From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Dec 22 12:33:34 2010 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5CAEE106566B for ; Wed, 22 Dec 2010 12:33:34 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from dave@g8kbv.demon.co.uk) Received: from lon1-post-2.mail.demon.net (lon1-post-2.mail.demon.net [195.173.77.149]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2555A8FC13 for ; Wed, 22 Dec 2010 12:33:33 +0000 (UTC) Received: from [212.225.127.64] (helo=[192.168.33.1]) by lon1-post-2.mail.demon.net with esmtpa (AUTH g8kbv) (Exim 4.69) id 1PVNsr-0002jB-Zc for freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org; Wed, 22 Dec 2010 12:33:33 +0000 From: "Dave" To: bf1783@googlemail.com> Date: Wed, 22 Dec 2010 12:33:32 -0000 MIME-Version: 1.0 Message-ID: <4D11F01C.16225.21A38699@dave.g8kbv.demon.co.uk> Priority: normal In-reply-to: References: X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (4.52) Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Content-description: Mail message body Cc: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: Well, I broke it! FreeBSD V8.1 release X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 22 Dec 2010 12:33:34 -0000 On 22 Dec 2010 at 11:41, b. f. wrote: > dave wrote: > ... > >I was trying to disable the console screensaver, and found that in > >sysinstall, there is no way to select "none" as an option. > > > >So I went and edited /etc/rc.conf to comment out the line:- > >Saver="fire" (or whatever it is) > > > >I put a ; at the beginning of the line, and now FreeBSD wont come up, > >showing an error (unexpected ;) and leaving me with a # prompt. > > > >How do I get to re-edit rc.conf, to correct the problem, as all > >command line commands result in a "not found" error. > > You didn't provide much information, but probably what happened is > that your defective rc.conf caused an error when booting, and your > normal boot aborted and dropped into "single-user". This typically > means that some partitions that are mounted by default during a normal > boot and that contain editors and other programs are not initially > mounted. So probably if you did something like: > > fsck -p / > mount -uw / > swapon -a > mount -a > > you could then edit /etc/rc.conf with your favorite editor. Or you > could just use sed, ed, or vi from /rescue, or from the release media, > to make the necessary changes, rather than attempting to mount all > partitions. > > > > >Also. What's the "Correct" way to disable a console screensaver? > > > >Sysinstall alows you to select and enable one, but not remove it! > > On the fly, you can use vidcontrol -t ... > > To change the default setting, comment out or delete the "saver=..." > line, or change it to > > saver="NO" > > which is what is originally in /etc/defaults/rc.conf. > > Sysinstall is only one tool you can use to install or configure the > system. It's not necessary, and for minor changes like this, it's not > the method of choice. > > b. > Thank you Sir, it's back working again, with no screen saver. Thank's also to others who responded, much apprecaited. I'll be back later, now I can see the error messages that were hidden behind the saver when something burped, only becoming visible as the otherwise stalled machine shutdown on one short press of the power key.. I just need to wait now for the trouble to manifest itself again. Cheers All Dave B.