Personally I would consider the error message you wrote, to be either Programmer error or a corrupt system; also note that if downloading a new image, 7.1.1 is the latest ;-).
If there's no data on the box that you need to keep, I would try installing PC-BSD 7.1.1 from a fresh disk; working with X by hand is not hard but it is far from easy your first time out.
As to doing it by hand...
Unless the loader options in PC-BSD have changed from what I remember, the easiest way to boot the box into text mode is to take the "Boot PC-BSD in single user mode" option at start up.
From there you'll eventually get a prompt asking you to enter the path to a shell with /bin/sh being the default; pressing enter will run the shell. In "Single User Mode" only the administrative (root) account is online and a minimal of resources have been started for you.
You'll then have to make the system mount all the standard hard disk drives used with these commands: (type a line at the prompt, then hit enter to run it)
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Code:
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mount -u -w /
mount -a |
The FreeBSD handbook has a chapter on
X configuration that might be worth looking at, although it is not intended to for beginners.
The jist of it, is you run this command to create a basic xorg.conf file:
and saves it as a file here: ${HOME}/xorg.conf.new
You should be able to test to see if that config file is suitable with this command:
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Code:
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Xorg -config ${HOME}/xorg.conf.new -retro |
If there is an error about the -retro option, try it again without the -retro part. (PC-BSD 7.1.1 shipped with a new enough Xorg, but 7.1.0 may not have; the release notes are no longer on pcbsd.org in easy view.)
Assuming it doesn't pop a cork and you're able to move the X mouse cursor around without puking at background image, you should have a working config file. If it doesn't work and things crash, then it's back to the drawing board. If it works fine but the keyboard/mouse don't work, it shouldn't be to hard to fix.
If it didn't work properly: you'll have to edit the xorg.conf.new file in a console based text editor, unless you are familiar with any, I suggest using nano or ee.
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Code:
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nano ${HOME}/xorg.conf.new |
both are very easy to use and explains itself on screen.
The manual page for xorg.conf is
here, and can be accessed at the command prompt by this command:
use the arrows to scroll up/down or space to scroll lines at a time; press q to exit the manual.
It is no simple task until you've done it a few times; you can find xorg.conf examples online off any decent search engine, particularly of interest would be ones for xorg 7.
When you do have a working config file, save a backup copy of it and move it into the system file:
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Code:
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cp ${HOME}/xorg.conf.new /root/xorg.conf.working
mv ${HOME}/xorg.conf.new /etc/xorg.conf |
You can reboot the machine with the
command.
rm /etc/X11/Xorg.conf no such file or directory. cannot star
Linear Mode
