Where am I in the boot process when the machine hangs at X mouse pointer

[tlehotsky]

I've had this problem on 2 desktops, fixed one by rebuilding.

The other one has been stable for over a year and I want to try to fix

The machine boots to an 'X' mouse pointer and hangs.

Ironically, if I tap the power button the login screen flashes momentarily, then it shuts down.

Can anyone tell me where in the boot process this is????

[tlehotsky]

So it looks like I'm at the X-console?

If I boot to recovery mode and go to the command prompt and enter startx it loads.

Will try reinstalling the desktop next

[tlehotsky]

try to install the ubuntu desktop and I get a message 'already installed'\

found a reinstall command in another thread but I get a message the command is not recognized.

any thoughts anyone?