Question: how do you break the startup cycle? My laptop boots into the login screen (Debian). However, I have lost my mouse again. The keyboard works but all I can do is login into the login screen (shows the title Debian GNU/Linux) and I have the Debian splash screen. I can't get to a shell in order to fix the XF86Config file. I can't telnet into the box because I just brought it home from work where it gets it's IP address from a DHCP server. The rescue disk also boots into the login screen. Can I break the bootup process before it hits xdm? If so, how? I have tried Ctrl-C but no joy. Hi Dave, I know the situation you are talking about (I don't know how many times I have swapped out a video card not remembering to disable gdm etc. I know with RH6.2 when it tries to load user defined services you can press 'i' which will put it into interactive mode and you can define y/n/etc for each service (including things like gdm or X) I use SUSE here at work, but since I haven't rebooted in 4+ months I am not sure what it shows. :) Look for some kind of key interrupter during boot. Regards, Jason -- /////////////////////////////////////////////////// Jason A. Drake PTC - Windchill R&D Software Engineer - Runtime Services 1200 W. County Rd E Arden Hills, MN 55112 (651)-765-2123 (PH) (651)-765-2156 (FAX) jdrake at windchill.com ///////////////////////////////////////////////////