Click to See Complete Forum and Search --> : Problems installing Mandrake 8.1


Lou67
09-16-2002, 05:05 AM
I bought Mandrake 8.1 several months ago, but I've had problems getting the system running.

The first problem I had was that KDE wouldn't automatically start; the black screen with the penguin would just flicker on and off as it attempted to start the GUI. After several reinstalls, I finally got a wizard that said that XWindows wasn't starting because of incorrect settings, and it walked me through a procedure to correct those settings. After that, KDE started up without any problems.

A few months later, I finally got around to installing a NIC, but I wasn't able to establish an Internet connection. I ran HardDrake, and it detected my NIC properly. But I must have entered one of the settings incorrectly, because I couldn't connect. I called my ISP, but they declined to offer any support once they heard it was a Linux system. I tried to infer the correct settings by looking at the settings in my Windows 98 machine, but I still couldn't connect.

In a last ditch effort to solve the Internet connection problem, I reinstalled Mandrake. Now I'm back to that XWindows failure, and I don't know how to get that wizard running (it came up on its own last time).

If you can help me to get to that wizard or in some other way adjust my settings so I can get into KDE, I'd appreciate it. Any tips on the Internet connection would be helpful too.

P. S. I hope I wasn't unclear. I'm new to Linux and don't know the lingo.

Lou67
09-16-2002, 06:27 AM
I found an xf86config guide on this site, and it looks like the wizard I saw last time I adjusted my video settings. How can I get a command console before the XWindows screen (I'm really new at this)?

z0mbix
09-16-2002, 07:51 AM
Originally posted by Lou67
I found an xf86config guide on this site, and it looks like the wizard I saw last time I adjusted my video settings. How can I get a command console before the XWindows screen (I'm really new at this)?

boot up and then switch to a different virtual console with ctrl+alt+F2, login as root and edit your /etc/inittab line that has id:5:initdefault in it and change it to id:3:initdefault so that XFree86 is not started at bootup. Then reboot and run xf86config as root. Mandrake has it's own tools to do this, but I'm not a Mandrake user, but if you know your video card and monitor specs you will be fine

carlywarly
09-16-2002, 07:56 AM
The mandrake command is XFdrake

Lou67
09-16-2002, 12:39 PM
Thanks for your help, guys. After I posted this, I read in another thread that installing Mandrake in expert mode helps you to catch little things that recommended mode sometimes botches. I reinstalled in expert mode, and I'm fine now. I'll keep your advice in mind should I need it in the future.

I'll start another thread for my problem with the NIC.