Hi,
Try single user mode. To get there: when presented with the "boot:" prompt (before the kernel is loaded), type "linux single" (it will look like "boot: linux single") and then press enter.
single user mode will not normally prompt you for a password - it dumps you right into a root console (useful for recovery if your system won't boot into any other runlevel, or for when you forget your root password
). If you are asked for the root password (some systems are set to do this, not sure about mandrake tho), I suggest googling for more information. The query "single user mode" + "root password" returned a whole bunch of results.
Good luck.