>>>>> "Mike" == Mike O'Donnell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 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 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.teleport.com/~karlheg (K0D) AYG-GE01 Portland, OR, USA :) Proudly running Linux 2.0.25 transname and Debian GNU public software! -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]