ipchains Issue

[Stefan Bruda]

Hi.

At 02:22 -0500 on 2002-9-8 Casca wrote:
 >
 > The point of all this is... How can I fix it to automaticaly
 > load to the GUI? I have checked the default runlevel, and it is still 
 > listed as 5. I believe when I removed ipchains, it damaged the kernel 
 > setup. How can I resolve this?

Did you wait a bit (let's say a couple of minutes) before launching
startx?  You might have erased your routes to the outside world, and X
tries to resolve your hostname.  The dns query will eventually time
out and X show up, but that does take a minute or so.  I am not sure
what the timeout value is, so you may want to wait even longer (good
time to fix yourself a sandwich or a drink ;-) ).

Alternatively, shut down eth0 (or whatever is the device that connects
your machine to the outside world) by logging in as root at the (text)
console and issuing

    ifconfig eth0 down

(replace eth0 if applicable).  One eth0 shuts down the dns lookup
fails immediately and the X login screen should appear at once.

This also explains why you sometimes get the login screen and
sometimes don't.  I guess it's a race between gdm (or whatever login
manager you use) which launches automatically at runlevel 5, and the
startx you issued.  Depending who wins, you get the Gnome desktop
(startx beats gdm) or the login screen (gdm wins).

If X starts (after waiting some time or shutting down eth0), then you
know at least what causes the problem.  Even supposing that my
diagnosis is correct, I do not have enough information in order to
offer you advice on how to fix the network.  The only suggestion I
have is to take a look at the Net Howto, at
http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Net-HOWTO/index.html (it's a bit outdated,
but the principles are still the same).

Good luck,
Stefan

-- 
If it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as
it isn't, it ain't. That's logic.
    --Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass