Help please!!!!

[Sheed3036]

im having boot up problems , using ati chipset , cant get to terminal(even in recovery mode) or login , spent hours on this problem , is there any way to upgrade to 9.10 through the live cd?, i dont want to reformat the hdd thanks for your help.

[PrivateSNAFU]

Why dont you use the live cd to copy the files to an external drive and then do a fresh install of 9.10. If you havn't got a external hard disk you could use gparted from the live cd resize your current partition to a smaller size and install to the space you have created. You are meant to backup data before using gparted but i have found that it is very reliable but there always a risk.
9.10 seems to be great and I think a fresh install with ext4 will be of benefit. I know this doesn't help to fix your current problem but at least it is a workaround.

Good lucky and stay positive.

[PrivateSNAFU]

you could also try using the CTRL+ALT+F3 to go in to runlevel 3. You might have tried this all ready.