> >2) As 1), but also specify the partition containing the root filesystem > >(and hopefully /boot) on the boot prompt command line, like root=0x300. > >It's a hex number, the 3 is primary master IDE disk and the last digit > >is the partition number. Reinstall boot loader if it boots. > Sorry, could not determine where this specified partition info was entered!
When it counts down before it selects the top option, there's a cursor on a line. Type away... it's actually the boot loader's command line (and kernel command line too). > error message..Can't find in etc/fstab or /etc/mtab > The XP disc manager shows three Linux partitions but no other info on them. > Unable to proceed from this point on :-( Looks seriously to me like those wallies restored the drive's partition table and the billypart, but not the Linux files. > When I went into the rescue mode and tried changing to #su my password was > not accepted. Correct. The "system" you're running is one which comes from CD. It's not the one installed on your harddisk. In the rescue system, you *always* log in as root and don't need a password. THere are no user accounts. To find out for sure about your Linux files, boot rescue system. fdisk -l will show all the disk's partitions. Try mounting them one after the other with mount -r /dev/hdXXX /mnt. (Never mount /dev/hda, that's the whole disk, you can't mount that.) If it succeeds, the partition has at least an empty directory structure (or a full one). If you get a "not a valid filesystem", the partition isn't even formatted. Volker -- Volker Kuhlmann is possibly list0570 with the domain in header http://volker.dnsalias.net/ Please do not CC list postings to me.
