After 6 full installs, I now know what was corrupting my X. It was not desktop configuration, hdparm, video setup (as generics), or any of the other RPMs I loaded from Mandrake 7 Deluxe, (modem & sound not configured) --Star Office so corrupted X that it froze Linux during boot, while trying to switch over to graphical login. I had made many changes during the install, and fully recreated everything (except for the one thing I was testing) when reloading. During only one iteration was I able to get a (frozen) console screen, which showed these messages: bad length in Geometry, output file /var/tmp/server-0.xkm removed, couldn't load XKB keymap, Font Trans Socket UNIX Connect: can't connect: errno-111, failed to set default font path 1unix/:-1, and fatal server error: could not open default font 'fixed'. The Star Office RPM appeared to run and end normally. Would a reinstall of X from the distribution CD have a good chance at giving me a working Linux and Star Office? Am I better off to give this up where I am (all the rest are working fine after the last reload)? Ideas? Also, how does one go about repair on a corrupt file system? My first boot after Star Office gave messages about repairing the file structure. I realized I know nothing about repair, though I've heard that it is possible. Thanks for your help. -Gary-