On Debian (assuming you installed Woody) you'll get a message about "X failed to start, would you like to fix...blah blah" after XDM/GDM/KDM fails to start the X server 5 or so times. The obvious fix it to properly configure the X server. Booting into single user mode as described above might make it easier. Once logged in as root, start with dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86. As long as your hardware is supported by XFree86 v4, you want to use the xfree86 Xserver. You have to pay attention here: don't mistake the xserver for the driver. I've done that before and ended up running Xfree86 3.3.6 instead of v.4.1.whatever.is.in.debian. Don't know if Debian has clarified this part of configuration or not. Nate's suggestion of `update-rc.d -f xdm remove` isn't a bad suggestion, but you should know what you're doing. By running that command, you have removed xdm from your startup process. After you reconfigure your Xserver, XDM won't start automatically when you reboot. To restore it, run update-rc.d xdm defaults 99 update-rc.d adds and removes symbolic links in /etc/rc0.d - rc6.d. xdm is the name of the actually init script that lives in /etc/init.d. defaults specifies the default run levels (you can replace defaults with the run levels you want to create the links in, but the command becomes more complex as you have to specify what runlevels to start xdm in and which to stop or not run xdm.) 99 specifies that xdm should be the amoung the last things to get started in that run level. Module loads, hotplug, discover, and such processes get a priority around 10, damons around 20, and xserver is dead last. Andrew S. Zbikowski | http://www.ringworld.org A password is like your underwear; Change it frequently, don't share it with others, and don't ask to borrow someone else's. _______________________________________________ TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota http://www.mn-linux.org tclug-list at mn-linux.org https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list