Problem with Dual boot: Win XP and Red hat Linux:

[expwithtruth]

Hello,

I am having a dual boot system (toshiba satellite 1405-S151 model) with Win XP and Red hat linux.
It was working fine for past year or so. Last week I moved some files from Win XP partition to shared partition and then to Linux partition. I did this stuff before without much problem. After moving these files, I did disk defragment in Win XP. Now when i am trying to boot Linux, the initial boot works fine but after all device checks etc the screen goes blank and the computer hangs. I am really puzzled with this. Can anyone kindly help me on this?

Thanks.

S.M

[jasonlambert]

boot into recovery mode using the redhat CD, is there anything in the system logs (/var/logs/*)?

Jason

[expwithtruth]

I tried using a boot disk too. The problem is, the linux succesfully boots in my system. But we it reaches login, what all I see is a blank screen. Is there any way to get into red hat linux in text (or command) mode instead of GUI.

Waiting for replies.

Thanks.

S.M.

[Nerderello]

see if you can Ctrl Alt F1 into a text only screen.

[expwithtruth]

I tried text mode boot, using ctrl-x option in LILO. I still face the same problem. The linux is booting "OK"..I mean, it is initializing and starting all the hardware but after that I just see a blank screen instead of a login screen (window prompting login and password).

Now, at this blank screen, if I press ctrl-alt-del twice/thrice it starts shutting down the machine. During shutdown, it says "stopping xfs: failed", while rest of devices/hardware/commands are stopped "OK".

Please note that I was able to enter in to linux previously without any problem. The last crictical operation I did on my machine is disk defragmentation on XP. I dont know whether thats the source of this problem. Please give your suggestions.

Thanks.

S.M.

[expwithtruth]

Now, I am able to boot with Redhat linux properly. But it still hangs when it reaches the login screen for GNOME. What all I see is a blank screen. Can anyone guide me on how to properly load/modify the GNOME GUI?

(As reply to one of the previous suggestions: I find many log scripts in /var/log/. I checked a couple of them they look OK to me.)

Thanks.

S.M.

[davidoff404]

Try to use your RH installation disk to boot into rescue mode. Once you've done that (and ensured that your root partition has been mounted read-write), edit your /etc/inittab file so that you change the runlevel to 3.

When you reboot you'll go straight into a console login. Tell us if anything strange happens and I'll try to help more.

[expwithtruth]

Hello,
I have changed initdefault to level 3. Now I am able to login in text mode. Please guide me on what to do next, for the GNOME enviroment.

Thanks.

S.M.

[jasonlambert]

run XF86Config which allows you to setup your X windows system. It will ask you various questions about your graphics card and monitor, and other stuff like keyboard and mouse etc.

After running that program, run "startx" to try starting X windows.

Jason

[davidoff404]

As jaguar says, the next thing you need to do is run xf86config as root. Make sure that you've got the appropriate details about your video card and monitor (the horizontal and vertical refresh rates are vital, so consult your manuals).

Once you've got that finished, run either of the following commands:

kdm
gdm
startx

I prefer to use kdm since it allows one to reboot the machine without restarting the X-server first, but it's all a matter of personal preference.

The main point is that if you've managed to boot into a text login without any trouble, you don't have much further to go before your machine is up and running again as normal.