localhost login: question

[newbiemom]

This is my first time logging into my system however when I read and followed the advise fo the book where it told me to use root the first time. Nothing happened...I noticed that when it boots up on it's own it says something was forced....any help would be greatly appreciated. However I am in linux kindergarten and it took me 3 days to install linux red hat. I'm trying to learn it though. Thanks for any help.
newbiemom:confused:

[Chs]

What distro?

[newbiemom]

sorry I'm just not sure what that is but I'm willing to learn!

[root.veg]

distro = short for "distribution"

In other words, which version (distribution) of GNU/Linux are you using? Red Hat, Mandrake or SuSE are common ones. Sounds like you've had a go at Red Hat. Are you still using it?

Second question: what happens on boot-up? Do you get a text prompt to login, or a fancy graphical prompt? Or neither? I hope it's not neither ;)

[newbiemom]

I am using Red Hat and yes I recieved a text only login on the first reboot.
thanks again
newbie mom

[root.veg]

OK, hopefully you remember that, during your system install you gave yourself a password for the "root" user. Don't know Red Hat very well at all, so I don't know *exactly* what it looks like when it does this. But if you can't remember what your root password is, you're *probably* better off re-installing. It can be got round, of course, but maybe you don't need that hassle :)

So, first thing is to try logging in at the text prompt as root and then try some stuff out. Not quite sure what you're aiming to do, but things to try are:

1) Find out / remember if you created a normal user (ie one that doesn't have privileges to mess everything up). Type

ls /home

if you're not sure and you should get a list of users' home directories. If you read around this forum and elsewhere you'll find many posts about how being logged in as root all the time is a BAD THING. So create a normal user if you don't have one:

adduser newbiemom

should do the trick for instance (might be useradd on Red Hat, not sure!). Then log in as this user and you probably won't do any lasting damage while you try the following out:

2) Have you installed / Can you start an X window server? From the command line type

startx

and see what happens.

3) Is all the hardware you want to use detected? Type

cat /proc/pci | more

and you'll get a list of what linux thinks is plugged into your PCI slots. Use

cat /var/log/dmesg | more

to see the boot-up messages for information on other hardware.


Post back with the results anyway... what exactly are you trying to do? We could probably be more helpful if you had a specific problem to solve.

[DMR]

Originally posted by newbiemom
I noticed that when it boots up on it's own it says something was forcedIf that was a "check forced" during mounting of the filesystems, it's normal for the system to do that once in a while as long as you get no "Failed" errors when it does so. You can think of the filesystem check as the equivalent to Windows' Scandisk.

If you can log in as root at the "localhost login:" prompt, check out root.veg's suggestions from there.

Personally, before trying all of the command line stuff involved in ading a new user, I'd try the "startx" step first just to see if you can get to a graphical desktop. While it definitely isn't a good idea to do this on a regular basis (while logged in as root, that is), you'll find it easier to use the graphical setup tools to perform some of the initial setup/configuration tasks.

Also, a bit of Newbie advice: be as precise and accurate as possible in terms of describing all facets of your problem when you post a question. Knowing things such as the following will help us help you more quickly:

- Your distro of Linux. Always include the version number as well.

- Your hardware/computer specifications (CPU type, motherboard model, make/model of hard drives, network card, video card, etc.)

- A description of troubleshooting steps you've already taken (if any) and their results.

- The exact text of any error messages you are receiving.

Please read the Community Help Posting Guidelines (http://justlinux.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=91064) for more information and links to helpful resources.

:)