No graphics when booting (like dos)

[mom2tatjana]

I seem to have a problem with a previously clean hard drive install. After the screen with the linux penguin where it verifies files etc, I get nothing. It just says log in at the bottom with a cursor as opposed to going to the knoppix screen with the graphics log in. Then once logged in it continues to opperate in this DOS like mode (kind of like being stuck in a terminal permanently). Does anyone have any clue how to recover or do I need to reinstall? If I reinstall will I lose everything? And yes, I did make a boot disk, but it seems to do nothing as far as solving the problem, almost as if it doesn't see it.

Thanks,
Brande

[foamrotreturns]

Your problem is the same one i'm experiencing. Mine seems to be because Linux thinks my KDE is already running, when obviously it isn't. Temporarily you can get into the GUI by typing "startx" at the command prompt, but that won't get it to start when your system starts.