Suse 10 login problems

[bob000001]

Hi.
I recently installed Suse 10 with great success. A few days later I downloaded around 400MB of updates from Novell. This was when the problem started. Once all the updates were installed and the reported dependency conflicts were resolved, I found that I could no longer log in to anything except Failsafe, from where I can do anything I choose. This applies to all user accounts, including root. I'm certain I've not personally changed any file entries, as this is out of my scope, but I'm up for it if anyone can provide the solution to my problem.
It's not a password issue as, when I enter a bogus password I get a 'Password Error' message, while all correct passwords produce a black screen for 5 seconds or so, before returning to the login screen.
Also......What do I need to do to automatically mount all partitions. At the moment only the Windows system partition (C is mounted at boot.
HELP MEEEEEEEEE! (please).