Your description brings up a question I have. A few times I have booted and ended up at something for the login tha said "Pam unix" and something about opening a session. At this point I can't read the screen or seem to do anything with my keyboard and my keyboard doesn't echo, but I get announcements occasionally about chron stipping for mail or something like that. One time when this happened I know it was because i accidentally had X booting up at start, but this has happened once or twice without me having any idea how I got there. What is a "pam unix session" and how does one end up there without planning it? Cheryl