Mailing List Archive

From your lilo boot prompt add init=/bin/sh

Dave


On Thu, 29 May 2003 jeffwaters@wowway.com wrote:

> I'm dumb, I changed /etc/modules.conf and now my machine
> won't boot. I'm using my isp's webmail on my gaming machine
> to send this.
>
> I added the configs from bttv doco and did not remove
> anything else... so if I can get back to my modules.conf
> all I should have to do is remove what I put in there and
> reboot. However it locked up when trying to boot... stops
> when loading the tulip nic card driver/module. (which I did
> not change/edit)
> I'm using mandrake 9.0 and have tired every other boot mode
> grub lists and even the floopy and all fail.
>
> Any Ideas? (aside from a total wipe losing everything, bank
> records, work, emails, etc..)
>
> Thanks all,
> Jeff
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users@snowman.net
> http://lists.snowman.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>

Boot off install CD, get shell, mount partition and edit. Or boot
single user, not sure if that'll get around a module problem, I suspect
not. Tis easy, should be a FAQ in anybody's distro...haven't done it on
Mandrake before, can't give details, sorry. Keyphrase is probably
"recovery shell."

John

On Thu, May 29, 2003 at 05:59:44PM -0500, jeffwaters@wowway.com wrote:
> I'm dumb, I changed /etc/modules.conf and now my machine
> won't boot. I'm using my isp's webmail on my gaming machine
> to send this.
>
> I added the configs from bttv doco and did not remove
> anything else... so if I can get back to my modules.conf
> all I should have to do is remove what I put in there and
> reboot. However it locked up when trying to boot... stops
> when loading the tulip nic card driver/module. (which I did
> not change/edit)
> I'm using mandrake 9.0 and have tired every other boot mode
> grub lists and even the floopy and all fail.
>
> Any Ideas? (aside from a total wipe losing everything, bank
> records, work, emails, etc..)
>
> Thanks all,
> Jeff
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users@snowman.net
> http://lists.snowman.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users

You should be able to get it up in single user mode, even with a hosed
modules.conf. To do that you need to specify the parameter "single" to
the kernel. I am not sure how you can do that from Grub as I am a Lilo
user. IIRC, Mandrake uses syslinux for the boot floppy, you can almost
certainly specify the option there. You would most likely just have to
type "linux single" but you may need some other parameters, like "linux
single root=/dev/hda1 console=ttyS0,38400n8" would boot in single user,
with hda1 as the root and COM1 as the console.

Your other option would be loading another Linux distro and then
mounting your root filesystem to edit your modules.conf. There are
several "rescue" distributions that fit on floppy disks, Tomsrbt comes
to mind but I know there are several others. You could also load a full
distro like Knoppix from a CD or use whatever recovery tools the
Mandrake installer has (Redhat can boot in "rescue" mode from the
install disks, Mandrake may have the same functionality). Whatever the
case, you need a method to mount your root partition from a live system
to make the changes you need.



jeffwaters@wowway.com wrote:

>I'm dumb, I changed /etc/modules.conf and now my machine
>won't boot. I'm using my isp's webmail on my gaming machine
>to send this.
>
>I added the configs from bttv doco and did not remove
>anything else... so if I can get back to my modules.conf
>all I should have to do is remove what I put in there and
>reboot. However it locked up when trying to boot... stops
>when loading the tulip nic card driver/module. (which I did
>not change/edit)
>I'm using mandrake 9.0 and have tired every other boot mode
>grub lists and even the floopy and all fail.
>
>Any Ideas? (aside from a total wipe losing everything, bank
>records, work, emails, etc..)
>
>Thanks all,
>Jeff
>_______________________________________________
>mythtv-users mailing list
>mythtv-users@snowman.net
>http://lists.snowman.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>
>

have you tried booting single user mode? If you're using grub as your
bootloader, it's something like this:

when you get the splash showing you the kernel you can boot, hit e, then
select the kernel you usually boot (if you have more than one) and e again,
add the word "single" at the end of the boot line, I think you hit return,
then "b" for boot.

I have RH9, and Mandrake is based on RH, so I believe that should work for ya.

once you're in single user mode you should be able to re-edit modules.conf
and do an init 6 to reboot with correct
settings.

At 05:59 PM 5/29/03 -0500, jeffwaters@wowway.com wrote:
>I'm dumb, I changed /etc/modules.conf and now my machine
>won't boot. I'm using my isp's webmail on my gaming machine
>to send this.
>
>I added the configs from bttv doco and did not remove
>anything else... so if I can get back to my modules.conf
>all I should have to do is remove what I put in there and
>reboot. However it locked up when trying to boot... stops
>when loading the tulip nic card driver/module. (which I did
>not change/edit)
>I'm using mandrake 9.0 and have tired every other boot mode
>grub lists and even the floopy and all fail.
>
>Any Ideas? (aside from a total wipe losing everything, bank
>records, work, emails, etc..)
>
>Thanks all,
>Jeff
>_______________________________________________
>mythtv-users mailing list
>mythtv-users@snowman.net
>http://lists.snowman.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users

> > I'm using mandrake 9.0 and have tired every other boot mode
> > grub lists and even the floopy and all fail.
> >
> > Any Ideas? (aside from a total wipe losing everything, bank
> > records, work, emails, etc..)

Boot from the Mandrake Boot Disk (#1). It comes up to a menu that says
"Update" or "Other options". Choose the "Other". Then another menu comes
up. Type rescue and you'll see a number of choices. I believe you
then type mnt to get it to mount your existing partitions, and you
should be up enough to edit your modules.conf. Then just type "reboot" and
you should be back in business.

Good luck!

JC

On Thu, 2003-05-29 at 18:59, jeffwaters@wowway.com wrote:
> I'm dumb, I changed /etc/modules.conf and now my machine
> won't boot. I'm using my isp's webmail on my gaming machine
> to send this.
>
> I added the configs from bttv doco and did not remove
> anything else... so if I can get back to my modules.conf
> all I should have to do is remove what I put in there and
> reboot. However it locked up when trying to boot... stops
> when loading the tulip nic card driver/module. (which I did
> not change/edit)
> I'm using mandrake 9.0 and have tired every other boot mode
> grub lists and even the floopy and all fail.
>
> Any Ideas? (aside from a total wipe losing everything, bank
> records, work, emails, etc..)
>
> Thanks all,
> Jeff
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users@snowman.net
> http://lists.snowman.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users

Thank you all for your help, I'm back in business.
Used the install cd and typed in rescue @ expert prompt and was able to
get the modules.conf file edited.

Regards,
Jeff