Messed it up already

[jeff]

This worked for me.  My appologies if this is more than you needed but he=
re=20
goes:

-------------------------------------------------
to boot in single user mode
-------------------------------------------------

after you select linux from yaboot you will be presented with a YDL boot=20
prompt, do:

linux single

-----------------------------------------------
to enter runlevel 3 , full multiuser mode
-------------------------------------------------

do:

init 3


----------------------------------------------------------
or skip these steps and boot right into runlevel 3 with
-----------------------------------------------------------

linux 3

-------------------------------------------------
to configure X
-------------------------------------------

login as root and do:

Xconfigurator

to test do:

startx


HTH,
Jeff Z




On Friday 04 April 2003 15:29, Nate Birkholz wrote:
> I downloaded YDL 2.3 to give it a try and see if I want to buy 3.0. I
> installed on a Mac Powerbook G3 1999 400Mhz (Lombard) with an upgraded =
hard
> drive and oodles of RAM. The system is currently configured to have two
> boots, OS 9 and Linux, with Linux the primary boot.
>
> Everything went well for the first day, then I messed up my video setti=
ngs
> by increasing the bit depth to 32, apparently a no-no with the Lombard =
and
> Linux.
>
> What happens now is that it finishes the boot sequence, attempts to dis=
play
> the graphical user login, and the screen flickers for a few minutes. Th=
en,
> eventually, it fail to the command prompt and displays the message,
>
>   INIT: Id "x" respawning too fast: disabled for 5 minutes
>
> then sits at a prompt. I ca navigate around the system with unix comman=
ds
> but cannot effect much change. I should note that my unix command-line
> experience is almost nil.
>
> I have researched this problem in the YDL mailing-list archives and hav=
e
> found a few solutions.
>
> Unfortunately, the solutions all require me to be able to edit files on=
 my
> hard drive, and the files are all 'read only" for me when in this
> situation. I need to be able to have root-user access to the files, but
> cannot seem to get root-user access.
>
> If I use "sudo", the password is not accepted because I have not been s=
et
> up as a root user:
>
>   nate is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported.
>
> and the root password I specified at installation is useless at the com=
mand
> line. Of course, I cannot add nate to the sudoers file of course becaus=
e it
> is write protected. I tried to use visudo, but typing visudo results in=
 the
> error message:
>
>   bash: visudo: command not found
>
> I see many messages about rebooting and starting in "single-user mode",=
 but
> I cannot find step-by-step instructions on how to actually do this with
> yaboot. The instructions I do find say to enter "[kernel number] single=
"
> but don't say how to find the kernel number, nor how to get to the prom=
pt
> where I type this, since yaboot starts with a menu asking me for one of
> three choices.
>
> Reinstalling would be possible and even easy. However, I'd rather fix i=
t
> instead of starting over, since I learn more by fixing it.
>
> So can anyone please help me?