Fedora 9, installed, but no desktop

[Nigel Henry]

On Thursday 31 July 2008 17:13, whoosh wrote:
> On 30-Jul-08 22:35:16 Nigel Henry wrote:
> >On Wednesday 30 July 2008 22:03, whoosh wrote:
> >> I have Fedora 9 now installed. Had to do some rearranging
> >>
> >> of drives.
> >>
> >>
> >> with Fedora Core 3 the boot up led to a choice
> >>
> >> of desktops.
> >>
> >>
> >> but with Fedora 9 on booting up there is no desktop.
> >>
> >> How can I get the different desktops that FC3  has?
> >>
> >>
> >> thanks for any ideas

> >What choices did you make for packages to install during the installation?
>
> I think I installed EVERYTHING, I allocated about 25G space for the
> install,

> >When you say there is no desktop, what exactly do you have?
>
> its just an 80x25 text screen, no windowing, it says:
>
> -------------------------------------------------
>
>
> Fedora release 9 (Sulphur)
>
> Kernel 2.6.25-14.fc9.x86_64 on an x86_64 (tty1)
>
> localhost login: root
>
> Password:
>
> Last login: Thu Jul 31 16:43:04 on tty1
>
> [root at localhost ~]# _
>
> -----------------------------------------------------
>
> nothing else on the screen, no windowing.
>
> I tried ctrl-F7 which the other person suggested, but no effect.
>
> >When you boot up
> >do you get the GDM login splashscreen, where you can login for example to
> >Gnome as default, or via the session button to KDE.
>
> no options, just the above ascii login. its not like FC3 where there is
> proper gfx.
>
> >Ok. Exactly what do you see when you bootup? Do you get as far as the GDM
> >login screen?
>
> rebooting just now (emailing from a different PC)
>
> I get to the GNU GRUB screen,
>
> Fedora (2.6.25-14.fc9.x86_64)
> Other
>
> I press a to edit:
>
> grub append> ro root=UUID=8538dcc6-b610-4ec1-a6ab-26807f087478 acpi=off
>
>
> no changes press return, lots of ascii scrolls up the screen.
>
> pauses at:
>
> Starting udev:
>
> eventually continues, no internet connected as that is connected to this
> other PC,
>
> I then reach the ascii login I gave earlier in the email.
>
> >Or is everything locked up,
>
> no
>
> >or do you just have a text mode
> >login prompt?
>
> yes
>
> I can login, but its all ascii. no gfx

And if you login as user, and type startx , do you get any output, error 
messages, etc. Do you get any flashing on the screen, like x is trying to 
start, but failing for some reason. When I have x start problems I usually 
get a couple of clicks from the CRT monitor, perhaps 2 or 3 times, and then 
am dropped back into text mode, usually with some complaints that x can't be 
started.

 >pressing the B key. B is for boot, and I'd suggest a prayer or 2, and just
> >maybe you will arrive at the GDM login splashscreen.
>
> I have no idea at all what GDM is.

GDM is the Gnome Display Manager, and is the screen you get where you are 
requested to login, and if you have KDE installed, along with the default of 
Gnome, you can choose a session and login to either.
>
> >Post back, as it would be nice to see the problem resolved.
> >
> >All the best.

On the face of it, even though you elected to install Everything, it looks 
like you have no x window system installed, and consequently no way to access 
a desktop environment, Gnome for example.

I'm about to install Fedora 9 on my new machine, which also has had 
bootup/install problems with various distros, so will post back on this.

I was going to suggest a re-install, as you havn't used Fedora 9 for anything 
yet, and rather than doing the "Install Everything" thing, do the customizing 
of which packages you want to install, which is the way I always go.

I'll post back, as the install is going to take a bit if time.

Nigel.


>