Help...respawning too fast?

[Hopeless]

Hi, I am extremely new at linux. i installed redhat 7.1 last night. then, when i try to boot up, at one point i get a single L on one line and an incessant beeping noise. then if i try to boot using the boot disk, i can actually get to a login screen. but the screen keeps flashing. then after i put in username and password, i get this error message saying something like "id x is respawning too fast, please wait 5 minutes" and i wait, and it starts over, and the same thing happens. i went to the redhat site and they seem to imply that it has something to do with the modem (which incidentily, is fried). i am so confused and all i want to do is run linux. help me, please! :confused:

[Bills_a_bub]

Well, if the modem is fried and the RH site implies that it's a problem with the modem, then it's time to remove the modem and see if that fixes the problem.

Let us know.

[ph34r]

Sounds like X isn't configured properly. Try booting to runlevel 3 (linux 3 at a lilo prompt) to login to text-only mode.

[Hopeless]

im not sure what X is, i dont know how to boot to runlevel 3. english please? sorry :(

[twofoolish2b]

Well X is your GUI. To boot to runlevel 3 in Slackware there is a file called inittab, just change the part where is says:
# Default runlevel
id:4:initdefault
to
# Default runlevel
id:3:initdefault

I don't know if RedHat works like this or not.

[JS]

How did you install it? From inside windows? If so can you still boot into win? If so your master boot record is still ok and you can reinstall 7.1. Try installing it in a seperate partition if you know how to do that. I had so many problems with lilo that i ended up skipping it on the install and went to booting with the floppy start up disk. this seperates the two systems and minimizes conflicts with LILO when your starting to experiment with the penguin. If your win boot is gone try to get to the dos prompt (F8 on my machine) and sys C: off your boot floppy. This sometimes does it and sometimes not. Installing linux with LILO has taught me a lot about backing up win. Nortons ghost is good so is powerquests Drive Image,and back win up before you reinstall. Some times you've got to fdisk your mbr to clear the way for reinstalls or write the whole disk to 0's if that does'nt work.Does this help at all? I have a limited amount of time on my isp but I'll check back later. good luck!

[Hopeless]

I insalled using a boot disk, not from within windows. it is installed to a different hard drive than windows. one that was formatted immediately prior to installation. i dont see how the installation can be the problem. thanks for your help though, i think i am going to take out the modem and retry the install.