mandrake problem. stuck in command line

Boston

I think I get my screen resolution to hight for my monitor and now I'm stuck in the command line. I don't know how to reset it, and if I try running start kde I get an error. Always I've problems with running mandrake on my sata hard drive.

bminish

Boston wrote:

if I try running start kde I get an error.

What error do you get?

.Brendan

parasite

look in /etc/X11/ for a xorg.conf.BAK or similar, it should have more sane default values, `mv` it to xorg.conf

pickarooney

which mandrake version? if it's less than 10.1, the file to copy will be /etc/X11/XF86Config-4

When you type startx from the command line, what errors (prefixed by EE: ) apepar?

Boston

running mandrake 10.1. I get this when I type start kde.
Also I'm a newbie to linux.

error

xset: unable to open display
xmodmap: unable to open display
xmodmap: unable to open display
startkde: starting up

(magicdev:4308):Gtk-warning **: unable to open display

ksplash:cannot connent to x server
kdeinit:aborting $DISPLAY is not set;
warning connect() failed: : No such file or directory
startkde:shutting down...
warning connect() failed: : No such file or directory
Error:can't connect kdeinit!
startkde:running shutdown scripts...
stop ssh-agent
ssh_agent_pid not set, cannot kill agent
finish stop ssh-agent
startkde: done.

Boston

parasite wrote:

look in /etc/X11/ for a xorg.conf.BAK or similar, it should have more sane default values, `mv` it to xorg.conf

How do I look for something from the command line.

Mixie

cp /etc/X11/FILENAME /etc/X11/xorg.conf

(copies instead of 'mv' moving it so you still have a backup)

Boston

it says theres no such fill or directory /ect/x11/xorg.conf.bak

Mixie

/etc/ not /ect/, and capital X11, not x11 (case very important in *nix)

in case that's just a typo in your post, try:
ls /etc/X11/
and look for similar filenames.

Boston

thanks, but theres no .oldxorg.conf file or a backup of it. theres xf86cinfig

Syth

What happens if you try "startx -- :0" or "startx -- :1"? Does that work?

Mixie

Boston wrote:

thanks, but theres no .oldxorg.conf file or a backup of it. theres xf86cinfig

You could try editing your XF86Config (-4?) file
vi /etc/X11/FILENAME

Go to the appropriate lines (horizontal synch, etc), press insert, edit the line, press ESC and when done do :w to save, and :q to quit.

Boston

Mixie wrote:

You could try editing your XF86Config (-4?) file
vi /etc/X11/FILENAME

Go to the appropriate lines (horizontal synch, etc), press insert, edit the line, press ESC and when done do :w to save, and :q to quit.

What should i edit it to. Like the minimum safe level

Mixie

well for horizontal synch, for example, you'd set it to whatever your monitors range is - which you can find via google, or it's probably on the stick on the back of the monitor itself.

Boston

I restalled the graphic thing. Having other problems now, like it wont see my sata hard dive, and also it doesn't seem to have a working c++ compiler. keeps saying command not found when I try to complie anything

parasite

rather then editing it manually, maybe you'd be better off running xf86config which should create an xf86config file for you

Boston

ok I've decided to give up on linux

Reasons:

Won't recogmise my sata drive:
Sits there for ages trying to see my fireware card on the laptop, then fails
Has problems mounthing on the laptop. Won't see cd's
Can't get the c++ compiler to work, after specifically installing everything under development tools, (gcc itself several times)


and now When I boo up, the boot loader throws out l, followed by the number 99 about 30 times. It just doesn't seem worth it. This is about my sixth time trying linux. I've tried debian and several versions of mandrake, and none have installed or worked right, or to a level I was happy with.

One final question, what sequence do I hold down to stop the linux boot loader and how do I remove it. It's on the first sector of the hard drive.

pickarooney

That's enough niggles to make a lot of people want to give up, so it's understandable if you've wiped everything and installed another OS, but a couple of questions if not:

What exactly are you typing that returns 'command not found' ? When you type which gcc does anything appear? Same with /usr/bin/gcc and rpm -qa|grep gcc (as root).

How many hard drives have you and how are they arranged? What, if anything is currently on the SATA hard drive (file system?)

When you say it 'sits there for ages trying to see the firewire card' is this during the boot sequence?
Is it an onboard or PCMCIA port? Has it worked with other OSes?

What kind of CDs are you trying to mount (data, audio...) and what way are you mounting them - with supermount (mandrake default) or manually as root? Does it not mount any CDs or just some or does it work OK after a reboot and then stop working? (I often get this last behavious and don't know why it happens).

The 99 99 99 boot sequence error can be caused by several things. Are you using LILO? does booting halt after this message or continue? I used to have this (it continued) and am trying to remember how I corrected it.

As for the boot loader, I'm not sure, and don't know whether or not you have an alternative OS on the boot HD, but this might work:
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda bs=512 count=1
Definitely best to wait for someone who knows more to answer this bit.

Boston

I use mandrake for programming in college, Never had a problem with it. I just type make then filename in a terminal. Then I get what loosk standard g++ filename.cpp then command not found error.


The Sata drive is on the main computer, I've jsut it and an ide one, I was installing onto the IDE one. and disconnected the other sata one. It just took ages saying installing ide/scsi drivers at the installation screen then failed.

Its an integrated fireware port on my laptop. Never used it with any other os, but windows seems to pick it up grand.

What kind of CDs are you trying to mount (data, audio...) and what way are you mounting them - with supermount (mandrake default) or manually as root? Does it not mount any CDs or just some or does it work OK after a reboot and then stop working? (I often get this last behavious and don't know why it happens).

Then are the mandrake install cd's. Using supermounth, then manual mounth, then tried changing mounth point, nothing seems to work. This is a laptop problem and in boot up i did get some mounth error, but ti went to fast for me to see. On the main pc, thigns auto mounth fine.

yes I'm using lilo and it stops booting. Thing is I remember from previous attempts at linux that there is a way to stop lilo from starting by holding a sequence of keys.

SantaHoe

Usualy what I do when I'm bored of trying to get linux setup properly is do fdisk /mbr from a dos prompt... always kills lilo... although be warned, I recall it taking some (minor) XP boot info with it... but a fixmbr and fixboot from a 2k/xp recovery console should sort that.
That's if there's no satisfactory way to do it cleanly.

pickarooney

Bit of a longshot, but if you try gmake instead of make does it do anything different?

nadir

/me mumbles something about Gentoo

Boston

Nop e no difference. At this stage I've wiped the drive.

And don't mention gentoo to moi, I tried to install that once, I cried, o how I cried...

pickarooney

Yeah, looks like your installation was a bit fubared. Give it another go, just for the laugh

niallb

Boston wrote:

ok I've decided to give up on linux

Can't get the c++ compiler to work, after specifically installing everything under development tools, (gcc itself several times)

Mandrake keeps the c++ compiler in a package called gcc-c++ which was probably
not installed even if gcc was.

Next time - you think not? :-) - get a net connection going, and type in
urpmi gcc-c++ and leave it to its own devices.

Good luck if and when,

NiallB