As some users may know, Red Hat 9 uses a graphical login. This works perfectly fine, but one day I had a problem. I logged in as root and changed the resolution of the display. It told me to log out for the changes to take effect.

I did...but was faced with my monitor going down to standby. It couldnt handle the resolution.

Now, basically, I was locked out of the computer. I had to reformat and reinstall Red Hat 9.

However, today I found a neat trick. I dunno if it will log me into a command prompt, but basically if you press CTRL + ALT + F1 - you get the standard text login. Pressing CTRL + ALT + F7 takes you back to the graphical login screen.

If the text interface actually takes you to the command prompt - I'd happily reinstate the old X server configuration file to get back my old resolution, thus solving my problem.

Just thought I'd share a few tips. Btw...is there any way to get to the command prompt from Linux? I ask because Red Hat automatically boots X, and that kinda sucks.

change the runlevel to 3 in /etc/inittab

Thanks for the information. Actually, I tried login after changing to text login using CTRL + ALT + F1 and it actually gives you a command prompt which is nice.

Its something thats bugged me for a while. I accidently pick the wrong resolution, and I get locked out of Red Hat because the gfx login screen fails. So this is something I think some Red Hat users can relate to and find useful.

Thanks again for the prompt reply (no pun intended)

hmm... i see. I had similar problem with the whole resolution situation... except mine went back to the default settings like i would expect it to if the resolution was to great for my video card... ill keep those hot keys in mind. Good job