you may be able to boot single-user mode directly. if your system boots, but does not allow you to login when it has completed booting, try rebooting and specifying one of these options at the lilo boot prompt:

    lilo boot: linux single

    lilo boot: linux emergency

    in single-user mode, you computer boots to runlevel 1. your local filesystems will be mounted but your network will not be activated. you get a usable system maintenance shell.

    in emergency mode, you are booted into the most minimal environment possible. the root filesystem will be mounted read-only and almost nothing will be set up. the main advantage of this over linux single user is that your init files are not loaded. if init is corrupted or not working, you can still mount filesystems to recover data that could be lost during a re-installation.