[lug] Linux Emergency

[D. Stimits]

Charles Hill Cooper wrote:
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> My work is at a standstill until I can get my Linux box (dual Windows boot)
> to recognize its NIC and bring up etherNet. It would be good if it would
> mount the Windows partition, run atalk, and recognize the modem for dial out
> to the internet. At one time or another, it did all these things. But mine
> is the story of woe brought on by ignorance and pet ownership.
> 
> My rabbit chewed through my mouse cord. This froze the system, forcing a
> reset. Ctl-Alt-Del didn't work. This was days ago, so I don't remember
> exactly what went wrong, but I managed to fix everything except for the X
> system. That was okay but not as convenient. So, I persisted in trying to
> fix the X system.
> 
> At some point I got the brilliant idea of re-upgrading from the RedHat 7.1
> CD-ROMs. Eventually, I got the X system to work, though upgrading didn't
> seem to help. But then I no longer had etherNet, atalk or a mountable
> Windows partition.
> 
> Then I decided it was time to reinstall and just hope I didn't lose all my
> data. I didn't loose my data, but I just made things worse.
> 
> On start-up it says "Delaying eth0 ..." and then "FAILURE".
> It says "vfat not recognized by kernal".

Your kernel is missing the module or other support for vfat filesystem.
If it is required during the bootup process, it should also be in the
initial ramdisk (mkinitrd). It is rare vfat is needed during a boot
though.

For the NIC, remove it, boot to let kudzo detect it missing, shut down,
restart with card in. Possibly missing drivers for it as well. Be ready
to config during boot if it says new hardware.

> 
> The X system doesn't function. It just cycles through "blinking" the screen.
> But I think I can fix this (again) on my own. Either wrong configuration (of
> video card or monitor) or bad path to fonts. It has done this once for each
> reason. The bad path was "unix:7100". Why, I dont' know.

Your font path is bad. I suspect your /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 was altered.
It writes changes to that file sometimes, crashing may have caused it to
be changed. Also, lock files may be stale at times. Further, security
stuff from the MIT cookies could be stale. Check cookie file messages in
your /var/log/X...whatever_it_is

> 
> I have never gotten the modem to work since upgrading to RedHat 7.1.
> Couldn't get ltmodem to work. Supposedly the fellow who originally set up
> the system "tweeked" a driver to get it to work. God help me.

No idea.

> 
> So, if anyone can help or knows someone who can come over or even someone to
> whom I can take the smoldering piece of junk, I would love to hear from you.

Put the flamethrower down. If the box don't fit in the microwave, you'll
be safe without the flamethrower.

D. Stimits, stimits at idcomm.com


> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Charles Cooper
> chcooper at nilenet.com
> 303-449-6557
> 
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