ubuntu broken

[Rune Maagensen]

Wilhelm du Plessis wrote:
> Hello ,
> 
> i have managed yet again to break my machine. only this time i don't
> want to just reinstall :) put to much work into it, that i dont want to
> repeat.
> 
> this is the error that i get when i try to boot:
> 
> "Kernel /boot/initrd.img-2.6.8.1-3-386
> root = /dev/hda2 ro quiet splash
> 
> initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.8.1-3-386
> 
> Error 15: File not found"
> 
It seems to me that somehow you're missing your initrd

> any ideas as to get the box going to try and replace the file ?
> 
>   
Start off by learning grub, it'll save you quite some time in the future.


When grub starts start a commandline and see what file is missing.
1. Hit "e" on the line you want to boot,
2. Read the few lines it thourougly, maybe copy them to a piece of paper
3. hit "c" to start a commandline.
4. see if grub will read the files byt typing them in one at a time 
leave out the "quiet" and "splash"

It could possibly be done like this:
$root (hd0,1) #remeber hda1 = hd0,0 ; hda2 = hd0,1 ; hdb1 = hd1,0
$/boot/init[tab] se what comes around #remeber to put a "/" in front of 
alle files

It's a really good idea to learn the basics of grub, it has saved me 
quite some time, specially when tryin different boot options (try that 
with lilo)

/Rune