“The nightmare of every computer user is a system, which doesn’t
work anymore. Especially a newbie is helpless, if his/her
Linux-system doesn’t boot or work correctly. But stop, don’t switch
back to Dos, many things can be repaired.”
“If your system boots, but somehow doesn’t work right, try to
boot in single user mode. This is done by adding a space followed
by a “1” to your LILO boot prompt label. (“LILO: linux 1″, for
example) This forces Init to boot into run-level 1, in which many
drivers and demons – which could be the troublemakers – aren’t
loaded. Booting into single user mode is also useful, if you have
forgotten your password or someone forgot to tell you his ;-),
because usually no password is requested…”