locked out of my box

[der.hans]

Am 02. May, 2002 schwätzte VB so:

> ok i goofed; i have a typo in /etc/inittab. guess i set the run level to 9
> instead of 3. that's what happens when you learn 10-key on two different
> keyboard layouts.
>
> on this machine, i normally boot from a floppy to hda5; i.e., lilo is not
> installed. but booting here fails because obviously run level 9 does not
> exist. "boot -s" i thought would work around so I could fix /etc/inittab,
> but it is not booting into single mode. not sure why. how can i get to
> that file to fix it?

I think you have to have lilo on the floppy for that to work. If all you've
got is the kernel, then I don't think you can send it any boot paramaters.
It's been a while since I booted from floppy, so I might be wrong there. The
Documentation tree in the kernel sources should say.

Use a rescue or install disk to boot, mount /etc, then change inittab,
unmount /etc and reboot.

ciao,

der.hans
-- 
#  https://www.LuftHans.com/
#  Take a razor to your throat
#  and a noose to your neck,
#  then follow that up with a cup of poison.
#  Not a good way to start the day. - der.hans