when I start up my computer, I get the following error...

gpm: oops() invoked from gpm.c(977)
/dev/mouse: Device or resource busy
Starting up X11 session manager...

...then startup hangs, nothing happens after that. I can't get to the command line or a graphical environment.
I don't want to reinstall slack10 but as of now I see no other option.

Alright - first thing - when stuff like this happens, you have two choices to return to a command line
CTRL+C
and
CRTL+ALT+F2(3,4,5,etc......)

This first option, will halt the current command, and drop you back to a prompt.
The second, will switch you to the other tty's that are on the machine (by default, you have 4 in Slack)


Secondly, what type of machine are you running, manufacturer, etc, and one other thing:
Reboot, and go into your BIOS. Find the option that says "Plug and Play OS" and switch it to No.
This is usually in the "Advanced" tab.

Try to startx after that.
Doesn't work, let us know.

My computer brand is Mind; some cheap company I think cause this is the only Mind system I've ever seen.

The CTRL+C didn't work and neither did CTRL+ALT+F2(3, 4, or 5)
Right before this happened I edited my fstab file to allow users to access the CD-ROM... when I rebooted my system, it gave that error.

{edit} I've also lost Tux from the top left, if that matters. I think he should be there.

OK, to hell with waiting, I'll just reinstall the whole damn thing.

No!

All you have to do is disable gpm.
Sometimes it interferes with X.
Drop to a command line and issue as root:

chmod -x /etc/rc.d/rc.gpm
and reboot.

Voila.

--Shade

Reinstalling was my only option, I couldn't get to the command line. I did find out what happened though... for some reason editing fstab causes the mouse to not respond once the computer is restarted. I'll just add all of the users to the cdrom group in addition to the users group.