Arch Linux

geometro

Member

Registered: 2010-06-08

Posts: 2

No Inputs in xserver(unable to access /etc/rc.conf to change startup)

Hello everyone,
I've installed arch on an older notebook and of all the steps I could miss, I forgot to add hal to the daemons array in /etc/rc.conf so now when arch boots up it goes directly into xserver(kde) without any input hotplugging resulting in no input from trackpad/keyboard, as well as external mouse and keyboard.
I've tried editing /etc/rc.conf when using the arch boot cd but I get "permission denied" when trying to mount /dev/sda1,2,3,4 etc. Is there any way I can interrupt the boot process so that I can remove "kdm" from the daemons array? Or to somehow stop arch from booting into xserver? I'm somewhat new to the linux environment but I try my best to follow all and any tutorials/advice and you guys seem to have the most detailed tutorials of all the distros - way to go!

Thanks for the help

Last edited by geometro (2010-06-08 01:30:06)

frigger908

Member

Registered: 2010-05-20

Posts: 24

Re: No Inputs in xserver(unable to access /etc/rc.conf to change startup)

Try pressing Ctrl+Alt+F2 to switch to another virtual console to get a text based interface log in as root and edit /etc/rc.conf there. Hope this helped

Last edited by frigger908 (2010-06-08 03:27:03)

oew

Member

From: Norway

Registered: 2006-11-08

Posts: 105

Re: No Inputs in xserver(unable to access /etc/rc.conf to change startup)

AFAIK you won't be able to switch to a VC/TTY if your keyboard isn't recognized by Xserver. You need to set a different runlevel in the Grub entry. Once you have selected the entry in the boot menu, you can edit it by pressing key e. Add "3" (without to quotes) to the end of the kernel line and then Esc to exit. Then you can try to boot by pressing b.

edit: typo

Last edited by oew (2010-06-08 04:07:20)

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there's no place like ~/

geometro

Member

Registered: 2010-06-08

Posts: 2

Re: No Inputs in xserver(unable to access /etc/rc.conf to change startup)

You need to set a different runlevel in the Grub entry. Once you have selected the entry in the boot menu, you can edit it by pressing key e. Add "3" (without to quotes) to the end of the kernel line and then Esc to exit. Then you can try to boot by pressing b.

Runlevel 3 didnt work(still booted into xserver), but I looked up into runlevels(didnt know about them before) so I tried runlevel 1 and it worked! :P Thanks for the help!!
"Runlevel 1 is usually for very basic commands. This is the equivalent to "safe mode" used by Windows. This level is usually only used to asses repairs or maintenance to the system. This is a single-user mode and does not allow other users to login to the machine."

edit: typo

Last edited by geometro (2010-06-08 05:07:58)