"Ctrl + ALT + F2 (I think it was but maybe F3) Will get you to a command line where fdisk is available however I find no way to get back. C-A-F1 doesn't do it. None of the other available terminals do it either including f7."
Did you try just Ctrl + F1 or Alt + F1? One or the other is the console version of Ctrl + Alt + F1, which is actually the GUI version (although as you've noticed, it has worked in both console and gui mode in the past). It's worth a shot.
Martin