[Leaplist] Newbie needs help

[Hank Lambert]

Are you familiar with our monthly Installfest? I know it is a week away, 
but if you can make our Installfest, which happens to be this coming 
Saturday, there will be plenty of people who will be able to help you 
get it fixed. We have members who dual boot, as well as some running 
virtual machines; so whatever your preference, I am sure we can help. 
Just bring your computer along with the CD's you want installed.

--Hank

Bob Hicks wrote:
> To make a long story short, my Kubuntu distro is not working. When I 
> had the computer built, I made it clear that I wanted a Linux machine 
> with a windows backup for certain programs. The 1 TB drive was 
> partitioned 750 GB linus and 250 Windows. After I paid for the machine 
> and having been told that the company could do what I wanted, I found 
> out that they new little about linux. I settled for a dual boot 
> because they could not get a virtual machine to work...that's when I 
> knew I had a problem. Well, the system has worked somewhat (no sound) 
> now for a little over a year. Now, Kubuntu won't boot. It begins, then 
> reaches where it says Kernel Alive; Kernel direct mapping tables... 
> There it freezes and goes no further.
>
> I need to do something to get it to continue to boot, or to reinstall. 
> I don't know how to make a live distro install on the proper 
> partition. What should I look for to do this? I definitely do not want 
> to disturb the Windows partition. I would like to know what to expect 
> if I try to reinstall the distro. This is a desktop and is connected 
> with another desktop is one of the reasons I do not want to pull it 
> and take it to installfest.
>
> Thanks for any suggestions (other than getting rid of Windows totally.)
>