The system came up to the point of a grey screen with a large mouse pointer. No desktop loaded.
This sounds suspiciously like you did not install a desktop (KDE, GNOME or another desktop.
Which desktop did you install?
Jim
--
"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists
in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on
the unreasonable man."
-- George Bernard Shaw
