Bad update - X11 corrupted

[Dick Brown]

OK, there was no 'rhgb' in my boot loader, so I got in and manually 
changed /etc/inittab.

The command 'X -probeonly' didn't seem to do anything helpful.  I saw 
some text flash on the screen, but then the screen blanked.  I checked 
the log file, but no help there.  I went ahead and just ran 'X' and 
again checked the log file.  I saw the following messages near the bottom:

  could not init font path element unix/:7100, removing from list
  fatal server error:  could not open default font 'fixed'

Dick

Martin Stone wrote:

> Dick,
>
> Here's a way to boot from the hard disk and skip the graphical stuff:
>
> When the GRUB bootloader screen comes up, hit the 'a' key - this 
> allows you to modify the kernel parameters that are being used to boot 
> your system.  Backspace over 'rhgb' to remove it, then type '3' 
> (without the quotes) and hit Enter. This tells the Linux kernel to 
> boot to runlevel 3 instead of what is specified in /etc/inittab (that 
> would be '5' in your case.)  Runlevel 3 is the normal runlevel with 
> all normal services running except for X.  Much easier to troubleshoot 
> your system from this point than from a rescue disk.
>
> After you've booted to runlevel 3, you can log in normally and try to 
> diagnose your X problem.  I recommend starting by trying:
>
> X -probeonly
>
> and seeing (and telling us!) what error messages are reported.
>
> Good luck!
> Martin
>
>
> Dick Brown wrote:
>
>> Thanks to those who have replied so far.
>>
>> I did make a boot disk, and can get to a system prompt with "linux 
>> single".  The problem I'm having is that I can't get a graphical 
>> login.  When the login prompt comes up, the system automatically 
>> tries to go to the graphical login.  Unfortunately, it can't get 
>> there, so keeps cycling from text login to graphical login and back, 
>> so I can't do anything.
>>
>> There was one other thing I tried, and maybe this was bad.  When I 
>> couldn't log in normally after the failed update, I tried 
>> reinstalling Fedora over itself.  It seemed to go fine installing 
>> over RH8, so I figured it would be okay to install over itself, too.  
>> Would this have messed it up?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Dick
>>
>> jludwig wrote:
>>
>>>> Hi all,
>>>>    I recently decided to upgrade from RH8 to Fedora.  I downloaded
>>>> the .iso files, burned them and installed without a hitch (checked 
>>>> the md5sum and the finished CDs first).
>>>>    Unfortunately, when I performed the system update, the X11 package
>>>> was corrupted.  Now I can't boot into Fedora normally.  I can get 
>>>> in through the "Linux rescue" from the install disk, but I'm afraid I
>>>> don't know what to do from there.  I'm at that dangerous stage 
>>>> where I know enough to get myself into trouble, but not enough to 
>>>> get myself out,
>>>> so I don't really want to touch anything without some advice 
>>>> first.  Is there an easy fix to this?
>>>>
>>>> Thanks,
>>>> Dick
>>>>   
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> What were the error messages, if any, while booting?
>>> This will give me/us an idea how to help you fix this problem.
>>> jludwig <wralphie at comcast.net>
>>>
>>>
>>>  
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>