Messed up Mepis, maybe related to a recent apt install of mencoder.
After a reboot x did not come up. Startx returned this;
(EE)failed to load module "synaptics" (module does not exist,0)
(EE) failed to load module "nvidia" (module does not exist,0)
Failed to load module "mouse" (module does not exist,0)
(EE)no modules available
fatal server error: no screens found
XIO : fatal IO error 104

Any hope of rescuing this?

Edit/ Have an idea what happened now. When installing mencoder apt asked for the xserver. Running Mepis 3.3.x so the xserver should be xfree86. Believe I identified it as xorg.
When trying to run "dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86" it simply returns to the prompt. Is the answer to reinstall xfree86 with apt somehow? X is currently linked to /usr/bin/Xorg.
Can run "dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg" but don't think this is what is needed.
Little bit lost here.

You can try apt-get -f install x-window-system-core to force a reinstall of the xserver.

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately that errored out.
Also tried apt-getting xserver-xfree86. Looking at the live cd I installed from, etc/X11/X is linked to /usr/bin/X11/XFree86. This executable has disappeared from the installed system.
When installing mplayer, some time ago, it warned of removing some x packages. As the mplayer install progressed it asked for a choice of xorg or xfree. Now when installing mencoder it seems I chose wrong. Stupid mistake.

I've been meaning to try the latest Mepis. Maybe this is the time to backup whatever possible and give it a try. Will tread more carefully with apt this time around.

i favor xfree. i recommend switching to debian. there are fewer problems.
operator

That's an option I've considered. Just had a look at the latest Mepis releases and not sure if the shift to ubuntu's repositories appeals to me.

debian has better eyecandy. gnome sucks. debian is something that can be easily fixed.
operator