all my current problems

English Hardware
1

I pretty screwed up:
-i tried to follow the on screen instructions while trying to set dual monitor, it didn’t work so i pressed twice CTRL+ALT+BACKSPACE and now there is no more graphical interface. I can’t rescue my system using the installation DVD because my keyboard and mouse are deactivated at the bootsplash.
-next is my webcam (logitech quickcam messenger plus) which still doesn’t want to work.
-and at least (for so far) i have a external Iomega HD (1TB) and it’s in VFAT. It mounts the HD but i can’t open it, is there another program that i have to install to read a VFAT partition?

please urgent help for someone who really screwed up…
ps: i’m using openSUSE 11.1

2

Try failsafe boot, or can’t you select it?

3

Can’t select it… isn’t there a command to start the x-server? because i’ve tried “startx” but it says: fatal server error:
no screens found

4

You say you can’t use the install DVD? So how did you install?

5

it’s quiet bizar… the first time i booted from de DVD, i could use the keyboard and mouse but the second and third time, i couldn’t use my keyboard anymore. So i’m looking for a command where i can rescue my system with.

6

Shutdown the computer with the dvd in the drive, Now connect only the necessary devices: keyboard, mouse, monitor. Start the computer.

Any different?

7

@ jeroenmaes
There could be another solution for booting, or re-installation right away: Do you have “acronis”? With this you can erase everything from the HD and build up a clean new installation.
Maybe this would work better than install from DVD while letting the old version staying on HD.
@caf4926
I don’t want to mess this up, or interfere here, it was only an idea. It works well here on my “crashing system”. After bad crashes, with nothing left to run, I always use acronis to clean my HD. So please excuse this.

8

oke, i think i found the solution, when i installed my system, i left my usb plugged in and now it’s like some sort of key (?) and without my usb, i can’t boot the system.

9

Remove the line from /etc/fstab that mounts the usb-drive. And reconfigure the bootloader from Yast with the usb-drive NOT connected.

10 
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-Maxtor_6Y120L0_Y3LXYR8E-part1 swap                 swap       defaults              0 0
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-Maxtor_6Y120L0_Y3LXYR8E-part2 /                    ext3       acl,user_xattr        1 1
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-Maxtor_6Y120L0_Y3LXYR8E-part3 /home                ext3       acl,user_xattr        1 2
proc                 /proc                proc       defaults              0 0
sysfs                /sys                 sysfs      noauto                0 0
debugfs              /sys/kernel/debug    debugfs    noauto                0 0
usbfs                /proc/bus/usb        usbfs      noauto                0 0
devpts               /dev/pts             devpts     mode=0620,gid=5       0 0

which one do i have to delete?

11

There is no usb mount in there.

It sounds to me like the USB drive is booting your machine.

Take out the usb drive and follow this
Re-Install Grub Quickly with Parted Magic - openSUSE Forums

12

I have another question, this “problem” brought me to the idea to install the bootloader to my usb, so without the usb, it wouldn’t boot. Suggestions for that?

13

You are not clear in what you say!

This comment suggests to me that you want to put grub on the usb so the computer will not boot without the usb.
Which is what it already sounds like you are have to me.

i left my usb plugged in and now it’s like some sort of key (?) and without my usb, i can’t boot the system.

14

Yes, that i use the usb as a key, but what i have now is slightly different.
the situation now is that if i don’t plug in my usb, i get the bootloader but my keyboard and mouse are deactivated and when i plug in the usb and restart, i can use the keyboard and mouse.
But what i want is when the usb is unplugged, the boot loader doesn’t appear so it wouldn’t start booting at all.

15

You would need a bootable USB, a BIOS that supports USB booting, to remove any bootloader on the internal HD/s and setup grub to the USB

But what you want, doesn’t make much sense to me.

16

why not? is it dangerous?

17

USB is far to slow for any normal Hard Disk application, even USB 3 soon to be released. I wouldn’t want to be using USB for anything other than a printer or flash drive.

If you are tying to be slick and keep people from booting your computer why not simply encrypt the whole thing or use a BIOS password. Not everyone knows the master bypass override passwords for BIOS.

If you think you are adding some obscure layer of security, a knoppix cd (or any other live CD) will give anyone with physical access to the machine or drive, access to your data anyway.

The first thing I noticed was the missing boot partition. Grub can boot from anywhere, you just need to match the boot order in BIOS with how Grub sees the drives.

18

Not dangerous but you power up without the usb and how do you power down?

Why don’t you want it to boot when there is no USB?

19

extra encryption

20

Really:\

So I come along with a Parted magic cd and boot your machine - what can I do with that?