Mandriva can't find the desktop

[Guest loninappleton]

Mandriva is tha latest in a series of Linuxes I've tried to

get going on an older combination of hardware. the install

goes fine and my monitor is recognized by name as is my

video card and the screen image is bright and legible.

 

However, as soon as a reboot starts the install will choke,

'click' for a screen resolutuion change, and hang. Here is the

information on the setup I copied off of the screen:

 

Bringing up interface3 ppp0:

 

[hangs because no dsl currentlky plugged in]

 

[enter]

 

 

a couple more setup things then....

 

 

Kernel 2.6.12.12mdk on an i686/ttyl

local host login:

 

my user name and my password from setup is given,

no the one defince for root.

 

[lon@localhost ~]$

 

ls

 

system responds with tmp/

as the only item from the directory inquiry.

 

 

Where am I in this? How do I get to the desktop?

 

FYI I have been at this point in several attempts to install

Linuxs of various flavors. I know my monitor is suspect. But

the setup routine all looks fine. If the setup is in a standard

resolution, then how do I set up the machine that way?

I believe that the default resolution seen during Linux install

routine is shown as 1024x728 (whatevs).

 

 

How do I get the KDE desktop going with the resolution used

during configuration?

 

Bear in mind I'm at the command line and have seen just

about every error message imaginable.

 

thanks

[devries]

You're in a terminal. :)

 

Log in as root by typing: root <enter> and your password <enter>. Type: XFdrake and choose the vesa driver. Save settings, log out as root by typing: exit <enter>, log in as normal user and type: startx startkde.