# Booting into console?

## BrandonF

I just got a new monitor, and it's VertRefresh and HorizSync are way higher than my old monitor, so much that I can't even boot into Gentoo graphically (Windows works fine). I was wondering, how can I boot into Gentoo in console mode? Keep in mind I can't boot and then kill X, the error message I get isn't from the computer, the monitor just shuts off and I get an error from it saying the mode isn't supported. Basically I just need to log in with the console and change the xorg.conf.

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## Crooksey

http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_create_a_run_level

That might help you.

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## jamesdick628

Have you tried booting with a livecd and changing the settings from there?

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## Mben

Depending on how your system is setup you may be able to interrupt the boot process before X starts by pressing the I key after the Gentoo copyright notice. There should be an option to exit to a console and enter the root password. From there you should be able to fix xorg.conf (though it may not be pretty).

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## BrandonF

Alright, now I've finished that and I'm able to boot correctly. I just booted into Gentoo and pressed Ctrl+Alt+F6 when I got the error, which apparently kills X and dumps you into console only mode.

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## zerojay

 *BrandonF wrote:*   

> Alright, now I've finished that and I'm able to boot correctly. I just booted into Gentoo and pressed Ctrl+Alt+F6 when I got the error, which apparently kills X and dumps you into console only mode.

 

No, it just switches you to one of the consoles. X is not killed. Ctrl+Alt+F(1-6) are the consoles and Ctrl+Alt+F7 is X.

If you want to actually kill X, while in X, hit Ctrl+Alt+Backspace.

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## swooshOnLn

Ctrl+alt+backspace doesn't kill X, it just restarts it?

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## acid7711

Do what I always do. Boot off init 1.  Simple and it works, at least for me.

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## jamesdick628

 *swooshOnLn wrote:*   

> Ctrl+alt+backspace doesn't kill X, it just restarts it?

 

It all depends on your setup. If you have a display manager running, killing X will cause the display manager to restart it. If not, you'll end up at the console.

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## overzero

Boot into single user mode by adding softlevel=single to your kernel's options. This will boot you into a text console where you can make the changes to your xorg.conf.

http://gentoo-wiki.com/TIP_Booting_into_single_user_mode

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