I have a "beginner HD install" and after several lockups, my config is a mess. It boots to the KDE Login screen, where root and two user accounts are listed. Either user account loops back to this screen. root can login and the session is restored, but the icons bounce much longer than originally. I was able to use UserManager to create the second user account when I lost access to the first user account, but second user has never been able to login.
I cannot boot from Knoppix 3.6 CD because I get a scrolling list of errors. I had to go back to 3.3 or 3.4 CD to run.

My intent (for the HD install) was to get a faster bootup. What is the easiest way to get well?

When my system freezes, the keyboard is dead. CapsLock and NumLock lights remain on or off as they were when everything stopped responding. None of the suggested ways to kill the session were available except the power switch. These freezes have frequently cause it to boot to a command line rather than a GUI.
NEW info: From console, startx gets a line:
"error loading keymap /var/tmp/server-0.XKM
Couldn't load XKB keymap, falling back to pre-XKB keymap"
Would this be related to the way that the keyboard freezes??

Any help would be appreciated!

Dad