And many others are *not* having problems with 8.10 either.

I suspect the problem is caused by additional software added to a
8.10 system after its install.

The symptom points to either/both the /home and/or /usr filesystem(s)
not mounted.


> [...]
> As I said before I would re-install it to overcome the current
> password and make sure I remembered just want it was :-)0


And give root a password to login. It would take only seconds to
login as root and do a "df" to see unmounted filesystems and fix
the problem. I simply cannot fathom Canonical's position on not
permitting a root login -- that stance is at odds with everything
in the Linux/UNIX world. My Ubuntu system definitely has root login
capability even though I haven't needed it since I first installed
7.10 over a year ago (it's now at 8.04). "subu bash" does no good
if you cannot login -- which is what the original poster complained
about.