Something has gone terribly wrong

[outlier_lynn]

My desktop computer failed to boot yesterday. Completely and totally failed to get passed the most basic kernel start up.

It took most of the day to determine it was something WAY OFF with the MBR. How did it happen? I think it was a kernel upgrade from the online-update from SuSE.

In working to get sound on lizetta's machine working, I did the on-line update and it gave me the exact same problem.

I worked with lilo to reconstruct the MBR but never quite succeeded. I'll work on my desktop later, for now, though, I'm installing SuSE 9.1 from scrath on Amy's machine -- again.

This time, though, I've changed the way I'm handling her encrypted /home partician. That should make it easier to upgrade in the future.

Sigh.

For a short time, I had three computers running around me. Two laptops and a desktop. None of the three were working correctly. Isn't that special.

There are things to be said for Microsoft. Almost everything works right out of the box. Hardware works, software works. And XP is pretty stable. It is just too damn bad that Microsoft security is the pits. Using Firefox and Thunderbird, though, makes it quite a bit better. Quite a bit.

There are things to be said for Linux, too. Security is the big thing.

If I were starting over with being a computer user, though, I would be using an Apple machine.

Today is install the world day. Now to start on my desktop machine.

Love.

Comments

Re: Something has gone terribly wrong

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

i have the feeling you are in need of a solid system administration handbook or maybe a course in it. :)

backups, backups, backups before upgrading, or futzing with partitions. reboot right after upgrading.

you should definitely make backups of your MBRs. i guess maybe you never had a multiple-boot system, or you would have learned that right quick, and from windows, not from linux. i've had multiple MBR scrozzles during the time i worked with windows because clients insisted on it.

maybe it would indeed best if you ran XP on non-computer-literate people's machines. it is pretty stable (though still needs to be rebooted every week or so because memory leakage eats and eats and eats). it is, however, just about as picky about hardware these days than linux, and you are not guaranteed that el cheapo taiwanese audio knockoff card (for example) will work. security upgrades can be automated, and you can avoid IIS, IE, and outlook by replacing them with more secure programs. i haven't looked at linux distros lately, but last i looked i still wouldn't recommend any to my mother-in-outlaw who just wants to push buttons and have things work. i am just opposed to supporting microsoft on principle, or i'd probably endorse XP more.

i am handrolling debian which makes me extremely happy -- i consistently am able to upgrade even glibc on a running system, which strikes me with admiration for the debian developers. but i don't know that i would recommend it to you, being as you hate computers. :)

Re: Something has gone terribly wrong

[crazed-lynn.livejournal.com]

I had backups. When I restored, my system was a complete mess. And it just happened again. Only this time, I think I know what happened.

On both machines, I installed Suse 9.1. One one machine I did a complete online_update. On the other machine, I did the update without the kernel update. Then I did the kernel update. That machine works and the other one does not.

The kernel update has to be done all by itself. Nice of them to tell me that.

Now to fix my desktop yet again.