[Techtalk] newbie install

[Malcolm Tredinnick]

On Fri, Nov 23, 2001 at 01:45:28AM -0500, Kathryn Hargreaves wrote:
> I just did a clean install of RH 7.1; it reboots and gives me a login
> prompt and then the screen goes blank.  Any thoughts?

I assume it doesn't return if you start typing something?

When you did the install, can you remember if you asked it to start up X
upon booting up? It's possible that it's trying to start an X server and
failing completely. To see if this is the case, try <ctrl>-<alt>-<f1>
and see if you get a login prompt. If that does nothing, try <alt>-<f2>
or <alt>-<f3> and see if that does anything (I expect it won't, but
let's just rule it out anyway).

Beyond that, I can't think of what to suggest. It would be interesting
to know what appears in /var/log/messages during the bootup process, I
guess, to see what display it detects. Put in the Red Hat CD that you
installed from, boot up from it and type "linux rescue" or whatever the
line is (it's mentioned on the initial screen when you are given options
about what sort of install to do).

I _think_ this will mount your normal '/' partition under /tmp or /mnt
(have a look in each of those directories and see if something looks
promising). If you can find what would be your normal '/' partition
(let's assume it's under /mnt/foo), then look in
/mnt/foo/var/log/messages, go the end of it and search backwards for the
word "restart". This is the first thing that gets logged after a reboot.
Then go forwards a bit and you'll see a line that says "Initializing CPU
#0" (and CPU #1, etc, if you have an SMP box) and then something like
"Console: colour VGA+ 80x25". What does it actually say after
"Console:"?

Sorry, I can't think of what else to try (and I can't test the above a
bit more specifically, because my machine is currently busy burning a
CD, so rebooting would be a bit tragic for the next little while).

Malcolm

-- 
Many are called, few volunteer.