Troubleshooting Your Installation

After you have finished installing Red Hat Linux, you can check how the installation went by checking your log files. There are three places to look once the system comes up:

/tmp/upgrade.log — When upgrading packages, output from each installed package is sent to this file. You can see what packages were installed and if any failed.
/var/log/dmesg — This file contains the messages that are sent to the console terminal as the system boots up, including messages relating to the kernel being started and hardware being recognized. If a piece of hardware isn't working, you can check here to make sure that the kernel found the hardware and configured it properly.
/var/log/boot.log — This file contains information about each service that is started up at boot time. You can see if each service started successfully. If a service fails to start properly, there may be clues in this file that will help you learn what went wrong.

If something was set wrong (such as your mouse) or just isn't working quite right (such as your video display), you can always go back after Red Hat Linux is running and correct the problem. Here is a list of utilities you can use to reconfigure different features that were set during installation:

Changing or adding a mouse:???redhat-config-mouse
Changing a keyboard language:???redhat-config-keyboard
Adding or deleting software packages:???redhat-config-packages or rpm
Partitioning:???fdisk or sfdisk
Boot loader:???/boot/grub/grub.conf (for GRUB); lilo and /etc/lilo.conf (for LILO)
Networking (Ethernet & TCP/IP):???redhat-config-network
Time zone:???timeconfig or firstboot
User accounts:???useradd or redhat-config-users
Sound:???redhat-config-soundcard
X Window System:???redhat-config-xfree86

Here are a few other random tips that can help you during installation:

If installation fails because the installation procedure is unable to detect your video card, try restarting installation in text mode. After Red Hat Linux is installed and running, use the redhat-config-xfree86 command to configure your video card and monitor. (For some cards, such as those from NVIDIA, you need to get and install special drivers from the manufacturer's Web site.)
If installation completes successfully, but your screen is garbled when you reboot, you should try to get Red Hat Linux to boot to a text-login prompt. To do this, add the words linux 3 to the end of the kernel boot line in GRUB or LILO. Linux will start with the GUI temporarily disabled. Run redhat-config-xfree86 to try to fix the problem. (See Chapter 3 for other advice related to fixing your GUI.)
If your mouse is not detected during installation, you can use arrow keys and the Tab key to make selections.
Probably the best resource for troubleshooting your installation problems is the Red Hat Support site (www.redhat.com/apps/support). Links from that page can take you to documentation, updates and errata, and information about support programs. If you are having problems with a particular piece of hardware, try searching the Solutions Database, using the name of the hardware in the search box. If you are having problems with particular hardware, chances are someone else did, too.