[Wylug-help] Mandrake not rebooting after install

[Chris Mackins]

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Hello

I'm facing some real problems this week trying to install my boxed
Mandrake.  Other than the issue of not being able to read fonts
(Shaun/James - I'll be following your advice to try and get over this),
I have tried to install onto a second machine - without any luck
whatsover.

I decided on Mandrake, as the reviews suggested it was an easy install
for those witout any linux experience - I've had a week of very late
nights so far this week!

Anyway essentially, on machine 2, I install follwoing the auto process.
I don't want to dual boot with Windows so I followed the auto
selection/default settings process as suggested by Mandrake - though I
did make the option to 'erase entire disk' - to erase data/partitions
and replace with Mandrake.  It has an Intel Celeron 500 MHz processor; a
40GB Hard drive and has a PS2 wheel mouse. Win 98 was deleted from the
HDD and I decided to Erase entire disk during installlation as I did not
want Windows present.

Installation and configuration seemed to run very smoothly and at the
end of the process I removed the CD and went to reboot.  This is where i
am facing problems - it never allows me to login in order to get to the
desktop, in fact I don't think it properly reboots.

The reboot starts with a lot of script quickly filling the screen. he
following script follows :

Mounting proc filesystem [OK]
Setting default font (lat0-16) [OK]
Welcome to Mandrake Linux 9.2
Press 'I' to enter interactive startup
Running DevFs daemon [OK]
Unmounting initrd: [OK]
Configuring kernel parameters: [OK]
***Hangs up so Here I press CTRL-C***
INIT: Entering runlevel: 5
/etc/rc.d/rc: line 73: /var/run/runlevel.dir: Read-only file system
Starting iptables: [OK]
Checking for new hardware [FAILED]
Touch: cannot touch 'var/lock/subsys/harddrake': Read-only file system
Setting network parameters: [OK]
Bringing up loopback interface: [OK]
Bringing up interface eth0: [OK]
Touch: cannot touch 'var/lock subsys/network': Read-only file system
Starting partmapper: [OK]
Touch: cannot touch 'var/lock/subsys/partmap': Readonly file system
Starting system logger
***Here, a few seconds later, it hangs up again, CTRL-C is no use. If
Left alone, approx 5 minutes later then the follwing prompt on a fresh
black screen follows***

(none) login:

***here, user name is entered and a request for a password is then made.
which is followed by the following text (a lot of text suudenly appears
and I'm certain this is the first two lines***

Authentication failed - cannot start X server.
Perhaps you do not have console ownership?

*** A whole bunch of text appears and using root brings about similar
results (the screen has just blanked so I cannot copy the text) Is there
enough info here to show why I cannot get to the graphical interface? If
so, is there an easy way to resolve this? I'm brand new to
Linux/Mandrake and have only had the misfortune of using MS Windows.
I'll post details of other machine later, but in the meantime if any
assistance can be offered in order to let me get to the desktop, I'll be
forever grateful - I really want to get to use Linux***
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