boot problems...

[Guest]

I have installed Kubuntu using the alternative install disc and it went perfectly. After I was prompted to remove the disk and reboot, everything went well until it hung up before KDM started. Looked at the log and it went something like:
"starting k display manager"
some stuff
stalls at
"* running local boot scripts (/etc/rc.local)"

I am installing on a Medion Akoya EX:
Intel Pentium M-735 / 2MB L2 Cache / 1.7 GHZ /400 MHZ FSB
Intel 855GM Chipset w Intel Extreme Graphics 2
Intel Pro Wireless 2200BG
512 MB DDR RAM
80 GB 4200 RPM Hard Drive

I have downloaded the iso's multiple times and verified them as good. Burned them several times at 4x, so I don't think the disks are the problem. Even ran the memory test for six hours and the system reported no errors. At a loss. Any help is appreciated! Thanks in advance

[dibl]

Re: boot problems...

That's almost certainly a video-related problem. Here is a table of VGA "cheatcodes", which you can try from the Grub menu. When the Grub menu is presented, highlight your kernel and press "e", then "e" again on the boot line and add "vga=xxx", with no quote marks, where "xxx" is one of the codes from the table. 790 is a popular one to start with. Once it displays a GUI, you can figure out what it takes to install the Intel video driver and configure the resolution that you want.

http://manual.sidux.com/en/cheatcodes-vga-en.htm#vga

[Guest]

Re: boot problems...

Thanks for the advice dibl. please allow to give further clarification of the problem. i am never getting to the login screen. once it locks up I can hit "ctrl-alt-f6" and get a text login and everything seems to work fine in the shell. i don't know how to get to kde desktop. read somewhere to try "startx" but it tells me failure to connect to x server. I'm completely lost....