How to choose safe configuration at boot time?
>>>>> "Mike" == Mike O'Donnell <odonnell@cs.uchicago.edu> writes:
Mike> I am unable to use my Debian Linux system after the major
Mike> update I did on Tuesday.
Mike> WHAT HAPPENED: I used dselect in an xterm window under XFree
Mike> to update the system after an idle period of 1 week. I
Mike> update from stable, unstable, contrib, and nonfree. I
Mike> allowed one of the installers to shut down xdm, which led to
Mike> a reboot. I finished the installation by starting dselect
Mike> again from an Xless console. The next reboot led to a login
Mike> prompt on a non-X console screen, flashing and ignoring all
Mike> input, except for CTL-ALT-DEL which led to another reboot
Mike> ending in the same state.
I've seen this, usually right after a kernel compile when I had
forgotten to 'make modules_install' AND (cd /lib/modules;rm current;ln
-s 2.0.${NEW} current; depmod -a) and the lo device wasn't there... ?
What happens is that X-Windows cannot get a connection to the
loopback device, I think. The module hadn't been installed; I didn't
have it compiled into my kernel.
X needs a socket to connect to; if it can't find one it bombs, and
xdm loops and tries to start it again.
I suppose that another possiblility is that your X-server has become
misconfigured, and is not starting; if it cannot find a mode that is
within the constraints of your video hardware, as set in XF86Config,
it won't start... A missing file perhaps?
Or, a ~/.xsession that launchs all of its files &, so the script ends
and X finishes. The last program run must be foreground, AFAIK. (If
you use the Debian setup, and run your startup programs all from the
fvwm2 hooks, you don't need an .xsession file at all.
See if there is a ~/.xsession-errors file, it may shed some light.
--
Karl M. Hegbloom <karlheg@teleport.com>
http://www.teleport.com/~karlheg
(K0D) AYG-GE01 Portland, OR, USA
:) Proudly running Linux 2.0.25 transname
and Debian GNU public software!
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