Recovery help please

[avatarmonkeykirby]

I was on my notebook using Lucid 10.04 lts when I lost power. I was not updating anything, just web browsing. Completely benign.

Now when I boot up I only get the terminal, no gui. Running startx doesn't solve the problem either. The harddrive is also read-only. Normally under these circumstances I would use a live disk to just reinstall everything, but that isn't possible this time.

Is there any way I can recover my system without a live disk?

[mörgæs]

Have you tried booting from USB?

[avatarmonkeykirby]

I should have been specific, I can't use a live disk either CD or USB. It's a CR48, no boot from live disk.

[Dutch70]

I don't mean to ask stupid questions, but are you using the "sudo startx" command following a "kirby@ubuntu ~ $" (or whatever it is) prompt?

[mörgæs]

Have you checked that the hard drive is in last position in the boot settings in BIOS?