[ltp] Major crash with a TP600 on RH 7.2

[Adam Benjamin]

Okay, lots going on here and I'm not sure how much I can help with.
Here's what I can tell you...

> A this point, so far, X used to start. Automatically, without my 
> having to type 'startx' or anything. I would have preferred having to 
> do so manually, in order to be able to remain on the console whenever 

Next time, you can change the following line in /etc/inttab

id:5:initdefault:

Change the 5 (which means boot up into graphical mode) to a 3 which
means full multiuser mode (no graphics.)  That way next time you
reboot, no X Windows.  Note that using "startx" is less secure as your
virtual console is still logged in (with the command startx running.)
You probably won't care on a laptop however.

> This time, though, something very strange happened. The system 
> remained on the console, and displayed the following message :
> 
> - INIT: Id "X" respawning too fast: disabled for 5 minutes.

init is the program that co-ordinates the other programs when it comes
to different "run levels."  (What you changed above is the default run
level.)  Init will automatically restart a program that dies (if it
has been told to do so) and it will notice problems if it has to do
this too often.  So the message means that your X server was having
troubles and dying - continuously.  Init was warning you as it figured
there were problems.

> The word 'respawning' is really the one that was displayed, not 

When you start up one of those processes, it's called "spawning."
Respawning is what you do when you have to do it again...

> I then moved my mouse... and saw that a cursor did show. I typed a few 

That's gpm - it works like a mouse pointer does in X, but in text
mode.  Can be really handy if you do a lot of text console work and
want to cut and paste.

> random characters followed by [return], and the system replied: 'login 
> incorrect', which made me realize that I was, indeed in the console 
> mode, able to type a login command, which I did. 

Sounds like you were at a login prompt but with too many init messages
to the console - so you didn't see your initial login prompt.

> After login, first command that came up to my mind: 'startx' !
> 
> The X system did start, as usual. This is, up to now, the last time 

Bizzare.  I don't know why it wouldn't start automatically but *would*
start manually.

[ lots omitted ]

> At that time, I tried to re-initiate X, using Xconfigurator. But I 
> failed in doing so.

I don't have time to read through it all and ponder it properly
(sorry.)  What I can tell you is that at a glance it looks like you
might have lost some data on your HD.  (Files/inodes corrupted.)  I
would get all important data off that machine and then do a full disk
check.  You may even want/need to reinstall the OS from scratch.  I'd
be surprised if this was a software failure - it sounds more like
hardware, so be very suspicious of the HD until you can point to
something more tangible.

Sorry I don't have time to ponder it deeper... good luck with it, and
my sympathies at the pain in the butt.

Adam Benjamin


----- The Linux ThinkPad mailing list -----
The linux-thinkpad mailing list home page is at:
http://www.bm-soft.com/~bm/tp_mailing.html