Finished the install and now it wont start for SUSE

OpenSUSE 12.3, KDE 4.1 along with Win 7

I had run previously from the Live CD but only after poking F3 (video) and selecting NoHMS---(something, like HMS). I cant remember the acronym.
So, deciding to forge ahead, I did the install from the LiveCD, remembering to poke F3.
It finished but I can't say successfully because I cant remember, the messages flew by so fast.

I think I saw a
"KWIN PID: 3626 Signal: segmentation fault (11).

Not knowing what to do, I rebooted and got a menu offering me this:

1) Opensuse 12.3
2) Advanced options for openSUSE
3) openSUSE 12.3 Memtest
4) Windows Recovery Environment
5) Windows 7 (loader) (on /dev/sda<------the a is partially chopped off.

Happily, option 5 works ok. At least for now.
Option 1 gets me to the gecko screen and part of the icons before freezing
Option 2 gives me 2 more options but they both say the same thing, unless the text has been truncated which I suspect.
a) opensuse with linux 3.7.1
b) ---same---

I took option 2a hoping I could get a safe mode and what I got was:

-------------------toggle starts here-------------------
a lot of command logging and stop at:
[OK] reached target graphical interface
------------------toggle ends here-----------------

and then it stops.

pressing any key will toggle back and forth.

So, what next ?

Should I try and redo the install ?

Maybe I messed up doing the install but I had elected the F3, NOHMS(?) for the install.

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Help me Obi-Wan-Kenobi

thanks