boot error: "Nautilus could not create /home..."

[Anthm]

release: Linux Mint 13 (maya) 32-bit

This problem started out of the blue, I wasn't even installing or updating anything. The laptop worked just fine until someone plugged in their external hard drive, it froze, and the restart failed.

It loads the OS, but I get the error "Nautilus could not create the following required folders: /home/me/Desktop, /home/me/.config/nautilus" I can still use the terminal, but nothing else works. When I try ls -anything I get "ls: cannot open directory.: Input/output error."

I fiddled with permissions to no avail. I also ran a couple of things from recovery mode, and the only change is that now when I open the terminal there's a line before the command prompt. "bash: /home/me/.bashrc: Input/output error"

Being a newb, my best idea was to try starting over and installing a new distro. So I made a boot stick that tests fine on other machines, my Ubuntu desktop will boot from it. But the laptop gives me "this is not a bootable disk."

I'm at a loss for what else to do.

[CaptainDangeax]

release: Linux Mint 13 (maya) 32-bit

This problem started out of the blue, I wasn't even installing or updating anything. The laptop worked just fine until someone plugged in their external hard drive, it froze, and the restart failed.

It loads the OS, but I get the error "Nautilus could not create the following required folders: /home/me/Desktop, /home/me/.config/nautilus" I can still use the terminal, but nothing else works. When I try ls -anything I get "ls: cannot open directory.: Input/output error."

I fiddled with permissions to no avail. I also ran a couple of things from recovery mode, and the only change is that now when I open the terminal there's a line before the command prompt. "bash: /home/me/.bashrc: Input/output error"

Being a newb, my best idea was to try starting over and installing a new distro. So I made a boot stick that tests fine on other machines, my Ubuntu desktop will boot from it. But the laptop gives me "this is not a bootable disk."

I'm at a loss for what else to do.

Hi.

The problems you're running in seems to be hardware related. First I was thinking of a disk error ; but if the laptop doesn't boot from a memory stick, maybe it's something else ; memory related maybe. Have a try running Memtest for a while, at least 7 complete pass (for letting the PC run at its service temperature). You may also try another flavor, like Fedora, to see if the problem is Ubuntu related or hardware related.

PS : you may run Memtest from a ubuntu CD, or even a floppy you wrote using

dd if=memtest.img of=/dev/fd0

[Anthm]

I ran memtest (from the boot menu -- would it be different if I ran it from a live CD?) overnight, 14 passes, and no errors.

I'm also inclined to think it's hardware, but if it's not memory and it doesn't seem to be the hard drive...?

[CaptainDangeax]

I ran memtest (from the boot menu -- would it be different if I ran it from a live CD?) overnight, 14 passes, and no errors.

I'm also inclined to think it's hardware, but if it's not memory and it doesn't seem to be the hard drive...?

Hello again.

No difference between the different flavors of memtest, only the version. I was just giving you clues about how to launch this test.

Let me tell you what I would do. I would put another HDD in my laptop, install system again, and check if everything is OK. If everything is OK, I'll buy an external HDD case, and put the old disk in it. If it fails, the laptop has something wrong, and I would buy a new one, try to put Windows on the old one and bring it to the pawn shop.