Nightmare over!

Mad props to mantra for this. Taking out the RTC battery for a few minutes did the trick, and I'm now writing this from my own laptop, now happily running Xubuntu 7.10 "Gutsy Gibbon". And rest assured that a review is coming right up. I already love the sleek artwork. Hint to XFCE/GNOME users: Use Murrine-based themes for good-looking GTK2 artwork that supposedly runs 30% faster than the Clearlooks engine.
From Xubuntu 7.10,
the DistRogue.