Wierd installation problem

[Jill Gerbilstein]

I'm a newbie and I don't know a lot about computers so please bear with me. I have installed ubuntu 10.10 on my HP laptop. Yesterday I had many windows open and programs running and my computer froze. This has happened before. I unplugged my computer (I use it w/out a battery) and tried to boot it up again.It would not boot up. I could not do a screen shot but I got a lot of code and then it said something like "started from CD file not available". It seems to be missing a file I think.

This has happened before. After I would unplug my computer I have been able to get it to reboot. Not his time though.

I tried to reinstall ubuntu but this doesn't work. Right now I'm running ubuntu off the CD I burnt it on to. I'd like to be able to install it or access what I've already installed so I can access files and programs I've saved.

I'd appreciate any advice anyone might have.

Thanks!

[Quackers]

Welcome to UF.
When you tried to re-install did you use the same partitions as your earlier installation?
Also in the re-installation what happened exactly?

[Jill Gerbilstein]

Thank you for the welcome! Well, I did not get as far as allocating partition space. I clicked on "install" and nothing happened. The small rotating disc appeared but I waited an hour without anything happening. Maybe I should just be more patient but it seemed like it froze. I will try it again.

[Rubi1200]

I highly recommend you first save any important data before trying anything else.

It would also be helpful if you post the output of this command from the terminal on the LiveCD:


sudo parted -l

(lowercase L not 1)

Thanks.