Can´t get back to the GUI desktop

[gostoso]

running Centos and the desktop was hanging. I did a little (clearly not enough) research and hit ctrl - alt - f7 which brought me to a black screen with a blinking curser in the upper left corner. Got out of that by ctrl - alt - f1 which put me in a terminal session but I really want to get back to the GUI desktop.

Startx gives me "-bash: startx: command not found"

I´m logged in as root.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[Dapper Dan]

Perhaps:

/etc/init.d/gdm restart

Then sign back in. When you say your desktop "hangs," what exactly is it doing or not doing?

[gostoso]

"gdm: command not found"

The box is a server for a small LAN. All the other computers were working fine but this box was taking a very long time to open a browser window (for example). I don~t access it often but know that it was working smoothly a few days earlier.

thanks

[gostoso]

I can't be the only one to have had this happen - can I?

[gostoso]

if it helps the machine is already at runlevl 5.

[Dapper Dan]

I didn't know it was a server. It sounded to me like you were trying to run a Desktop Environment. Are you running X with a minimal window manager like Twm or just X without a window manager? Are your other computers still able to access this server? Can you pull up any Internet sites with the server's browser but it just takes a long time? If so, it could be a resolve issue. Check /etc/resolve.conf and see that there is a nameserver entry that points to your router's IP address.

[gostoso]

server was probably the wrong choice of words. Unfortunately I'm also doing forensic network design after the person who set it up and had been managing it had to suddenly depart- with no documentation left behind. The Linux box is between the workstations and the internet most likely serving as a firewall. all the other computers can access the internet and do not seem to be impacted at all.

The initial problem I had was how long it took to open a browser window or draw anything in the GUI- (3-5 minutes). The current problem is that I cannot get out of the command line.

/etc/resolve.conf does not exist.

[Dapper Dan]

Not knowing how he has this machine set up, it is difficult to make recommendations. Do you recall if he rebooted this machine periodically without problems? A simple reboot would *probably* put it back into its intended state but only you can make that call. Sorry I couldn't help more.

[gostoso]

I appreciate your effort. I thought about rebooting but without knowing the consequences prefer to exhaust all other options first.

I may be getting close though

[Dapper Dan]

If you decide to reboot, use the reboot command instead of shutting it off cold with the button. Just type:

reboot

,,,and press enter. I hope everything works out okay.