Baron composed on 2018-03-16 14:13 (UTC):

> If I login with the root password, I get pages and pages of what I 
> think maybe logs.  At the end of this if I "StartX" I get my normal 
> desktop.  At this point if I logout and hard boot the machine, 
> everything comes up as normal.

> I haven't a clue what is going on here...  Help !

Instead of startx, try

	journalctl | grep failed

and see if it reports what failed.

As others suggested, the problem is a systemd race condition. Did this start
after an update to the current initrd, or after a update that installed a new
kernel? Do you have a boot menu that allows you to select to boot with an older
kernel, which if selected behaves normally? If so, an initrd rebuild might make
the problem go away.

If Q4OS is a Plymouth user, you might try disabling it by adding to cmdline

	plymouth.enable=0

With or without plymouth, if you remove "quiet" from the cmdline, you might be
able as boot proceeds to spot the initial mention of the start job that is failing.
-- 
"Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Whatever else you
get, get wisdom." Proverbs 4:7 (New Living Translation)

 Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks!

Felix Miata  ***  http://fm.no-ip.com/