On 6/13/07, Robert Moskowitz rgm@htt-consult.com wrote:
It seems to be a timing problem. And I do not know what else.
This sounds similar to something I encountered after first installing CentOS5.0 on my pavilion laptop. See thread "CentOS 5: GDM starts, but console doesn't switch VTs" (which isn't really a thread, as no one replied to me either). It rarely happens now that I've installed all the updates, but does still happen occasionally.
Have you tried pressing Alt-F7 after you get the text console prompt?
I'm also a tad puzzled by why you keep resorting to pulling out the battery. Holding the power button down for 6-10 seconds doesn't get you powered off so that on the next power-on it does a full restart? I've never had to remove a laptop battery except when it needed replacing because it wouldn't hold a charge.
In your earlier post you said:
I have tried to mount that drive via a USB connector, but automount is not handling it, and I don't know how to start working out mounting it manually.
Does that mean that some part of your CentOS install is on an external USB drive? In my not-very-extensive experience with running CentOS on laptops, suspend and especially hibernate does not work unless all the essential components (/etc, /boot, and so on) are on the internal hard drive. Perhaps that's just a RedHat shortcoming, or perhaps someone else can explain workarounds. (May need a new thread to get anyone's attention.)