blank screen after installation (Etch)

[rangalo]

Hi all,

I have a dell inspiron 6000.

i am trying to make debian etch detect my cddrive. So, I am installing again and again (of course with some changes in boot params).

Now, I installed with instal24 (kernel 2.4) and during installation it detected my cddrive. During installation, I make a mistake of selecting Desktop Environment (i wanted only basic system). By default it installed Gnome.

After booting, I get the message "starting gdm ..." and after that just a blank screen. With the knoppix cd, I could see in /etc/inittab that the default runlevel was 2 (i think that means without gui) and I even changed it to 1. Still I get the same problem.

Why is it trying to boot to Gui even if the runlevel is 1 or 2 ?

Is there anyway to correct this problem without reinstalling ?

thanks,
Hardik

[farslayer]

mv /etc/rc2.d/S99gdm /etc/rc2.d/K99gdm

Rename the gdm startup link in the rc2 directory and gdm/gnome will not start at boot time.

S = Start - If the Process isn't running Start it
K = Kill - If the process isn't runing do nothing, if it is running shut it down

that should fix you right up.