If you haven't already done so, edit your /etc/lilo.conf to mount your root
partition as read-only (If I remember correctly there's an option for this at
installation time), then run lilo to write the stuff to the MBR. For help on
this, you can type 'man lilo.conf' at the console. If you can't boot into Linux
at all now, you may need a boot disc. The Mandrake CD can be used as a boot disc
by typing 'boot root-/dev/hda1' (without the quotes) at the LILO boot prompt.
Change the 'hda1' part to suit your setup (where your boot partition is,
normally the same as your root direcory). fscks will then re-mount your
partition as read-write during boot-up. I had a very similar problem and this
did the trick.
BTW, have you checked to see if your hardware is fully
linux-compatible (this also means compatibility with XFree86, etc.)?
As Paul has stated below, another likely problem is a hard drive failure. This
is rare, and often caused by defects in manufacturing. I've had that problem
once, and I had to replace my HDD in the end. I think that one reason why Linux
and Unix are so much stabler than M$ Windos is that they are less tolerant of
faulty hardware. Also, their diagnostic programmes are far more sophisticated
than their Windoze equivalents (e.g. fsck vs ScanDisk) and are far more likely
to pick up errors.
On Sun, 14 May 2000, Paul wrote:
> On Sun, 14 May 2000, X Drake wrote:
>
> >I think I may finally be ready to throw in the towel on Linux. Everything
> >is gone, and I wasn't even doing a damn thing other than browsing with
> >Netscape. One 2nd everything was great, then for no apparent reason the
> >browser went blank - nothing but a white screen - and it wouldn't close. So
>
> Did you have no trouble to get back into Windows? This sounds so
> strange...
> If you did not have to reformat all kinds of things, then I am puzzled. If
> you did have to reformat your disk, then I could imagine that the harddisk
> itself has a problem. I have had that once too, a 3 year old disk just
> crapped out on me with no reason. Reformat went well, but a month later it
> was down again. I threw it away.
>
> Paul
>
> )0(-----------------------------------)0(
>
> Silence. Do you remember how that sounds?
>
> )0(----[[EMAIL PROTECTED]]-------------)0(
> http://nlpagan.net - ICQ 147208
> Registered Linux User 174403
--
_____________________________________________________________________
Sridhar Dhanapalan
"Capitalism is the exploitation of man by man.
Communism is the reverse."
_____________________________________________________________________
