Re: Linux ....grrrr!

[James Fidell <james@xxxxxxx>]

Quoting Tony Butler (roaming@xxxxxxx):

> After our recent discussions on which Linux distro to go for for easy
of
> installation & use, I settled on Mandrake 8.2
> d/led it, fed 3 CD's into a retired PC and....
> 
> Log in to a command prompt and about every 5-10 seconds the screen
goes
> blank for a few seconds.
> If I have been typing something, then nothing I type whilst the
screen
> is blank appears when the display returns.
> Installed twice and same thing both times - this is not even with
X
> running ffs :-(
> 
> I knew me and *nix were not destined for each other :-<

This sounds very much like X *is* installed and is trying to start
up and failing, so you're getting dropped back to a normal tty.

As a quick workaround, you might try typing

  init 3

at the root prompt once you have logged in.  I'm not familiar with
Mandrake specifically, but I think that should take the system back to
a run-level where X will not get started and you might be able to
achieve something.  If that *does* work, try editing

  /etc/inittab

Look for a line that was something like

  id:5:initdefault:

and change the 5 to a 3.  X should then never start on bootup.

James

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