Problems Arising at Boot Time

It could happen that your system hangs during boot up. If so, do not panic, just keep reading.

[Note]Note

The next sections are not introduced in any particular order.

System Hanging during Boot

If your system hangs during Rebuilding RPM database or Finding module dependencies, just press Ctrl-C. This will allow the system to skip this step and continue to boot. Once booted, execute rpm --rebuilddb as root if the system hang was at the Rebuilding RPM database phase. If the system hang was at the Finding module dependencies phase you have most likely been through a kernel upgrade, but have not done it correctly. Check if the files in /boot and the /lib/modules directory match the current kernel version (i.e., have the current version number attached). If they do not match, please read Compiling and Installing New Kernels from Reference Manual to find out how to fix it.

If the boot process hangs at RAMDISK: Compressed image found at block 0 you have messed up the initrd image. Either try to boot another lilo.conf entry or boot an emergency system and remove or change the initrd= section in /etc/lilo.conf

File-System Check on Boot Fails

[Note]Note

The information below only applies to ext2 and ext3 file systems. If you have another file system, please check its documentation.

If, for any reason, you did not shut your box down properly, the system will run a routine file-system check during the next boot. It may sometimes fail to do this on its own and will drop you to a console. Execute e2fsck -py [device] where [device] is the name of the partition on which the automatic check has failed. The -p switch tells e2fsck to do all the necessary repairs without asking, -y assumes you answer yes to all questions. When the check and repair phase is over, press Ctrl-D to leave the emergency console. The system will reboot.

If you get this error regularly, there may be bad blocks on your disk. Execute e2fsck -c [device] to find out. This command will automatically mark any bad blocks and thus prevent the file system from storing data in these blocks. e2fsck checks the file system automatically only if it has not been unmounted properly during the previous system shutdown; or if the maximal mount count has been reached. To force a check, use the -f option.

[Note]Note

The check for bad blocks on a disk should only be done on unmounted file systems, and can take a long time to complete.

X Doesn't Start

If you boot into X by default and have managed to break your X configuration somehow and cannot enter X anymore, you can login into a console and use XFdrake to re-configure X. You can also boot into a different run level, fix X's configuration with XFdrake and reboot into X.

Booting Into a Different Run Level

The default run level GNU/Linux boots to is defined in the /etc/inittab file. Look for an entry like id:5:initdefault:. To boot into run level 3 (the console), you have to define that run level on the boot prompt. Under LILO, press the Esc key once and type linux init 3. Under GRUB, press the E key twice, add init 3, press the Enter key and then the B key to boot.

For a more detailed description about run levels, please refer to Mandrakelinux's Reference Manual.

Configuring X from the Console

To re-configure X using XFdrake from the console simply type XFdrake, as root.

Using XFdrake is no different to the graphical environment except that you will not have nice icons and may not be able to use the mouse pointer. To move down you have to press on the right or down arrow keys on your keyboard; to move up press on the left or up keys on your keyboard. You can also use the Tab key to move between the different options/buttons. The text on the currently selected button/option will be highlighted with a different color; press the Enter key to activate it.