Run level 3 on Live CD

[Kihara Muriithi]

Hi,
 Yesterday, I wanted to introduce a friend to Linux. Of course the first
thing one does it run a Live CD on the party in question PC. That's when I
landed in problem.
 The computer boots alright, but X is all fuzzy. I could make icons here and
there, but I would be lying to say the computer was usable. Oh, and there
was five instances of every object. i.e. Five mice pointers, five firefox
icons etc. I forgot to pick the hardware profile of the computer, but that
can be fixed tomorrow.
 My first reaction was, oh, easily, drop to level 3 and try starting X
manually. Kill it a minute later and look at the log. After rebooting
Ubantu, it dawned to me grub don't understand "e", "b" and "a" commands.
There is a silly diagnostic option, but it don't drop me on a shell. Also, I
can't get to the PC through the network as I don't have a root password. How
do you fix such an inflexible set up?

Thanks in advance
William
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