Re: [tlug] Cinnamon has crashed

[Brian Chandler <brian@example.com>]

Thanks again for various hints. I worked out the mount stuff, so I can 
copy off my files easily, which means I can go ahead and reinstall Mint, 
except for the two following problems:

(1) I am booting the other Ubuntu partition, the one from the snafu 
thread somewhere above this post. I decided to apply the updates, hoping 
that might make it more stable, and once again it complained it wasn't 
able to access some packages (at places like archive.ubuntu.org 
[approx.]). The result is still unstable, and twice I found that 
everything outside the terminal window had become totally unresponsive, 
and had to reboot. Meanwhile the net connection seems to be working, so 
it isn't the cats on cables thing.

(2) I can't seem to boot from DVD. I have a DVD in the internal drive, 
which shows up in the file system, but it does not boot automatically. I 
get a boot menu, with the currently dead Mint, the old Ubuntu which 
works, and various odds and ends, including memtest, which I am now running.

This is a rather old motherboard, I think, because I can only use the 
grub menu from a "PS/2" keyboard, not the ordinary USB one. I can't find 
any other way of affecting the boot sequence.

How can I just say "Boot from DVD!!" ?

Brian Chandler




On 2014-09-22 16:47, Darren Cook wrote:
> > The problem is that while I understand in principle stuff like
> > partitions, I have no idea where to start sorting it out...
>
> Did you get as far as being sure what the problem is?
>
> (I suggested booting a mint 17 install DVD, as that will run Mint and be
> usable, without touching the hard disks, but will also allow you to
> explore the hard disks if you want (e.g. to see what corruption has
> happened). It will also allow you connect to the internet, so you can be
> sure everything is fine on the hardware side.)
>
> That would also allow you to take a backup of your files. And then I'd
> just suggest re-installing Mint 17, then bring back your files
> afterwards. Fixing low-level config is time-consuming, otherwise.
>
> Darren