On Sat, Mar 30, 2013 at 12:08 PM, Robert Benjamin <benjie1 at cox.net> wrote: > > So when I put the HD back in the PC it will boot up and I can wait > and see if it allows me to log in> (HA!) If not, then Ctl+Alt+F2 and > login as root and try startx and see what it does. I didn't change > inittab ever since this whole senario started. Is default to start at > runlevel 5? Bob Yes, installs that include X and a desktop will default to runlevel 5. Before trying 'startx' , do 'init 3' as root. That should shut down the existing session, but whatever is hanging on startup may prevent a clean shutdown too. So startx may complain that there is still a lock file and you may have to remove it manually and run startx again. -- Les Mikesell lesmikesell at gmail.com