Re: Problem with GDM on startup


Subject: Re: Problem with GDM on startup
From: nathan r. hruby (nhruby@arches.uga.edu)
Date: Mon Jan 28 2002 - 19:05:25 MST


On Mon, 28 Jan 2002, Rich Dolinsky wrote:

> I can't log in at all.. I ge tto the crash on startup and am stuck. The
> error happens opver and over again until I force reboot...something I hate
> having to do.. Is there any way to bypass the startup and login using a
> text interface without having it try to start gdm on startup. (ie boot
> process)
>

Where exactly is the "crash"? Do you see a lot of text scroll by as it's
booting, or does it go streaky as soon a yaboot does it's thing?

If you see the entire boot process, this is an X error andyou should be
able to boot linux into single user mode by passing the argument "single"
to the kernel at boot time. (Eg: instead of hitting return at yaboot,
enter "linux single") once booted single, you can edit the /etc/inittab
to 3 and then debug your X errors from the command line.

If you see things get all streaky or garbled after the intial yaboot
start, that's a Frambuffer issue which I know little magic for (but it has
been covered in the archives a lot in the past. Hit
lists.yellowdoglinux.com and search for Boot and video)

-n

> on 1/28/02 8:36 PM, nathan r. hruby at nhruby@arches.uga.edu wrote:
>
> > On Mon, 28 Jan 2002, Rich Dolinsky wrote:
> >
> >> I just installed Yellow Dog and upon startup everything goes fine until gdm
> >> tries to startup. It gives me an error that gdm was already running but it
> >> was mysteriously murdered. This error happens over and over again. Is
> >> there any way to bypass this without having to try and reinstall. If I do
> >> reinstall I am going to try and use a text login mode rather than a gui
> >> based one, so it would be greatly appreciated if someone knew the answer.
> >> This is because this computer is being used by my roommates as well and I do
> >> not want to have to have them type their names in.. They are not the most
> >> computer literate people and might get confused.
> >>
> >
> > Two things
> > - One this error pops up from time to time. It's ok as long as everything
> > is working. I belive it's been fixed in newer gdm versions, so you may
> > want to find a more recent .src/rpm and --rebuild it. (Seems like my
> > mantra of late). This can also be caused by X having an issue and
> > crashing and then init restarting it. Can you use GNOME / KDE / X11 at
> > all?
> >
> > - Two, you don't need to re-install just to change the text/graphical
> > login screen. As root you can simply edir /etc/inittab and change the
> > default runlevel. The runlevels should be explained int he inittab file,
> > but the ones you're concerned with ar 3 (multi-user / text only) and 5
> > (multi-user / graphical X11 login). The line you need to change should be
> > at the top of the file and should look like:
> > id:5:initdefault:
> > Changing the "5" in that line to a "3" will make the machine boot into
> > text mode login. You can then issue a "startx" command once logged in to
> > start GNOME or KDE.
> >
> > -n
>

-- 
......
nathan hruby - nhruby@arches.uga.edu
computer support specialist
department of drama and theatre
http://www.drama.uga.edu/
......



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