Very Computer

Hello!  While playing with Xconfigurator with Mandrake 7.0, I screwed up my
display and had to use single user mode...  Unfortunetly after I edited
/etc/inittab to login to the console, and rebooted, I couldn't login as root!
At the time I could su to root though.  I tried su-ing and changing the
password, but I still couldn't log on.  After trying a few things, I cleared
the spot where the root password would go in /etc/passwd.... Now I can't get
into root without single user mode -- can't ever su in!  ...And changing my
password in single user mode has no effect.  Please help!  TIA

-------------------------
David Bell - Otherwise known as DB7654321

Remember to remove nospam, notrash or anything odd looking from my email
address. :)

]Hello!  While playing with Xconfigurator with Mandrake 7.0, I screwed up my
]display and had to use single user mode...  Unfortunetly after I edited
]/etc/inittab to login to the console, and rebooted, I couldn't login as root!
]At the time I could su to root though.  I tried su-ing and changing the
]password, but I still couldn't log on.  After trying a few things, I cleared
]the spot where the root password would go in /etc/passwd.... Now I can't get
]into root without single user mode -- can't ever su in!  ...And changing my
]password in single user mode has no effect.  Please help!  TIA

You are running into a whole host of issues.
a) Pam had a bad bug. If the old password is less than two characters
long, then pam will not change the password in /etc/passwd. Put in a
field of three blanks or anything else, and then use passwd to change
root's password. I have sent this in both to the PAM writers and to
Mandrake as a bug, but that has not even elicited a response from any of
them!

b)/etc/securetty-- make sure that line tty1 to tty8 are listed in there.