X Window Server Crashes Bad

[David A. Sinck]

\_ SMTP quoth Michael J. Schweppe on 7/2/2001 15:52 as having spake thusly:
\_
\_ David A. Sinck wrote:
\_ 
\_ >
\_ >I'm a bit concerned about the 'reinstall everything' comment.  Are you
\_ >trying to installed nvidia drivers on initial install of the box?  I
\_ >bet you really don't want to try that.
\_ >
\_ To clarify, after I install the drivers  a reboot is required.  It is at 
\_ this point that I find if the install is going to work or not.  If it 
\_ fails, [I'm in console for this and not X] I cannot get back to X.
\_ 
\_ Hence, since I do not know what to do, I reinstall the OS.  Perhaps 
\_ overkill, but you do what you know.  Once I have a fresh OS install I 
\_ then reinstall the NVidia drivers and try again.  
\_ 
\_ Is there an easier way to restore a crashed X server instead of 
\_ reinstalling the OS as I have been doing?  

For your kernel tree and talk to lilo.  How you accomplish this
depends on your distribution afaik.

In RH, I'd experiment ala:

*fresh install*
cp -r /lib/modules/whatever /lib/modules/whatever-safe
<other steps may be here>
<do nvidia install magic>
<mkinitrd (see 'new kernel howto offa RH')>
edit lilo.conf to talk to both /whatever and /whatever-safe
run lilo
reboot to whatever
watch nv crash whatever
reboot to whatever-safe
debug whatever
wash
rinse
repeat

YMMV.


David