INIT: Id "x" respawning too fast

Tue May 6 23:00:19 UTC 2008

Yea, init=/bin/sh wouldn't ask for a password, but you'll probably have
to remount the root filesystem in rw mode.  But if you can boot the
rescue disk then it shouldn't be necessary.

________________________________

	From: redhat-sysadmin-list-bounces at redhat.com
[mailto:redhat-sysadmin-list-bounces at redhat.com] On Behalf Of Hannibal
S. Jackson
	Sent: Tuesday, May 06, 2008 5:57 PM
	To: redhat-sysadmin-list at redhat.com
	Subject: RE: INIT: Id "x" respawning too fast

Thanks Ryan, would that ask for a password? I can't enter a password. I
can get the login prompt but as soon as I type root, it comes right back
to the login prompt. That's why I'm questioning whether my nsswitch.conf
file may be messed up as well as I've tried to change it from a NIS
client to an LDAP client using authconfig and then changed the
nsswitch.conf to reflect that and point to LDAP. I am able to boot off
of cd now so I think I have a pretty good chance to fix it. Just gotta
make sure I fix the right files. Again I'm a Red Hat newbie but familiar
with some commands as I have a few years Solaris experience.

--- On Tue, 5/6/08, Sweat, Ryan <Ryan.Sweat at atmosenergy.com> wrote:

	From: Sweat, Ryan <Ryan.Sweat at atmosenergy.com>
	Subject: RE: INIT: Id "x" respawning too fast
	To: redhat-sysadmin-list at redhat.com
	Date: Tuesday, May 6, 2008, 6:43 PM

	You could always boot with the kernel argument init=/bin/sh and
you will get dropped to a shell where you can fix your inittab.

________________________________

		From: redhat-sysadmin-list-bounces at redhat.com
[mailto:redhat-sysadmin-list-bounces at redhat.com] On Behalf Of Hannibal
S. Jackson
		Sent: Tuesday, May 06, 2008 5:25 PM
		To: redhat-sysadmin-list at redhat.com
		Subject: Re: INIT: Id "x" respawning too fast

Thanks, I'll take a look at it when I'm back in the office. That's the
change I made in the /etc/inittab but that didn't fix it. That's why I'm
wondering if the nsswitch.conf file is causing me not to be able to
login to the console. I think I have ldap first and because slapd is not
running it may be causing an issue. I would think if ldap wasn't running
it would go to the next service, i.e. files passwd etc... As long as NOT
FOUND=RETURN or whatever it is isn't there, I thought it just went to
the next service but I'll double check again. Thanks for all your help.
I'll see if I can figure out something else in the morning.

--- On Tue, 5/6/08, Junhao <redhat at jmarki.net> wrote:

	From: Junhao <redhat at jmarki.net>
	Subject: Re: INIT: Id "x" respawning too fast
	To: redhat-sysadmin-list at redhat.com
	Date: Tuesday, May 6, 2008, 6:09 PM

	Hannibal S. Jackson wrote:
	> --- On *Tue, 5/6/08, Junhao /<redhat at jmarki.net>/* wrote:
	> 
	>     From: Junhao <redhat at jmarki.net>
	>     Subject: Re: INIT: Id "x" respawning too fast
	>     To: redhat-sysadmin-list at redhat.com
	>     Date: Tuesday, May 6, 2008, 5:04 PM
	> 
	>     Hannibal S. Jackson wrote:
	>     > Rebooted HP ML370 (Red Hat WS3) and then it came back
with the
	error
	>     > INIT: Id "x" respawning too fast: disabled for 5
	minutes.
	>     I've searched
	>     > and searched and have not been able to find a viable
solution.
	I've
	>     read
	>     > RH's Knowledge base and they stated it was related to
the
	graphic card
	>     > settings. Problem is I can not log in to make those
changes.
	I've
	>     tried
	>     > to boot into single user mode, run level 3, but nothing
has
	worked thus
	>     > far. It comes back to the login prompt but as soon as I
try to
	log in it
	>     > goes right back to the login screen never asking me for
a
	password.
	>     I've
	>     > read it could also be an issue in the inittab file but I
	can't log on
	>     to
	>     > view that or make any changes. Any assistance is greatly
	appreciated.
	>     > Getting that error but still can not log in at the
console to
	make any
	>     > adjustments because the password prompt never comes
back. Also,
	I've
	>     > noticed even when I try to tell it to boot the kernel
into run
	level 3,
	>     > it still goes back to 5.
	>     > 
	> 
	>     1) password prompt:
	>     Are you able login, then immediately go to init 1? Init 1
is single
	user
	>     mode. If not you can try booting from a livecd. Then mount
the
	harddisk
	>     (assembling raid if needed), and edit /etc/inittab to boot
to runlevel
	3
	>     (or 1).
	> 
	>     2) X spawning too fast is often due to an X
misconfiguration, or
	missing
	>     graphics card drivers. Check /var/log/Xorg.0.log. Checking
X
	>     configuration can be directly done using "startx", and
	>     "Ctrl-Alt-Backspace" to kill X if needed.
	> 
	>     Hope that helps. =)
	> 
	>     Regards,
	>     Junhao

	> Not able to login in. Get the login prompt and type root.
Comes right
	> back to the login prompt. I'm wondering if it has to do with
the
	changes
	> I made the previous day trying to make the Red Hat machine an
LDAP
	> Client. I changed the nsswitch.conf to point to ldap then
files for
	> passwd and I'm wondering if that's why I can't log in via the
	console.
	> Was able to boot livecd now and type linux rescue. Now just
trying to
	> backtrack and figure out what went wrong. I apologize I don't
have
	much
	> linux experience, just Solaris and although they are somewhat
similar
	> they are different in a lot of ways as well. I'd tried to
comment out
	> the respawn in the /etc/inittab and type exit and that still
wouldn't
	> let me in. Still wondering if there is something missing in
the config
	> files since I used authconfig to try and change it from NIS to
LDAP.
	> LDAP Server is Sun DS 6.2 on Solaris 10 and it stated making a
Red Hat
	> machine a client was fairly simple. Obviously something went
wrong in
	> the process. Thanks for your reply.

	Same here for Solaris experience, tripping everywhere when I'm
doing
	Solaris...

	The /etc/inittab change should be
	<snip>
	# Default runlevel. The runlevels used by RHS are:
	#   0 - halt (Do NOT set initdefault to this)
	#   1 - Single user mode
	#   2 - Multiuser, without NFS (The same as 3, if you do not
have
	networking)
	#   3 - Full multiuser mode
	#   4 - unused
	#   5 - X11
	#   6 - reboot (Do NOT set initdefault to this)
	#
	id:3:initdefault:
	#id:5:initdefault:
	</snip>

	This is taken from RHEL5.1, don't think there are much changes
to this
	file. Please correct me if I'm wrong though.

	Anyway, I thought /etc/nsswitch.conf should be "passwd files
ldap"
	and
	"group files ldap", just in case ldap is not available?

	The PAM configuration files is at /etc/pam.d/*. You may need to
revert
	kdm, passwd, other, login and maybe some others. Quite like a
fragmented
	/etc/pam.conf from Solaris 10. Don't think PAM is related to the
X
	respawning issue though.

	Regards,
	Junhao

	--
	redhat-sysadmin-list mailing list
	redhat-sysadmin-list at redhat.com
	https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/redhat-sysadmin-list

	--
	redhat-sysadmin-list mailing list
	redhat-sysadmin-list at redhat.com
	https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/redhat-sysadmin-list

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listman.redhat.com/archives/redhat-sysadmin-list/attachments/20080506/713012a1/attachment.htm>