Iam a linux newbie who feels the need to famalirize myself with the linux environment. For some reason, I think the headache of installing linux is worth it. maybe not right now because Iam experience a lot a problem just getting started.

I just recently install fedora core 5 on my toshiba satellite A60/65 laptop. Fedora Core 5 was installed sucessfully but it freezes at the point after I enter my username and password. When I initially install fc 5, I was able to briefly play around on the desktop for about 30 sec then my system froze. I had to press the power button to shut it down. Every time I repeat this process, the booting process keeps regressing. Now its at the point where the system freezes immediately after I enter my username and password. if I do it the interactive startup it still freezes.

Is there anyone that has an idea as to how this can be fix? I will really appreciate whatever input I get. Remember Iam a newbie so please try to keep it in simple terms.

Have you tried a command prompt login?

Press CTRL-ALT-F1 when you see the graphical login page, and then you'll be prompted to enter your name and password in the shell. Your password won't be visible to keep it from getting stolen.

If it logs in, try typing random stuff onto the console; you won't hurt it. Just to see if it freezes or something. Here are some random Linux commands that won't hurt anything:
If it does freeze, you've got a deeper problem. If not, you can log out by entering "exit" and pressing return. And then it's most likely related to your login software. To return to the graphical login, press CTRL-ALT-F7.

Hope this helps

I was able to login with cmd prompt and successfully enter unix commands into the console without my computer freezing. I its at all related to the login software, how would I go about fixing this problem?
Thanks a lot..I appreciate all your assistance.

My mind's a bit foggy, so please help me - which login manager are you using, and which display manager are you using? (Gnome/GDM, KDE/KDM, etc.)

The first thing you should probably do is try switching environments - the login window should have some option that allows you to choose between Gnome, KDE, X11. Choose a different one and see what happens when you login.

By the way, if you ever get caught in an X11 session (about 3 terminal windows and a blank desktop), you can exit by typing "exit" in the main/default terminal window.

the fc 5 installation came with a default login manager which Iam not sure what it is. I do have another option for GNOME/GDM and thats about all the options including the failsafe GNOME . I also tried all the different options and got the same result, but I was able to get into the failsafe terminal. For the failsafe terminal there was one blank desktop and a terminal which gives me the assumption that is the X11 session.

Yes - so now we've pretty well narrowed it down to either Gnome, or the login manager, which I've determined is GDM.

I'm still unsure what the problem is; and although it's possible to find the cause of the problem, it might become very, very difficult from the command line. The broken part of the OS is the very thing we need to fix it (or at least aid by making it easier).

I was going to suggest installing KDE, but I changed my mind because the install would simply be too difficult for you to follow (mainly, there's far too many variables that could affect the instructions I give you, making a lot of it guesswork).

At this point, the only thing I can think of right now is a reinstall of Fedora. It's possible that files somehow got mangled during the install process, which could be causing the problems you speak of. If the problem persists, then we know it's a hardware problem.

Thanks for helping me narrow down the problem...I think reinstallation would be the best route to take. KDE may also be another option given during the installation process which will negate having to install KDE seperately. I was also wondering if the problem might have any thing to do with the partitioning because I used the default partion set during the installation.

Would you suggest manually partitioning the disk with grub or just stick with the default partion? I have little experience with partitioning which is why I used the default partioning .
Is there anything in specifics that you would suggest I pay special attention when I reinstall FC5 ?

I really kind of doubt it... usually if there's partition problems, you'll get all sorts of hard-disk related errors when booting such as "cannot load extension" and the like. When installing again, I would simply suggest making sure that it takes over the entire drive. Manually partitioning probably won't do much good.

Well, I'd make sure that you don't mess around too much with the installation packages; it's fine to add packages, such as KDE, but certainly don't remove any until after the installation and you're sure that Fedora is working properly.

maybe login without using gdm might help?

boot up with the init 3 parameter (from grub) in order to boot to a command line and then login and type startx

I reinstalled linux on my laptop. THis time I allocated all the remaining disk space to the root mount point. After installation, it seemed like everything worked fine. I could finally see some light at the end of the tunnel. I was able to mess around my new linux environment for about a good ten minutes, then it frooze again. Each time I turned it off and log back into the system, it took lesser time to freeze and eventually iam unable to even get past the login point.

If at all its a hardware problem, what will I need to do to rectify it? I really want to experience the benefit of using linux, but this is killing me.

Eventhough I want to have the full linux experience, Iam some what getting frustrated with the whole installation process. will it be much better if I can somehow install window back on my laptop and just run linux from a virtual machine instead?