Fedora Users — Re: FC1 Install _appeared

Hello again

Thank you (all) for taking the time to help me out! As Razvan's was the first I r'c'd I started trying his suggestions. Initially that seemed to accomplish zilch as it ended up at the same blank screen w/ a visible mouse pointer that moves normally within the extents of the screen (but clicking does nothing).

<GRUB.CONF cont's:>

default=1
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd0,1)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title Fedora Core (2.4.22-1.2115.nptl)
root (hd0,1)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.22-1.2115.nptl ro root=LABEL=/ hdc=ide-scsi rhgb
initrd /initrd-2.4.22-1.2115.nptl.img
title DOS
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

</GRUB.CONF>

Just as a shot in the dark I tried a slight mod on take two: I removed the "rhgb" on the 2nd line and replaced it w/ "single." That resulted in a boot to text mode - except it was IDing itself as RHL7.3??? Too weird! Init 3 at that point (if I am remembering the late-last-night session correctly) got me a prompt for login, which I followed by a startx that brought up a semi-functional GUI (where lots of apps-behind-icons don't work (ie Mozilla, hardware browser). Now that it's semi-running I am reluctant to reboot or make changes that would let it slip away before answering whatever other Q's you might have (or further suggestions) - so it sits, waiting quietly.... As weird as it sounds it might be interesting to see if I can reproduce what I'm reporting, but maybe not worth the time. I have noticed a brief ErrMsg about the PCMCIA config as text lines report progress on bootup, but that's the only line I've seen that doesn't result in the [OK]. Something about pin 5, perhaps? I didn't finger that would be THE cause of GUI malfunction.

I would have liked to have harvested info from the hardware browser to answer Kevin Wang's RFC+ concisely, particularly since this might also explain why I haven't tried FC2 on the Vaio. (I do have FC2 on a desktop PC here, though.) Now I'm wondering what crossed-up kludge I have going on, and the offload/nuke/reinstall looks like the sane approach.

Trying to update things w/ up2date seems like it was about my dumbest blunder. Lots of things started to glitch at that point.

At this point I think I should try to finger how to save things across to desktop so I can blow away part'n and reinstall - unless anyone has a better idea??? It's not that easy to fit that in right now, but it seems the most likely sol'n to me. SCP, eh? Do I need to keep anything but my directory under /home/ ?? Like hdwe config to refer to?

I've exceeded my bandwidth here, I think; or perhaps my quota of stupid questions. Maybe I just need more coffee....

Thanks again,

----- Original Message -----

From: Razvan Corneliu C.R. VILT

To: Pa2U ; For users of Fedora Core releases

Sent: Monday, August 16, 2004 12:45 PM

Subject: Re: FC1 Install _appeared_ to work, BUT...

Pa2U wrote:

Greetings all

I used to run RHL7.3, dual booting, on a Sony Vaio laptop. When I tried to upgrade to FC1 I seemed to be successful except that quite a few apps and utils on the GUI did absolutely nothing when I clicked them. When I tried to "fix" such anomalies by updating (via up2date) I really shot myself in the foot, it seems. Things went from bad to worse so I tried to reinstall FC1 from the CDs (which check OK by media check). Although that install went without hitch, bootup now ends up with only a mouse pointer on a blank screen. The pointer moves, over the entire screen, at least. Unfortunately, that will only amuse me for 30 to 40 minutes at a stretch. I really should expand my horizons and search for more, don't you agree?

<Ctrl><Alt><F##> does nothing, and my MCSE training has left me ill prepared for real computer diagnosis that I now need. I don't even know how to force a boot into text mode, much less how to figure out where my Xwindows config went wrong (as it used to work, and I can still find my old files on the HD).

Now that I let the cat out of the bag regarding my perspective of experience I will expect the (perhaps deserved) hazing for ever having had any affiliation w/ Big Bill, but that's another story. Can any compassionate soul out there point me in a reasonable direction to diagnose this and get back in operational mode, please and thank you???

Humbly,

Pa
well... lets see... for a text mode boot you probably need to add the single parameter to the kernel in grub (select the entry, press e (or p for password if you have one and then e), select the second line, press e again and add single at the end of the line). this should leave you in front of a command promt in runlevel 1 (sort of command prompt only safe-mode in windows but without the GUI). to start everything except the GUI you might want to switch now to runlevel 3 ("init 3" is the command). Try posting any errors you see from now on to the list and well se how we can help you.

BTW, why Fedora Core 1 and not Fedora Core 2?

Cheers,
d3vi1