It could happen that your system hangs during boot up. If so, don't panic, just keep reading.
If your system
hangs during Rebuilding RPM database
or
Finding module dependencies
, just press
Ctrl-C. This will allow the system to skip
this step and continue to boot. Once booted, execute rpm
--rebuilddb as root
if the system hang was at
the Rebuilding RPM database
phase. If the
system hang was at the Finding module
dependencies
phase you have most likely been through a
kernel upgrade, but have not done it correctly. Check if the files
in /boot
and the
/lib/modules
directory match the current
kernel version (i.e., have the current version number
attached). If they don't match, please read
Compiling and Installing New Kernels
from Reference Manual to find out how to fix
it.
If the boot process hangs at
RAMDISK: Compressed image found at block 0
you
have messed up the initrd image. Either try to
boot another lilo.conf
entry or boot an
emergency system and remove or change the
initrd=
section in
/etc/lilo.conf
![]() | Note |
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The information below applies to ext2 and ext3 file systems only. If you have a different file system, please check its documentation. |
If, for any
reason, you didn't shut your box down properly, the system will
run a routine file-system check during the next boot. Sometimes it
may fail to do this on its own and will ask for the root
password and drop you to a console. Execute e2fsck -py
[device] where [device]
is the name of
the partition on which the automatic check has failed. The
-p
switch tells e2fsck to make
all the necessary repairs without asking, -y
assumes you answer yes
to all questions. When
the check and repair phase is over, press
Ctrl-D to
leave the emergency console. The system will reboot.
If you get this error
regularly, there may be bad blocks on your disk. Execute
e2fsck -c [device] to find out. This command
will automatically mark any bad blocks and thus prevent the file
system from storing data in these blocks.
e2fsck checks the file system automatically
only if it hasn't been unmounted properly during the previous
system shutdown; or if the maximal mount count
has been reached. To force a check, use the -f
option.
If you boot into X by default and have managed to break your X configuration somehow, and cannot enter X anymore, you can log into a console and use XFdrake to re-configure X. You can also boot into a different run level, fix X's configuration with XFdrake and reboot into X.
The default run
level GNU/Linux boots to is defined in the
/etc/inittab
file. Look for an entry like
id:5:initdefault:
. To boot into run level
3
(the console), you have to define that run
level on the boot prompt. Under LILO, press the
Esc key once and type linux init
3
. Under GRUB, press the E key
twice, add init 3
, press the
Enter key and then the B key to
boot.
For a more detailed description about run levels, please refer to the The Start-Up Files: init sysv chapter of Mandrakelinux's Reference Manual.
To re-configure X
using XFdrake from the console simply type
XFdrake, as root
.
Using XFdrake is no different to the graphical environment except that you won't have nice icons and may not be able to use the mouse pointer. To move down you have to press the right or down arrow keys on your keyboard; to move up press the left or up keys on your keyboard. You can also use the Tab key to move between the different options/buttons. The text on the currently selected button/option will be highlighted with a different color. Press the Enter key to activate it.
Please refer to Section 2, “Controlling the Graphical Configuration” for instructions on its usage.