[CentOS] Release 5.5 64-bit hangs on boot

[John R Pierce]

On 03/03/11 10:18 AM, Kaplan, Andrew H. wrote:
>
> Hi there --
>
> I just completed installing the 64-bit version of Release 5.5, and 
> while the installation and initial configuration
> completed successfully, a full boot-up is never completed 
> successfully. During the system boot-up sequence
> the list of services appears to complete, but then a blank blue screen 
> appears, and while the mouse pointer is
> present, it does not respond to any input. I let the system stand, in 
> the hope it would correct itself, for about
> half an hour, but the status did not change.
>
> I did the installation a second time to see if this was a freak 
> occurrence. Unfortunately, after the second attempt
> was completed, the same issue occurred on the server.
>
> Prior to doing the installation, I confirmed the DVD and CD media were 
> tested and found to be valid. When I did
> the installation, I went with the base install along with Server, 
> Server GUI, and Virtualization support. The server
> hardware is a Dell R515 system with two 500 GB SAS drives that are 
> hardware-based RAID1 that was completely
> optimized prior to the software install.
>
> Has anyone experienced this issue before, and has an idea as to what 
> is going on, and how it can be corrected?
>
>

sounds like a video driver problem.  at the grub prompt, linux single, 
and then at the root shell, vi /etc/inittab and change the initdefault 
line to read

id:3:initdefault:

instead of id:5:...

then reboot and it should come up in shell mode and you can mess with 
the X drivers to try and sort them out, or if its a server, who needs 
GUI, its just overhead...