I think I have accidently changed the permissions in the etc directory using the Mandrake Control center (now owned by Apache). As - I think - user passwords are contained in etc, this means that when I try to log on to the GUI (e.g. KDE) I can't - I just get repeatedly returned to the logon page (no messages).

If I login in failsafe text mode, I can login as root, and change directory permissions back to what they should be (using chmod, chown etc) BUT because I set them via the Mandrake control center they are just changed back again each time I try to logon to the GUI.

I could probably solve this if I could logon to the GUI using root but root is not shown as a possible login name.

Suggestions?

When you login as root at the command line, try typing 'startx' to launch the GUI and get into the control center through that.