Start up problems?

[ariewebb]

Hello, I am new to Ubuntu/Linux. I had Windows when I first got my laptop (T43 IBM Thinkpad) but a virus crashed up my whole system, which then caused me to install Ubuntu/Linux. For the first six months or so that had ubuntu, I didn't have any problems. But after a while, something happened (I'm not sure what- I'm thinking that maybe my system over heated) which caused my laptop to crash. Now, whenever I turn my laptop on, there is only maybe a 25% chance that it actually starts up normally. Most of the time, when it comes on and finishes loading, instead of going to the log in screen it says something with 'Operating System Not Found' at the end. Now, if I mess with it enough (Put my ubuntu system CD in and turn it off and on and all that) and SOMETIMES it actually comes on. Now when I put the installation CD in, it never makes it past the loading screen (Where it says ubuntu and has the loading dots at the bottom)

Now, I wanted to see if there was a way I could either fix this, or if there was a way that I could uninstall Ubuntu completely and re-install Windows ?

Please and thank you.

[lechien73]

Hi & welcome to the forums,

To me it sounds like your hard disk is failing. I'd suggest you back up any important data as soon as possible. Then you could try running a disk check on it by booting from a live CD/USB, dropping to a terminal and running fsck.

Don't run fsck against a mounted filesystem or you could cause serious damage.