can't log in with tty error on glibc2.1 & kernel 2.0.35

[Max <maxk@chinook.stanford.edu>]

I guess I'm another unlucky guy who managed to "upgrade" his system to
glibc2.1 while running kernel 2.0.35.  The installation script gave a
warning that some things may not work properly, but it proceeded
anyway.  End result:  I now cannot log in as any user on either the
console or remotely because of the following error

Unable to change tty /dev/ttyp0: Success

It also looks like chown doesn't work and the network doesn't start up
properly (or maybe just xinetd).  Regardless, I cannot run any of the
2.2.x kernels on my machine because they won't boot (long story,
problem with the ESP driver), so I'm stuck with 2.0.35.

So, can someone please tell me how to fix my machine at this point?
The only reason I even thought of upgrading libc is that the latest
version of windowmaker in potato wouldn't work on libc 2.0.105.

Can I just download an old deb of libc 2.0.105, boot off the rescue
disk, and then use dpkg to force the deb's install?  If so, are there
any special options I should use?

Please cc me on any replies.

Thanks,
    Max

-- 
The hopeful depend on a world without end
Whatever the hopeless may say
     Neil Peart, 1985