to me, and I had other problems earlier) but there should be
> something I can do when I shell in from the rescue disk to bring this system
> back to life.
>
> Can anyone help me? Please?
>
> Bradley
>
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--
Jens B. Jorgensen
jjorgens@bdsinc.com
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