[Gllug] x server fail at boot

[Philip Hands]

On Fri, Jun 13, 2008 at 12:01:54PM +0100, Diana Scott wrote:
> 
> Hi
> 
> My suse 10.3 's graphical interface x server fail to start at boot and
> i tried to log in as su but i couldn't go any further than linux -3z2c
> login . I have tried to boot using fail safe and the dvd but couldn't
> any further than error message and linux 3z2c login.
> 
> does that mean i have to reinstall the whole suse 10.3 including losing my data files ?

If it's showing you some sort of login prompt, then you hard disk is
alive and well, even if some of the configuration is broken.

That being the case, if you fail to get in via other means, you should
be able to get hold of a live CD distribution (Knoppix is popular, and
both Debian and Ubuntu also produce live CDs). Ah, seems that there's a
live version of SUSE as well:

  http://iso.linuxquestions.org/suse/suse-live-9.2/

in which case you should be able to boot that, and then mount the hard
drive to either backup your data, or fix your problem.

Remain calm -- the only real danger to your data is you doing something
rash and inadvertently deleting it all -- if the disk is basically OK
(which it sounds like it is) you data is almost certain to still be there,
and you'll be able to find it when booted from a live CD.

Cheers, Phil.
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