Well I managed to get back online this morning after a lot of turning on and off (which can't be good for the machine) and pressing different "F" keys and then pushing more keys which might well have told the machine to now re-boot only from the 34th dimension. I have no idea, really.

I did put in the reinstallation CD but after it seemed to be done, I couldn't even turn it off easily, much less go from there to anywhere else....

And then BAM! I turned it back on (quickly took out the CD) and there I was just where I wanted to be.

I put this down to God deciding she had had enough fun with me for today.

..xx..e