[SWLUG] Help! system won't boot!!

[neil at nwjones.demon.co.uk]

matt at matthewmoore.org.uk wrote:
> On Sunday 10 February 2008 10:40:50 neil at nwjones.demon.co.uk wrote:
> > Can anyone help me with this problem?
> >
> > On switching my main machine on this morning. It booted up into a black
> > screen with an prompt. I was able to su to root and issue a reboot.
> >
> > It now persistantly boots to a blue screen with a prompt. It won't accept
> > any id as a log in.
> >
> > What is wrong and how do I fix it.
> >
> > I had some problems a little while ago with booting and it insisted on my
> > running fschk to fix some disk problems. Is this related
> 
> Have you tried to run a live CD?  If it is a problem with the hard drive you 
> should be able to find out that way.  It could be that you've got a dodgy 
> hard drive.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Matt


Thanks for the suggestion Knoppix gives me a whole set of bad sector messages.
I guess it is the hard disk. Any ideas anyone if can fix it temporarily and just 
copy everything over. I do have some backups.But there is something I was working on yesterday that I'd like to retrieved anyway.

Neil Jones
Neil at nwjones.demon.co.uk