Booting After Upgrading to Ubuntu 8.10 from 8.04

I'm new to linux. Just last week only I installed Ubuntu 8.04 on my PC which has 2 Hard disks one 160 GB which I am using for WinXP and one 40 GB which I have partitioned for linux.

After installation, it was fine and I used it for two days and yesterday I just upgraded it to 8.10 through update-manager.

After the upgradation, during restart, it is struck displaying a message "Executing local boot up scripts" and nothing happens even if I leave it as it is for hours.

Then I pressed "cntl+alt+del" then it said stopping Gnome display manager and all other services and restarted the system.

Then if I choose the generic booting option again it goes back to that same state as I have stated before.

If I choose recovery mode, then I get the command prompt after all the services are launched. I can use linux in command prompt without any problem. But I cannot start the GUI even with startx command.

All the file system is intact both in linux and in windows.

I tried all the kernel versions that appear in the boot up manager and the effect is the same.

Then I had to log on to windows and shut down the system.

What could be the problem here? How do I rectify it?

Please help me.

Thanks & regards,
Ashok