Login as root, then when done, type this:
CODE
mcc
choose display and reconfigure it. Either choose vesa, or change it to the vmware card listed in the options, and see if that does the trick for you. Afterwards, reboot, or if it's still not attempting to load the gui, then perhaps you are at runlevel 3.
An easy way is then login as your normal user, and just type:
CODE
startx
and see what happens.