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 haven't done it properly. 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 Guide to find out how to fix this.
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
The information below only applies to ext2 and ext3 file systems. If you have another file system, please check its documentation.
If, for any reason, you haven't shutdown your box properly, the system will run a routine file-system check during the next boot. It may sometimes fail to do this on its own and will 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 do 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 might 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 has not 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 login into a console and use XFdrake from there 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 Mandrake Linux's Reference Guide.
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 have nice icons and might not be able to use the mouse pointer. To move down you have to press on the right or down arrow keys on your keyboard; to move up press on the left or up keys on your keyboard. You can also use the Tab key to move among 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 the section called “Controlling the Graphical Configuration” for instructions on its usage.