Linux booting problem

[jennifer m n]

Okay, I am extrememly new to all of this, but I need some serious help!

My sister accidently bumped the plug to my computer out of the socket, causing my computer to powerdown, of course. This isn't the first improper powerdown, but for some reason, my desktop won't load anymore.

Everything starts off fine. I am running Linux 5.0.59 which I am told is also called Five-0?! I have a Mirus computer but I'm not really sure of all the specifications, as I bought it from a friend. I had it checked out by the tech guys at my college and they were rather impressed. I know there's a Sempron AMD processor. But I was also told that this shouldn't matter with a problem like this.

My computer loads on the usual blue screen giving me the option to
1 run Linspire 5.0.59 on /dev/hda1
2 Redetect
3 Diagnostics

I have chosen Redetect and Diagnostics out of curiousity, but nothing seems to be wrong. Both run a long line of text that I do not understand, ending with red text that says 'Detect script /etc/devices/det_order/D05detect_modules

When I run startup as usual, I get the light blue Linspire screen with a status bar at the bottom. The bar fills about 25% of the way and freezes. I have left the machine on for hours and there's no further progress.

Any ideas?

Would booting with the original Linux CD affect anything?

PLEASE EMAIL [e-mail]

Thanks

[pty]

Okay, I am extrememly new to all of this, but I need some serious help!

My sister accidently bumped the plug to my computer out of the socket, causing my computer to powerdown, of course. This isn't the first improper powerdown, but for some reason, my desktop won't load anymore.

Everything starts off fine. I am running Linux 5.0.59 which I am told is also called Five-0?! I have a Mirus computer but I'm not really sure of all the specifications, as I bought it from a friend. I had it checked out by the tech guys at my college and they were rather impressed. I know there's a Sempron AMD processor. But I was also told that this shouldn't matter with a problem like this.

My computer loads on the usual blue screen giving me the option to
1 run Linspire 5.0.59 on /dev/hda1
2 Redetect
3 Diagnostics

I have chosen Redetect and Diagnostics out of curiousity, but nothing seems to be wrong. Both run a long line of text that I do not understand, ending with red text that says 'Detect script /etc/devices/det_order/D05detect_modules

When I run startup as usual, I get the light blue Linspire screen with a status bar at the bottom. The bar fills about 25% of the way and freezes. I have left the machine on for hours and there's no further progress.

Any ideas?

Would booting with the original Linux CD affect anything?

PLEASE EMAIL [e-mail]

Thanks

Hi, I'm afraid I'm not a Linspire expert however if you have data you want to save you can download a live cd (knoppix, ubuntu..) and boot using that; it will boot into a linux desktop without overwriting your existing install) and mount your hard disk and put a link on the desktop.

You should be able to copy your data (it will be in /home/username)

Once you have the stuff you want to keep safe I'd suggest trying the 'repair' function of Linspire (if it has one?) or re-installing the OS.

[jbennet]

at the grub screen (where it gives you an option of the os to load) see if you can boot into single user (safe) mode and run fsck (like scandisk on windows)

[jennifer m n]

I'm not sure any of this will help me. I can push F2 during the loading screen and text comes up, taking the status bar away, but still nothing. I ONLY have Linspire-NO Windows. How can I reinstall the OS?

Sorry if this is simplistic-I have no idea and I'm in a time crunch!

Thanks!

[jbennet]

start the pc with the linspire and reinstall it?
there may or may not be an option just to reinstall the system and keep your files

[John A]

there may or may not be an option just to reinstall the system and keep your files

It's scary nonetheless, and I suggest doing what pty said and boot off a Linux LiveCD to rescue your data first.

I don't think an fsck is much needed; after all, it's pretty obvious that the hard drive's data is messed up. And doing a partial install might only fix it temporarily, as there may be other corruption, which can spread to the other files.

Best thing is to do a complete reformat/reinstall of the system, which it probably was in need of anyway.

[jennifer m n]

I have no clue what this means! My classes start back up on Tuesday and I need to figure this all out!

Where do I get a Linux Live CD from to reinstall? And I can't boot on Linux at all. I don't know if I made that clear. Here's what happens when I turn on my computer:

1. Black screen that detects mouse and keyboard
2. Dark blue screen with 3 options- run linux 5.0, redetect, and diagnostics
3. After choosing to run Linux, a light blue screen comes up that says Linspire with a status bar at the bottom. This is normal. However, the status bar stops at about 25% every time.

Please describe what I should do in great detail-as if to a child! I am so confused!!! Thanks so much for the help! I'm eternally grateful!

[John A]

A Linux LiveCD is basically a working Linux distro installed on a CD-ROM, effectively giving you a working Linux environment regardless of the state of your hard disk. You can then mount your hard drive and rescue data from it (assuming you have a medium to store the files on). One caveat is that you need a fair bit of RAM.

One of the most popular LiveCDs is Knoppix, which has a full Linux desktop. Download it, burn it to a CD (make sure that you don't just burn the .iso file to the disc and that the image actually gets copied; you'll need a special utility for this). You can probably take it from there, but please post if you get stuck.