First, the problem. Due to a glitch/powersurge/young-un kicking the case (I'm not sure which) I lost my ability to go into X. To fix, I re-installed X from the SuSE 8.0 CD. Lather, rinse, repeat. Didn't work. I retried with a *new* install (but not wiping the drive--I have too much stuff in there, including OOffice). This brought me to the famous graphical login--which froze. I reinstalled the NVidia drivers from the CD (update), which allowed me to login from the graphical login, but my graphics are now slow. I re-install the new NVidia drivers (which always worked before), but, again, frozen graphical login. Lather, rinse, repeat. Tweaked with new NVidia drivers AND turned off (I thought) the graphical login (I do NOT like it, never have, and yast2 didn't give me a choice...). System was fine until the next day when I turned the machine on and it FROZE AT THE GRAPHICAL LOGIN THAT I HAD TURNED OFF!!! To fix, I had to repeat the above process--but I am NOT reinstalling the new NVidia drivers until I can guarentee that the graphical login is shut off. So, now, the questions. 1. Is there a key-press sequence I can use to bypass/turn-off the graphical login before it comes up? 2. Am I missing anything in the settings to cause these lock-ups? The new NVidia drivers worked well for 3 months but now are costing me *way* too much time. 3. Is there any way I can get my Yast1 back? Yast2, while slick and pretty, doesn't allow me to abort to a prompt (to fix problems) and hides too many things. 4. Finally, what could I have done to streamline this process initially? The initial problem seemed to be in a /tmp/lock* file--could I have just deleted the /tmp directory? Thanx.
On Monday 04 November 2002 23:32, ZephyrQ wrote:
First, the problem. Due to a glitch/powersurge/young-un kicking the case (I'm not sure which) I lost my ability to go into X.
/hello/. Probably you didn't want comments on this, but if a glitch/powersurge/young-un_really did_ fry your X installation, you have worse problems than that, because it means some damage was caused to your hard drive.
NVidia drivers AND turned off (I thought) the graphical login (I do NOT like it, never have, and yast2 didn't give me a choice...).
Unfortunately in yast you ahve to change more than on thing. I forget which, but the *real* thing to do is edit /etc/inittab and change: id:5:initdefault: to: id:3:initdefault:
System was fine until the next day when I turned the machine on and it FROZE AT THE GRAPHICAL LOGIN THAT I HAD TURNED OFF!!!
Yup. Because Yast2 under 8.0 oes NOT diable {k|x|g}dm
So, now, the questions.
1. Is there a key-press sequence I can use to bypass/turn-off the graphical login before it comes up?
No but it's running in virtual console 7, so even if it comes up you shoudl be able to switch to another with [CTRL]+[ALT]+[F1] or F2, F3, ....
2. Am I missing anything in the settings to cause these lock-ups? The new NVidia drivers worked well for 3 months but now are costing me *way* too much time . Have you looked at /var/log/message?
How about stracing startx to see where it dies? Hint: strace -f -s100 -o x.strace.log startx
3. Is there any way I can get my Yast1 back? Yast2, while slick and pretty, doesn't allow me to abort to a prompt (to fix problems) and hides too many things.
No, but one of the best things about 8.1 is that yast is a good bit better (though it's not all the way there yet).
4. Finally, what could I have done to streamline this process initially? The initial problem seemed to be in a /tmp/lock* file--could I have just deleted the /tmp directory?
su - init 1 (or at least be sure to init 3. If you go with 3, shut down all running rcservices) cd /tmp rm -rf * init 3 -- ---------------------------------------------------- Jonathan Wilson System Administrator Cedar Creek Software http://www.cedarcreeksoftware.com
On Monday 04 November 2002 21:32, ZephyrQ wrote:
First, the problem. Due to a glitch/powersurge/young-un kicking the case (I'm not sure which) I lost my ability to go into X. [...] So, now, the questions.
1. Is there a key-press sequence I can use to bypass/turn-off the graphical login before it comes up?
During the lilo or grub boot sequence, you usually have about 5 seconds to press "a key" to stop the automatic startup [unless you've set the delay to zero...] This is symbolized by a colored bar (or bars, depending on the screen layout) that grows or shrinks (again depending on version -- seems like SuSE changes it every release "because they can") Once you've pressed a key to stop the boot process, you'll notice the "boot command" line at the bottom/top of the screen [again, versions...] which probably reads "linux". Depending on your hardware, it may have "other options" included [such as "ide-scsi=/dev/hdx" if you have a CD-writer] From here, type the number "3", so at the very least the prompt reads: boot=linux 3 This overrides the default "runlevel" and forces the system to start at "runlevel 3", which is the text-only runlevel. *my guess* is that during the subsequent (re)installation of the system, the "default" runlevel got set to 5, which corresponds to the graphical runlevel. This is buried somewhere under /etc/sysconfig, and there are some SuSE specific tools for changing it -- if you want to go "directly" to the source, look for the file /etc/inittab -- this is what the suseconfig editor (runlevel editor) edits and what the system startup script(s) reads to determine "how to start your system" :) Now, if you're a little slow on the initial keystrokes (or you simply don't want to "needlessly reboot a running system"), you can press CTL-ALT-FN1 (function key 1) This *should* take you back to the initial "pseudo-graphical" text only startup screen. CTL-ALT-fn2 (through 5 or 6) gives you a traditional white-on-black straight text mode only screen -- these are "virtual terminals", which most people don't even know exist. From any of these virtual terminals, log on as root and issue the command: init 3 that does the same thing as booting with "linux 3" -- namely, it switches the system to runlevel 3 [an alternate is to use the command "telinit 3", which does the same thing but *might* be cleaner...] From any of these "straight text" virtual terminals, CTL-ALT-FN7 takes you back to the "graphical" (X) screen. You might also notice on your suse/KDE "start button" menu an entry that reads "start new session" -- this starts a NEW session without actually logging you off of the current one, and you'll find it can be switched to with the sequence CTL-ALT-FN8 (and the next would use fn9...)
2. Am I missing anything in the settings to cause these lock-ups? The new NVidia drivers worked well for 3 months but now are costing me *way* too much time.
dunno -- I just got an ATI card :)
3. Is there any way I can get my Yast1 back? Yast2, while slick and pretty, doesn't allow me to abort to a prompt (to fix problems) and hides too many things.
Umm, no -- SuSE has an explanantion in their help database that boils down to "it was too much work maintaining a separate text-only interface", so they've modularized yast2 to be "user-interface independant" at the back end and uses ncurses or qt as the front end. *if* you start yast2 in a text-only environment (and have ncurses installed) you can get that "slick text interface", but it still hides too many details (especially the 8.1 online update...)
4. Finally, what could I have done to streamline this process initially? The initial problem seemed to be in a /tmp/lock* file--could I have just deleted the /tmp directory?
Thanx.
participants (3)
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JW
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Tom Emerson
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ZephyrQ