X doesn't work, How to skip firstboot?


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From Dell Forum....

RedHat 9 installation/XFree86 problems/solutions on Dimension 8250/Radeon 9700 Options

For those of you trying to install/upgrade RH 9.0 here are my experiences:

1. In order to have the keyboard recognized start up liux with the option "nousb"

2. On the 8250 with Radeon 9700 the graphical installation (XFree86-4.3.0-2) does not work. The screen goes black. Solution: install in text mode and try not to update

XFree86 to 4.3.0-2 (uncheck the appropriate boxes).

3. If your XFree86 still does not work after the installation, reinstall (as I did) the

older version XFree86-4.2.99 of January 15 2003, which does work.

4. Update to kernel 2.4.20-9 which supports usb-storage.

Please post failures/success/improvements!

Message Edited by moyshe on 04-09-2003 02:20 PM

Update: XFree86-4.3.0-5.i386.rpm released on April 26 seems to fix the Radeon 9700 incompatiblity.

You can get the whole distribution from

ftp://people.redhat.com/mharris/testing/9/XFree86/4.3.0-5

It worked from after the upgrade from 4.2.99.

I'm having the problem here, only I installed the uncompatible X at install, and now I can't get past firstboot because it tries to open an X session. I'm kinda new to linux, and I'm sure there is some command to skip the rest of the services, so I was hoping someone could tell me how to skip firstboot so I can re-install X.

Thanx alot!

edit: I'm using red hat shrike, but I saw fedora on their site. Is it better? (should I get it)

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I just upgraded to Fedora at home. I did so mostly because I needed to download the new kernel anyway (recommended because of the recent server hacks). Fedora is much like the old RedHat Linux, except it is not "officially" Red Hat, and may/will contain more 'bleeding edge' current versions (possibly less stability & more bugs, but no problems for me).

As for starting or not starting X, the best way to do this is to edit your /etc/inittab file, so that the initdefault is 3. The file will explain what the numbers mean. (5 means start X automatically on bootup).

The line will look something like this:

id:5:initdefault:

And you will probably need to use vi to edit it, so read up a bit on simple vi useage (if you haven't done so already).

If you need help, just post another message. :)

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Oh, I forgot to add something...

As far as recommending Fedora vs. RH9, it depends on what you want the machine for. If for a server (web, ftp, etc.), then I would recommend RH over Fedora. If for home use, I would recommend the Fedora over RH.

Also, a comment... It doesn't seem that Dell does a good job of Linux support.. :crazy:

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yea, I know about dell, they're just starting to have RH support. I know how to use Vi, edit files, but how would I do this if the system won't boot? Like I said before, it gets stuck on firstboot.

Anyways, I'm torrenting fedora now, so possibly it will not have the problems I'm having w/ RH

thanx again

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I believe you can put in the first RH CD and type 'linux rescue', and it will get you to a nice, workable shell prompt. :)

Umm... my memory on this isn't 100%, so look for something on the screen regarding options, etc. I think the TAB key will do it...

Good Luck!

Mark

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