boot procedure still mounts / as RO, and so "it" can't write to /var (which is part of /) and thus the boot process freezes just after S55something. (No, it doesn't drop me into single-user mode. I think it wants to, but things fly by so fast that I can't see.) Thanks P.S. - Yes, I see the irony in this email, based upon what I wrote a couple of days ago questioning the need for separate partitions...