system unusable after mounting on network server

I am running a linux desktop on Linux 10.04 and started a new server system on Linux 12.04. Both systems have samba installed. I tried to mount the desktop system on the server. The mount worked ok but when I accessed the mounted folder, the desktop system crashed completely (no mouse or keyboard activity) thus the only way to get the system back was cutting the power. Upon reboot all I get is a busy box!
This is beyond my expertize, help would be appreciated.