Very Computer

1. init level 3 and 4 hang on bootup; init 1 works

My Red Hat 4.0 Linux system has been running great ever since
installation. I went to bootup Linux yesterday after doing some work in
Win 95 and Linux hung and did not finish booting. I boot to run level 3
(full multiuser mode) by default. The boot process goes along fine, the
kernel is started, Linux enters run level 3, it starts syslogd, inetd,
lpd, loads the keymap, starts sendmail, xntpd, and gpm. Then it hangs. I
get no error messages, nothing that looks strange in the messages log
file. I was able to boot from a emergency disk downloaded from the net
and I can mount my linux partition ok. I ran e2fsck and got no errors. I
tried booting into runlevel 4 (multiuser mode with no networking) by
passing lilo the parameter "linux 4". It seems to load ok until at the
same point it hangs. I can pass lilo the "linux 1" parameter to go into
run level 1 (single user mode) and it finishes booting and I get a bash
prompt. I tried removing xntpd and gpm from the bootup process for run
level 3, then it hangs at sendmail. It seems that xntpd and gpm are not
the problem, sendmail initializes fine when xntpd and gpm come after it.
After waiting a few minutes while the system is hung and nothing
happens, I can use the Vulcan nerve pinch of Ctrl-Alt-Del and Linux
enters run level 6, shuts down everything, and reboots.

Does anyone have any idea what could have gone wrong? I always shut down
the system correctly and have not seen any errors. Is this a problem
with init? Where do I go from here? What can I start checking?

My system:

486DX4-100, 16 megs of ram
Red Hat 4.0, 2.0.18 kernel
I use lilo on hda to boot Win 95 on hda or linux on hdb6

Like I said earlier everything has been working fine until yesterday
when my system decided to quit working correctly.

sure I get all responses (I'm currently forced to use the Netscape
newsreader in Win 95 UGGGH!)

--

David

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| David Ishee                                                        |

| Mississippi State University                                       |
|                                                                    |
+------------- http://www2.msstate.edu/~dmi1/index.html -------------+

2. trouble with SuSE 6.1 and 3COM 3C515

3. Multiple resolutions. startx command line parameter

4. Non-blinking cursor patch for Linux 0.99.14

5. Why could not startx when secure level is set to "1"

6. Protecting servers from spammers

7. Errors during init level change -- HELP

8. Multiport card on PS/2-AIX

9. Init level 1 hangs

10. Getting weird message changing init levels --- HELP!

11. reboot, shutdown won't work in INIT level 4 or 5..WHY????

12. INIT Run-level help

13. Help Requested, Messing with inittab Cant get to correct init level