Cannot list files under root from ssh

I have a suse 9.3 server with no display, keyboard, or mouse which boots up in runlevel 3. If I ssh into the server, I cannot list (ls) files except under /home directory. Even su to root, I cannot do this. I also have freenx install and going into the kde gui with freenx, I also cannot see the files under root with Konqueror or Firefox. Any time I try to list the files under root in either ssh or freenx, is locks up. Any suggestions as to why this is? Is there a setting somewhere I am missing? Art