console display freezes at boot

[james.knoll at gmail.com]

I have a problem with my pc booting up. About 70% of the time, the console  
display freezes at the boot menu. The system still boots and I can ssh into  
the box and it will still serve web pages.

I assume it is a problem with my hardware. I have tried an ubuntu live cd  
and it behaves similarly. Does anyone have any ideas?

My problem now is I changed my sshd port to port 80 (please don't make fun  
of me) , but I forgot to shutdown lighttpd and so now I cannot ssh into the  
box.

I appreciate any help you can give me.

Jim