Red Hat 9 X Issues...

[Showtime8000]

To cut a long story short, I was tired of Windows and wanted change. After grabbing myself a copy of RH9, I set up a dual-partition, with XP the default OS.

The installation went fine, but apparently, X configuration didn't. Before I continue, here are the vital specs:

*Windows XP (Primary), RH9 dual-boot environment, with GRUB as boot loader.
*GeForce FX 5200, 128 MB of video RAM.
*SyncMaster 955DF Monitor
*PS/2 optical mouse

When I select to load RH9 at GRUB, it starts to load, then the screen goes black and my monitor goes off. VERY frustrating, as I have to send a CRTL+ALT+DELE command to reboot.

At the X config screen during the installation process, I chose the GeForce FX driver, 24 bit color, and 1024X768.

What's going on here? How can I fix X? This is really frustrating, and I pray you guys can help me.

[n01100110]

It sounds like you didn't properly configure x. Your machine is most likely booting to runlevel 5 , which is the default runlevel that the X interface runs on.. The first time i setup my copy of linux , this happened to me also... So on the grub prompt instead type linux 3 and use the text console for now. Then on your linux console type 'xf86config' without the quotes and go from there. Happy Tuxing !

[Showtime8000]

Sorry, im new to Linux. Correct me if I misinterpreted you.

At GRUB, I hit c to get the command line, and after I type "linux 3" (w/o quotes), it returns with a "Unrecognized command" or something of that nature. It wont recognize the command. Am I doing it right?

Thanks.

[n01100110]

oh , i got confused with lilo where you can type which OS you want to start... I don't use grub , but im sure someone can help you..

[kr4y3]

start linux like normal and when x fails to start you should be able to hit [ctrl]-[alt]-[F1] and it should take you to a text login prompt. Hope this helps.

[IKnowNot]

I have no idea where the problem is, could have been with a faulty partition resize, corrupt file, etc. You did not say exactly how far the loading went before the screen went blank.

Anyway, the X configuration is probably a good place to start, but I can't remember any easier way, so I'll run through a really down-and-dirty way.

First, you'll need to be able to boot to the shell ( command line ). The machine will have to boot to run level 3 as stated before. ( If you can get it to do this, you should be able to work though any problems that might be found. )

The run level is set in the /etc/inittab file. To get there:

THIS IS FOR RED HAT 9 using GRUB !! ( as I recall Lilo was easier to do this )

1) Boot to the install cd ( disk 1 )

2) at the prompt “boot:” type linux rescue

3) the rescue install will ask similar questions as when you did the install, such as language, keyboard, then ask if you want to install networking ( not at this point! ), then search for previous installs of Linux. Hopefully it will find it, tell you where it will mount it, then ask to continue.

4) At the prompt ( “sh-2.0.5b#” or something like that ) type cd /mnt/sysimage/etc this will change to your installed version's /etc directory

5) type pico inittab which will open up a the “inittab” file in a text editor (note here: pico will not be on you're regular install unless you have installed “pine” , but will be available in rescue mode )

6) use the down arrow key to move down to the line “ id:5:initdefault: “ then change the “5” to a “3”

7) now hit “^x” ( the control key and the x key ) along the bottom of the screen you should now see “Name of file to save (^C to abort): inittab “ hit the enter key to save

8) type exit and the computer will reboot. This time, let it boot to the hard drive, at the GRUB screen choose to boot to Linux, and watch where it fails: if it boots, it should put you into the shell

9) If RH booted, at the prompt type root and enter, enter password

10) now to see what the hell video you have, type at the prompt ispci -v The video info should be at the bottom

11) To edit the video info, type redhat-config-xfree86 that should take you into a generic xfree86 screen to edit the xconfig.

12) When complete, to test and enter an X session, at the prompt, type startx

If all that worked, and your X session works, you can go back and change the "/etc/inittab" file to boot back to run level 5. Just remember, to shut down the system from the shell ( run level 3 ) you have to enter the command shutdown -h now, or to reboot the machine, shutdown -r now

By the by .... I do not see that card ( GeForce FX 5200 ) on the Red Hat Linux 9 Hardware Compatibility List.
If it is the video driver you might try the latest NVIDA Linux Display Driver

If you find the problem is in another area, let us know. I'm going to be really busy the next few days, ( not like I haven't been the last few weeks! ) but I'll try to check back to see how it goes.

[buddha_ne0]

hey everybody,
im really very new 2 linux n i`ve heard tht using an application "wine" one can run windows executables in linux.. can anyone help me installing n activating Wine. I`ve just installed RH9 on my sys. any tips n` trics in RH9 r also welcome.

[antionline_76]

Ar9#e you sure you have the right spec. for your ver of Linux?

[Showtime8000]

Thanks guys!

In time I was able to get X running, and boy, is it beautiful! IKnowNot was on the right trail; I had to run it at a multi-user level (command-prompt) and reconfigure my X settings, like n01100110 said.

It appears the 'XF86Config' file located in "/etc/X11/" was in fault. I opened it in vi, changed some settings (particularly involving the GeForce FX 5200), saved, and started X. It worked!

My next project will be installing NVIDIA's driver, then configuring my wireless internet. If anyone has any good tuts on how to do any of these, I will gladly accept!

Again, thanks a lot for your valuable help!

[PuReExcTacy]

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Peace,
--PuRe