Thanks to Chris, Ross, Steve and Nick. I still haven't managed to locate an X log after several attempts.
After running xf86config again and adjusting the horizontal and vertical frequencies, if I move the mouse about whilst doing startx, the background and cursor will stay on screen. There is a big white rectangle in the upper left hand corner (about 1/3 of the screen) with nothing in it. If I click around in it enough, I eventually get a bash$ prompt. This enabled me to reboot or shutdown. This has to be considered something of a success under the circumstances. I haven't tried the mode line generator yet. (I have to figure out what it is first). Nick, I am not sure what version of X this is but Chris says it is old. Apparently it is also chopped down to the minimum and buggy. I think this is probably a reasonable description. Thanks again for all your patience and great help. Woodsey PS To avoid household friction I'm afraid I'm going to have to make Windows the default OS I hate posting this to you guys but all I get from Jill is "Damn its gone into GRUB again, I don't want GRUB I want Windows" (The distro is actually Ubuntu!)
