Recently I attempted to upgrade my kernel to 2.6.4. after the config, compile (kernel and modules), and copy to /boot, the machine rebooted to the new kernel. I made a backup of the current kernel files.... just in case :^) . once all the runlevels had been executed, the kde login manager appeared, ps/2 keyboard functioning, but usb mouse did not. I replaced the kernel info with the old one from the back up, rebooted, everything was o.k.. Went through the kernel config and changed a few things that might have affected the mouse, recompiled, and tried again. same problem, no mouse. after replacing with the old kernel info for the second time, the boot stops at the shell login after runlevel 5. no kde/X login manager. I try logging in as a user (not happy about losing the graphical manager but trying to fix it...) and try starting X or KDE. both return failures. any ideas what happened the second time around and maybe how to fix it?? and maybe even my 2.6.4 kernel mouse issues?? by the way, booting back into the broken mouse 2.6 now stups at the login also. Any help appreciated. sorry I dont have the exact X errors. I logged in on my M$ side. something to the extent for X that no displays available or could not connect to :0. Mike Branda