Opensuse fails to start

[inside_edge]

Hi everyone.
I'm new to these forums and have only recently started using linux.

Problem
I booted up Opensuse on my Laptop (which also can dualboot into Windows Vista), however the screen where all the pre-startup checks continues to run and KDE desktop does not boot up.
It is not easy to write down all the errors which come up because the text scrolls so quickly, however a number of the lines have 'failed' next to them. Some examples include:

• rm: cannot remove '/etc/nologin' : Read-only file system
• Could not allocate temporary files
• Profile #### failed to load

Then it starts this loop of:
"*time elapsed* tifm_core: MemoryStick card detected in socket 0:0
tifm0: demand removing card from socket 0:0"
This repeats for about 2000secs, until it stops and I'm left with a command line where I'm able to see and browse the files on the partition. I have some really important files here and I'm desperate to copy them over on to another device, then I'd be happy to reformat the drive.

Attempted solutions
1) I tried using to fsdriver access the linux files from my windows partition. However when I do this I get the error 'You need to reformat the disk before you can use it'.
2) Explore2fs only allows me to see the boot partition
3) No success with LinuxReader
4) Trying to rescue files using Linux LiveCD. My CD drive is a bit dodgy and not always works so I decided to boot off my USB stick. However when KDE tries to start I get the following error:
"No devices matching MBR identifier: 1 !
"rebootException: error consoles at Alt-F3/F4
"rebootException: reboot in 120sec..."

I have tried several avenues here, but none seem to work and am very downhearted because I really need to save these files.
Can anyone help out there please?
If you need any more info then please let me know.

Thanks in advance,
Steve.

[Segfault]

Linux mounts corrupted filesystems read-only to avoid further damage, this probably is the reason why GUI won't start.

... and I'm left with a command line where I'm able to see and browse the files on the partition.

What else you need? Mount the filesystem you want to back up to and copy your files over.

Other option is to repair the filesystem so it mounts read-write. What filesystem Suse uses, hope it is not Reiser?