Linspire Or Kenel Problem

[tux_can_fly]

Hello friends and fellow Linux users, I desperatly need help in saving my Freespire system which I loved so dearly

I am a novice and very new to anything GNU related. I choose to use freespire as my distro because of some perks (mp3 and other compatibility software was already installed) CNR was also a good perk


My computer is set up with 2 internal harddrives (storage) and a third integrated hardrive slot that hardrives can be swapt. The interchangable internal slot is the one where the boot hardrives are placed

for example, as I share this computer with my Father, He puts in his harddrive which has Xp on it and he effectivly is on a windows computer, with two hardrives he can use (1 of the two storage drives are mine the other his, in addition to our personal interchangables)


basicly,. my hardrive with freespire now has a problem and I am not sure if it is thej drive or freespire itself

everything seems to load but instead of getting to the login screen it just keeps loading, going into a page with error messages and other computer system text (stuff I havent read and moves to fast for me to read anyways)


and it keeps going like this for 10 minuts, restarts and loads again only to once again go to this page instead of going to the loging screen


it resembles the screen that shows itself in fedora core 4 when you press (show details) in the initial load before the login screen


I domt know what to do, I cant login and I dont knw what the text means or how to work with itplease help/

[dilbert]

When this problem appeared suddenly, I would first check the connectors of that external harddrive. Is there something broken, damaged?

Next step is to get hold of any procedures, normally some special keystrokes, to get into a special debug mode. That procedure should be in your documentation or you can ask in the Freespire section/forum/newsgroups or the like.

This debug mode is something like the Windoze safe mode or safe mode with confirmation or the like. You will need presumably a detailed description to run it as it is black screen command line with cryptic input and output.

This should tell you what it is complaining about. But I'm pretty sure it will complain about lost/overwritten/unreadable data or broken hardware.

[tux_can_fly]

Thanks for the help lads, but Im sure at this point its a hardware problem.

I tried installing other Linux bistro's with live CD's and it would not work

the problem now is that I cannot have it fixed at computer shops as they simply tell me to consult the manufacturer



Cheers

Vandad

[dilbert]

And it's not simply a bent connector? I mean getting it in and out all the time could have broken something.

[tux_can_fly]

I tried intstalling Ubuntu over it and it now loads up as Grub Error 17, the grub site is not very much help, perhaps i just dident look well

Im not sure what to do , so since my dad was getting his computer upgraded by his freind who works at a computer store (gives him good deals ) I wrote a note explaining how my the MBR on the hardrive is getting linux confused and not letting me boot and if he can just clear EVERYTHING on the drive and leave it as good as new, but also check for any hardware problems


hopefully when I get it back itll be ready to take on a dual boot of Ubuntu and Fedora

p.s