Debian Woody/unstable?testing?unsure x-window-system display not showing ANY text

[Alexander.Henry@asu.edu]

Hello.  A mishap with my Debian distribution has forced me to purge my
x-window-system and reinstall about three times over.  Each time I do so, X
doesn't seem to want to use fonts.  Any fonts, not for menus, not for the
login window, nothing.  

The mishap which caused this was me absent-mindedly allowing deselect to do
what it wanted: the sources list still requested the testing distribution
after Woody was released as stable, and downloaded 300+ package updates.  
After doing so, graphics were defunct: instead of loading into a graphical
login window per KDE after booting, my monitor wheezed five times, then Linux
dumped to the standard text login.  My impatient solution was to rip out
everything X and put it back in, with not much luck so far.

I'm two steps short of reformatting this hard drive.  I am now going to read
through apt HOWTOs and some x-window material before doing so, and hope to
have a working Linux system before I start any serious school work.  I'd
appreciate any suggestions, thanks.

--Alexander