I had to do a hard reset on my machine because my Ubuntu VM in VMWare Player was completely frozen and causing some strange behavior. Waited about 5 minutes, then hit the reset switch. Now when I try to login I see some sort of error screen but it is maybe on screen for 50ms. The only text I can make out is something about dispatcher. I even tried using screen capture software but even at 32 frames per second (the max) I can't see the error message. I can login using the low-graphics mode (Ctrl Alt F2).

How can I figure out what the problem is?

I did manage to capture the only feedback I'm getting (below). It isn't much help. I also did an apt-get update/upgrade, no change.