Mandriva not booting

[Shimshon]

Hi,

I installed Mandriva 2006 free and didn't get any error message!!
Then I pressed on reeboot (after I took out the cd) and everything starts normal.
Linux seems to Boot and I also do not get an error message when I look at the verose mode.
After I passed this stage I see the first screen (with the mouse pointer) and then the Screen starts flashing!!!
It continous flashing, the monitor on and off in a few seconds intervall without booting any further...

When I shut down the system manualy end then I press esc I see that error message:

Stopping Shoreshell: ipt.ownersid,sid and command matching on STM is broken

What going on??

[twoHats]

This sounds like it may be an X11 problem - have you tried hotkeying into a terminal prompt ( CTL-ALT-F2 for example)?

[Shimshon]

I am quite a newbie - how and when do I do that?

[KenJackson]

I am quite a newbie - how and when do I do that?

You should be able to press CTRL-ALT-F2 anytime after you have booted, whether graphics is working correctly or not. That should get you a login prompt in text mode. This is a convenient way to fix various problems that prevent X (graphics) from starting up.

Press CTRL-ALT-F7 (or maybe -F8) to return to graphic mode.

On an unrelated note:
You have a smilie face in the middle of your post, which means you used some magic sequence with a colon or hyphen. To stop the smilie face from screwing up what you are trying to say, click "Disable smilies in text" in the "Additional Options" window below the message editor.