I installed Debian 9.6.0 amd64 (only OS in the machine), instead of the default partition scheme I went with the /home, /var and /tmp option and selected LXDE as the desktop environment during the install. On completion of the install the system rebooted successfully to the LXDE desktop. I logged in no problem then loaded all the backup files I had saved on an USB stick from a previous install of Lubuntu into a couple of my new /home sub-directories. After that, using Synaptic Package Manager I then installed xcompmgr followed by variety; I assumed that Synaptic would do all the configuring required for xcompmgr to function with Cairo-Dock to be installed later on. I decided to reboot the machine before configuring variety. The boot process now after numerous attempts only gets as far as where I can select Debian 9.6 or the second choice with additional options; I tried both but which ever I select causes the red HDD light to stay steady for a minute or so. After that it makes no difference which one I selected but the machine ends up with a black monitor display and I cannot use the keyboard at all (can't Ctl-Alt-F2, Ctl-Alt-Backspace, etc...). Nothing works, can't even get a GUI or a terminal login, the only thing that works is holding down the power button to shut it down. This makes it impossible to review the startup logs to see what, if any errors were encountered. I suspect the x system was negatively impacted by the installation of xcompmgr using Synaptic Packager Manager but not sure. I am considering re-installing it all but would like to avoid the same problem again when I move past the initial install. Any suggestions that you may be able to provide will be most appreciated. Thanks in advance...
R/jwsarge2

On the side of the box for OS requirements was written "WIN9X or better" so I installed Debian/GNU Linux.