Thanks for all the help. The prob was in fact caused by myself running a
vmware script that was meant for a virtual linux box, not the actual host
linux system. That screwed up my xserver so the keyboard wouldnt respond
on the console. I havent been able to completely undo all the changes it
made but I found a way around it thanks to some advice below.
The prob was not with inittab- it had the init level set at 3. The prob
was with rc.local; it must have gotten modified by vmware such that the
last thing it did was start xdm. This over rode whatever was in inittab.
So I merely commented that out and voila when I rebooted, I was in
character mode. From there a simple startx brought up the correct X
server (Im running Metro X, a commercial X server) and I was back in
business.
Still, all is not perfect. If I try to /sbin/telinit 5 I get an error
message as it tries to start up the bogus vmware x server. Luckily I
remain in char mode. Im hoping with the help of the vmware people I can
undo what that script did and have my system back the way it was. For
now, Im just happy to be back at my console. The lesson to be learned is
be very careful with vmware- it could really screw up your system!
On Tue, 17 Aug 1999, Ezequiel H. Panepucci wrote:
>
>To select default init level:
>
>Edit file "/etc/inittab" select the init level on a line that
>looks like ....
>
>id:5:initdefault:
>
>The number five above indicates that the default
>init level is 5 :-)
>
>
>
>vmware is so new.... To disable vmware
>
>Go to directories:
>
>/etc/rc.d/rc3.d and /etc/rc.d/rc5.d
>
>in each of these directories remove the symbolic link
>that reads something like
>
>S??vmware -> ../init.d/vmware
>
>You can always re-link the files once you get vwware
>properly setup.
>
>Cheers,
> Zac
>
-- Ron Nath Center for Medical Informatics Yale University
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