On Wed, 20 Aug 1997, Charles Blair wrote: > I have been using Debian on several machines for over a year. I > tried to install X on one machine in what was apparently the wrong way. > I created a config file using xconfig, and have been bringing in a > bunch of packages, unpacking them with dpkg -i. It has seemed that, > whenever I started the system, it has tried to launch X, failed, and > left me with an apparently normally functioning non-X system. > > Then the real disaster! I brought in (via modem) a package of > base fonts for X. In the middle of depackaging this, the screen went > black. Control-alt-backspace has no effect, nor does typing > shutdown. Control-alt-del reboots the machine and brings up Lilo. > The msdos option seems to work just as it did before. If I try linux, > it goes through preliminary messages, types ``starting xdm'' and then > I get a blank screen. > > I have also tried using the boot floppy I created when I installed > the system without X a year ago. This again leads to a blank screen. > > At this point, I am mainly concerned with just getting back the > non-X functionality of the machine. Thanks for any help!
I suggest booting with a rescue floppy, mounting your hard drive, and editing /mnt/etc/X11/config. Replace "start-xdm" with "no-start-xdm", and replace "xdm-start-server" with "no-xdm-start-server". This should prevent xdm from starting up. Syrus. -- -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Syrus Nemat-Nasser <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> UCSD Physics Dept. -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] .
