I am using an old version of Corel Linux, dual booting with Windows 2000 Server.

I've installed a new video card on the dual-booted machine, installed the Windows 2000 server video drivers w/out problem. Downloaded the linux-compatible driver for the video card to the harddrive that is fully accessible in Linux.

I've got the instructions on how to mount the drivers.

However, I have no idea as to HOW TO GET INTO THE CONSOLE at reboot time?

Any assistance is greatly appreciated.

To install most graphics drivers you have to kill X before doing so. I assume that's what you want to do. Boot up as normal, login, open a console and run:

$ su
<enter root password>
# /sbin/init 3

That should kill X(i.e. the gui) and take you to a command line login. Login as root and you should be ready to install the grahics card driver.

No, That's almost what I want to do.

When Linux is loaded, it cannot open the X. So what I want/need, is a way to access the shell prompt PRIOR to the X loading. Then I can mount the correct drivers.

How do I access that?

Edit this file /etc/inittab
you see a line like this:
That tells the kernel to load x on boot.
Change that 5 to a 3 and reboot.

If X can't load, you should boot to a command line login, i.e. the shell, where you can enter your username and password. Are you getting that far? Explain more clearly exactly what happens when you boot. If your just getting a black screen, X is hanging things up. Hit Ctrl-Alt-F1; that will take you to a terminal with a command line login. Login as root and run "/sbin/init 3" to shut down X then install your driver.
As an aside, corel hasn't put out a distro in nearly four years. I would reccomend a more modern distro. there are many that are freely downloadable.