Re: [tlug] bad screen setting

["Jonathan Q" <jq@example.com>]

On 7/18/2002, "Brett Robson" <brett@example.com> wrote:

First of all, do NOT reinstall or we'll have to call you a wussy :-)  Plus,
reinstalling would be a big waste of time for something that is easy to fix,
and it wouldn't teach you anything.  Don't accept the default video settings,
either.  They probably won't harm you (but might), however they will be so
far from optimum for your hardware that you'll have to go through this again
anyway.

Martin A., if your video settings are like that, you might want to try the
procedure below, too.

>I've installed RH7.3 without any pain. However I didn't test the video
>monitor settings and had it boot to start X automatically.

Oops.  Now you know why that's not a very good idea :-)  If you
don't do the first one of those, never do the second one either.
Even if you do the first, it's best to not do the second until
(at least) you know X works :-)

At the boot prompt (probably GRUB, unless you chose to install
LILO) type linux single.  This will, as you might expect,
boot you into single user mode.

Then you need to run /usr/X11R6/bin/XFree86 -configure

That will set up a basic X config file.  If for any reason
it doesn't work, use /usr/X11R6/bin/xf86config (but the
first method is now preferred, so try that first).

After this, you can try starting X and see if it works.

>I've tried getting virtual consoles up but can't (what is the correct key
>sequence????).

alt-f1 to alt-fsomething (8?) which get you virtual consoles, but
those don't work when X is running (or trying to and dying).
>
>To top it off the boot disc I created isn't working.

Are you having fun now? :-)

Finally, go to /etc/inittab.  In it, you should see a line near the top that
says:

id:5:initdefault:

This sets your default runlevel to 5, which automatically starts
X with either XDM, KDM, or GDM.  Change the 5 in that line to 3
and you will boot to shell prompt instead of X.  Just above that line is a
description of the run levels.

When you feel really confident, you can put the default run level back to 5
if you want.

What's wrong with your boot floppy?

HTH,

Jonathan