Boot Problem (Not booting into X Windows) [SOLVED]

[eyeh8windows]

Hi all,

 

I'm new to Mandriva and looking for some help for a boot problem.

 

My system no longer boots to the graphical interface (boots to the command line). Before the problem started I noticed hda1 (where the O/S files are) ran out of space. I only assume this is the cause of my problem and if so, how can I resize the partition from the command line.

 

The disk the O/S is on is divided into three partitions: 1. O/S, 2. Swap File, 3. hda6 (user files). The hda6 partition is almost totally empty so resizing is an option as far as I can tell.

 

Hopefully I am on the right track and someone can help soon.

 

Thanks,

Edited May 9, 2006 by eyeh8windows

[tyme]

let's not go resizing just yet...when you get to the command line, have you tried running the command "startx" to start the graphical interface? if not, try that, and if it fails, try to copy the errors and post them here so that we can try to track down the specific problem. if it works, then you should be able to resize partitions by going into the Mandriva Control Center (aka "Configure your/my computer" and looking for a partition tool in there (can't remember exactly what it's called).

 

running out of disk space really shouldn't cause you to be unable to start the GUI.

[eyeh8windows]

Tyme,

 

Thanks for the info and for responding so quickly, I'll give it a try when I get home from work.

 

-RGS

[eyeh8windows]

Tyme,

 

I had my wife try it for me, here's the results:

 

It had several errors the only ones I was able to record are

 

1. Fatal server error, could not open default font 'fixed'. and

 

2. Fatal IO error 104 connection reset by peer on X server (;0.0) after 0 requests, 0 known processed with 0 events remaining.

[tyme]

what kind of video car do you have in the system?

[eyeh8windows]

what kind of video car do you have in the system?

 

Running video from the MoBo

[ianw1974]

What motherboard is it? There will be a specific card it's running from the mobo, be it ATI, NVIDIA, or others.

[eyeh8windows]

What motherboard is it? There will be a specific card it's running from the mobo, be it ATI, NVIDIA, or others.

 

It's an ASUS A7V8X-LA with VIA KM400A & VIA VT8237 chipsets and integrated graphics is VIA UniChrome.

 

 

 

The more I read my system specs, the more I wish I would have just built the computer myself.

Edited May 8, 2006 by eyeh8windows

[ianw1974]

OK, login to the system, and then:

 

su (and enter root password)
mcc

 

then choose the display option, change to vesa and try to run X again after this, however, first type:

 

exit

 

to get out of root privileges mode, and then type:

 

startx

 

does that help any? If this works for vesa, you can then run mcc again and reconfigure for the video card in your system, and see if the problem returns.

[eyeh8windows]

OK, login to the system, and then:

 

su (and enter root password)
mcc

 

then choose the display option, change to vesa and try to run X again after this, however, first type:

 

exit

 

to get out of root privileges mode, and then type:

 

startx

 

does that help any? If this works for vesa, you can then run mcc again and reconfigure for the video card in your system, and see if the problem returns.

 

Thanks for the great info, I'll try that as soon as I get home! I will be back after I try it to let you all know how it worked.

 

Thanks again for all the quick responses!

[ianw1974]

I did some googles on your motherboard, and there were quite a lot of comments on this board and it's via graphics. A lot of people were installing other graphics cards instead.

 

This motherboard shares your normal system memory with the video card, similar to my wife's Acer laptop. Mandriva did work fine with it, although it was a different video card to yours. If the standard vesa works OK, then retry configuring for the Via Unichrome afterwards, and see if it fails again. If so, it may be that you have to use standard vesa instead.

[eyeh8windows]

I did some googles on your motherboard, and there were quite a lot of comments on this board and it's via graphics. A lot of people were installing other graphics cards instead.

 

This motherboard shares your normal system memory with the video card, similar to my wife's Acer laptop. Mandriva did work fine with it, although it was a different video card to yours. If the standard vesa works OK, then retry configuring for the Via Unichrome afterwards, and see if it fails again. If so, it may be that you have to use standard vesa instead.

 

O.K., here's the latest info about my boot problem.

 

I logged in as root, ran "mcc", tried various combinations of generic and manufacturer drivers for the monitor and video card...nothing worked.

 

I broke under the pressure of my wife having online classes that had to be done so I dropped the partitions on hda and started over with a fresh install--everything works 100% now.

 

Thanks again all of you who helped out and gave such quick responses!

[ianw1974]

Glad it's all working OK now. Sometimes when new to installs and something isn't working, a reinstall usually works best. In this case it did :P

 

Once you're more comfortable with using it, and not working under a time limit :D you can get it working, and then you'll feel much happier that you didn't have to reinstall, and learnt some of the ins and outs of how to fix problems in Linux.

 

Do come back, we're only happy to help.