Bad update - X11 corrupted - dependency hell

[Martin Stone]

Dick,

/usr/X11R6/bin/mkfontdir is a program that belongs to the package 
XFree86-font-utils-4.3.0-42 - so it sounds like you're missing more than one 
package.  So go and get

http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/core/1/i386/os/Fedora/RPMS/XFree86-font-utils-4.3.0-42.i386.rpm

and put it in the same directory and try:

rpm -ivh XFree86-font-utils-4.3.0-42.i386.rpm XFree86-xfs-4.3.0-42.i386.rpm

if that works, go ahead and do the chkconfig and the "service xfs start" - if 
not, next time you post include the output of:

rpm -qa | grep '^XF' | sort

and we will see what all else you're missing...

Cheers,
Martin


Dick Brown wrote:
> Martin,
>    You were right, and the XFree86-xfs wasn't there.  I got the rpm that 
> you mentioned, but when I tried to install it, I got the message that:
> /usr/X11R6/bin/mkfontdir was missing.  Is this just a directory that I 
> can create, so that everything will be OK, or do you think that there's 
> another package that I need to install first?
> 
> Thanks for your help,
> Dick
> 
> Martin Stone wrote:
> 
>> Dick,
>>
>> That's a good start.  One item of concern:  You say that when you ran 
>> X -probeonly, your screen blanked.  Do you mean it blanked and stayed 
>> blank?  That would be bad.  It's supposed to blank your screen for a 
>> few seconds, then you get back your text console with the latest error 
>> messages displayed on it.
>>
>> So... we've determined that X doesn't think it has the fonts it 
>> needs... this could be because xfs just is not running, but I think 
>> it's more likely that xfs was the package that failed installation.  
>> Can you do the following:
>>
>> rpm -qa | grep '^XF' | sort
>>
>> and post the output to us?  You should see XFree86-xfs-4.3.0-42 in the 
>> list towards the bottom.  If you don't, that could be your trouble.  
>> You might try something like:
>>
>> wget 
>> http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/core/1/i386/os/Fedora/RPMS/XFree86-xfs-4.3.0-42.i386.rpm 
>>
>>
>> (or download the RPM to your system in your favorite way)
>>
>> and then:
>>
>> rpm -ivh XFree86-xfs-4.3.0-42.i386.rpm
>> chkconfig --level 2345 xfs on
>> service xfs start
>>
>> Then try starting X and logging all messages on your own with 
>> something like:
>>
>> X > /tmp/myXlog.txt 2>&1
>>
>> And let us know how that works out for you...
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Martin
>>
>>
>>
>> Dick Brown wrote:
>>
>>> OK, there was no 'rhgb' in my boot loader, so I got in and manually 
>>> changed /etc/inittab.
>>>
>>> The command 'X -probeonly' didn't seem to do anything helpful.  I saw 
>>> some text flash on the screen, but then the screen blanked.  I 
>>> checked the log file, but no help there.  I went ahead and just ran 
>>> 'X' and again checked the log file.  I saw the following messages 
>>> near the bottom:
>>>
>>>  could not init font path element unix/:7100, removing from list
>>>  fatal server error:  could not open default font 'fixed'
>>>
>>> Dick
>>>
>>> Martin Stone wrote:
>>>
>>>> Dick,
>>>>
>>>> Here's a way to boot from the hard disk and skip the graphical stuff:
>>>>
>>>> When the GRUB bootloader screen comes up, hit the 'a' key - this 
>>>> allows you to modify the kernel parameters that are being used to 
>>>> boot your system.  Backspace over 'rhgb' to remove it, then type '3' 
>>>> (without the quotes) and hit Enter. This tells the Linux kernel to 
>>>> boot to runlevel 3 instead of what is specified in /etc/inittab 
>>>> (that would be '5' in your case.)  Runlevel 3 is the normal runlevel 
>>>> with all normal services running except for X.  Much easier to 
>>>> troubleshoot your system from this point than from a rescue disk.
>>>>
>>>> After you've booted to runlevel 3, you can log in normally and try 
>>>> to diagnose your X problem.  I recommend starting by trying:
>>>>
>>>> X -probeonly
>>>>
>>>> and seeing (and telling us!) what error messages are reported.
>>>>
>>>> Good luck!
>>>> Martin
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Dick Brown wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Thanks to those who have replied so far.
>>>>>
>>>>> I did make a boot disk, and can get to a system prompt with "linux 
>>>>> single".  The problem I'm having is that I can't get a graphical 
>>>>> login.  When the login prompt comes up, the system automatically 
>>>>> tries to go to the graphical login.  Unfortunately, it can't get 
>>>>> there, so keeps cycling from text login to graphical login and 
>>>>> back, so I can't do anything.
>>>>>
>>>>> There was one other thing I tried, and maybe this was bad.  When I 
>>>>> couldn't log in normally after the failed update, I tried 
>>>>> reinstalling Fedora over itself.  It seemed to go fine installing 
>>>>> over RH8, so I figured it would be okay to install over itself, 
>>>>> too.  Would this have messed it up?
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>> Dick
>>>>>
>>>>> jludwig wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hi all,
>>>>>>>    I recently decided to upgrade from RH8 to Fedora.  I downloaded
>>>>>>> the .iso files, burned them and installed without a hitch 
>>>>>>> (checked the md5sum and the finished CDs first).
>>>>>>>    Unfortunately, when I performed the system update, the X11 
>>>>>>> package
>>>>>>> was corrupted.  Now I can't boot into Fedora normally.  I can get 
>>>>>>> in through the "Linux rescue" from the install disk, but I'm 
>>>>>>> afraid I
>>>>>>> don't know what to do from there.  I'm at that dangerous stage 
>>>>>>> where I know enough to get myself into trouble, but not enough to 
>>>>>>> get myself out,
>>>>>>> so I don't really want to touch anything without some advice 
>>>>>>> first.  Is there an easy fix to this?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>>>> Dick
>>>>>>>   
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> What were the error messages, if any, while booting?
>>>>>> This will give me/us an idea how to help you fix this problem.
>>>>>> jludwig <wralphie at comcast.net>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>  
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
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