I went to inittab changed the defualt level from 5 to 3, then logged out then in again but it still went to KDE...i just want to go to console no KDE or that stuff...I will just be using my box as a server

run this command after editing the inittab file:

telinit

then reboot and see if the changes are made and it boots to runlevel 3.

I know this is really dumb, but i changed the wrong thing in the inittab file (it just hangs after a while). Now I cannot login as root or change inittab...since I can't login as root.... is there some work around to this.... can I grant my other user-self root permmission? please help.

what kind of errors are you getting.. or are you saying it hangs when trying to login as root ??

you can try to boot into single mode, where it asks for no password. you can then edit make changes and reboot.
if you using lilo, type linux single at the command to boot into single mode and see if that works.

well, I brought up a terminal in super-user mode and restored the inittab file, but when I re-logged back in as root, it does the same thing

KDE starts to load
it thinks on initializing system services
then everthing else goes by in a blink (not normal)
then I just have a blue background and nothing else

what distro are you using and does it happen on any other login accounts you may have created ? also, if you can, post your inittab file here.. or the first part of it.. for the runlevels section.

mandrake 8.0
here is the file inittab sans comments (it doesnt want to copy/paste)
----------
id:3:initdefault:

si::sysinit:/etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit

10:0:wait:/etc/rd.c/rc 0
11:1:wait:/etc/rd.c/rc 1
12:2:wait:/etc/rd.c/rc 2
13:3:wait:/etc/rd.c/rc 3
14:4:wait:/etc/rd.c/rd 4
15:5:wait:/etc/rd.c/rd 5
16:6:wait:/etc/rd.c/rd 6

ud::once:/sbin/update

ca::ctrlaltdel:/sbin/shutdown -t3 -r now

pf::powerfail:/sbin/shutdown -f -h +2 "Power Failure; System Shutting Down"

pr:12345:powerokwait:/sbin/shutdown -c "Power Restored; Shutdown Cancelled"

1:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty1
2:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty2
3:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty3
4:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty4
5:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty5
6:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty6

x:5:respawn:/etc/X11/prefdm -nodaemon
------------

edit:disabled smilies.

I know I must be some green uber-newbie to y'all but it is now workin....thanks for your patience and attention