Hey guys, after installing mandrake 8 everything went fine, I could boot into linux (nice gui).
Now when I boot up I come to a login stage, after I enter name and password, It just comes to a command prompt....how do I login to linux from here...I know this is easy but I cannot get the command?...help

You're already in Linux by the sounds of it - thats the command prompt

To get into a graphical environment (generally called X or X Windows) try typing 'startx' at the command prompt.

HTH

Jamie...

thankyou, A real fresh question i know. A windows expert I maybe, but Linux ...............

Have tried this, it did go to a blue screen with a mouse pointer, but that was it.
This is frustrating...Is my install of mandrake 8.0 currupt?

sounds like something isn't right there. may need to reconfigure X, when installing, did everything seem to go find during that? try to run Xconfigurator from the command line to reconfigure X and see what happens? what type of video and monitor do you have?

Yes the install went fine, Found everything except obviously the winmodem. I have a viewsonic pf775 monitor, and a diamond viper 2 video card.
I'm not onto it at all with the command line stuff and just want it to autoboot into kde. I can't think what is wrong with this, If I reinstall it boots up fine for a couple of times (except lines around the mouse pointer...which is another problem) and then goes back to the logon thing.

The lines around the mouse pointer can be got rid of by the same method as in a similar post in the forum:

Heh - you just posted the same message!! Pls try to keep your probs in one place - or it gets confusing.

What exactly happens when you boot up? Did you check display when you installed Mandrake? It sounds as if their is a prob with XFree (the display prog basically). Do you know which version you installed?

What I would suggest is installing again but choose an expert install and follow the prompts again until you get to choose which version of Xfree86 you want. Try version 3.3.6

When I boot it goes into the blue graphic with the star and you can see everythin loading from the icons, then it comes up with the linux logo at the top and logon. Ok will try this with xfree later on.
Thanks for everything guys, hope this works.

Thankyou guys using xfree 3.3.6 worked the treat.
Again thankyou for your excellent advice.