You’ll need the Ubuntu Live USB then… if we’re going to try to fix the file system.
Or to create a Linpus Lite Recovery USB if you can’t be bothered to fix, and just want to put it back to how it came out of the factory.
hi - i have managed to put ubuntu on the usb but not sure where to go next- i m hoping to try this on an old sony vaio pcg 314 ,its a p3 1200 ish machine as i d rather not risk playing with my desktop unless its necessary…can it be done?
It’s unlikely the VAIO can boot from USB stick.
BUT
Don’t panic… the Live USB will NOT make any changes to the AA1’s hard drive unless you select “Install Ubuntu” instead of “Try Ubuntu”… or unless you tell it to.
Just stick the USB stick in the AA1, turn on the the AA1, and keep hitting F10 or F12, until you are asked which device you would like to boot from, then select the USB stick.
Then when Ubuntu starts to boot, you will be asked if you want to “Install Ubuntu” or “Try Ubuntu”… select “Try Ubuntu”.
You should end up at the Ubuntu desktop… when you get there, let me know if there is a bar with icons down the left hand side of the screen… or a bar at the top with Applications Places System menu’s on it.
powered up and f2 to get to boot order --moved usb fdd to top and entered -its booted back to usual screen -usb flashed but nothing occurred?
UPDATE - IT IS NOW LOADING WITH UBUNTU SCREEN
ok it seemed to skip asking if i wanted to try ubuntu - i know have the ubuntu screen with progs at the left —it does say INSTALL UBUNTU at top so not sure if i m trying or buying -either way its a step forward i think…
connected to net using this -now is there any way to regain files?or am i being greedy!
OK, at this point DO NOT click the “Install Ubuntu” icon.
What I need you to do is open a terminal…
This can be achieved multiple ways
-
hit Ctrl+Alt+T
-
hit Alt+F2,enter gnome-terminal and click run
-
Clicking the Application Lens (little magnifying icon on sidebar with a + in it), then entering terminal in the search box, then clicking the Terminal icon.
Whichever way you do it…
When the terminal opens, enter:
fdisk -l
and hit enter… then post back the output.
then do the same with
df -i
For clarity, that’s FDISK -L and DF -I (but they MUST be all lower case)
Maybe… we’ll look for your files in a bit.
Just send the output from above first.
Have you got a second USB stick ? … or external USB hard drive ?
See “man sudo_root” for details.
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ code:
code:: command not found
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ fdisk -1
fdisk: invalid option – ‘1’
Usage:
fdisk [options] change partition table
fdisk [options] -l list partition table(s)
fdisk -s give partition size(s) in blocks
Options:
-b sector size (512, 1024, 2048 or 4096)
-c switch off DOS-compatible mode
-h print help
-u give sizes in sectors instead of cylinders
-v print version
-C specify the number of cylinders
-H specify the number of heads
-S specify the number of sectors per track
Filesystem Inodes IUsed IFree IUse% Mounted on
aufs 88608 1010 87598 2% /
none 60239 791 59448 2% /dev
/dev/sdb1 0 0 0 - /cdrom
/dev/loop0 149991 149991 0 100% /rofs
none 61961 5 61956 1% /dev/shm
tmpfs 61961 42 61919 1% /tmp
none 61961 49 61912 1% /var/run
none 61961 1 61960 1% /var/lock
/dev/sda1 854784 101451 753333 12% /media/linpus
/dev/loop1 88608 1010 87598 2% /media/casper-rw
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$
Read this post again… specifically the last line:
http://linuxforums.org.uk/general-discussion/crash-!!!-on-my-acer-aspire-one-linux-linpus-lite/msg67965/#msg67965
that’s
FDISK -L
not
FDISK -1
but it MUST be lower case.
i cant get the fdisk command to work even with fdisk -l? sorry i m struggling to find my way around the screens in ubuntu so bit slow
try:
sudo fdisk -l
back in a bit… eating dinner 
Disk /dev/sda: 8069 MB, 8069677056 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 981 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 850 6827593+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 851 981 1052257+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
Disk /dev/sdb: 2031 MB, 2031091712 bytes
16 heads, 32 sectors/track, 7748 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 512 * 512 = 262144 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 16 7748 1979456 e W95 FAT16 (LBA)
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$
hi mark -thanks for your patience-that seemed to work .yes i do have another usb stick available
OK, if you click the Home folder icon in the sidebar… when the nautilus window opens, what’s listed in the left hand panel
eg.
ubuntu
Desktop
File Sytem
blah
blah
blah
apart from the usual stuff there is casper rw and linpus
what is displayed if you click the linpus icon ?
are there folders such as bin etc home usr etc. ?
about 20 different folders
bin
boot
dev
etc
home
initrd
lib
lost and found
media
misc
mnt
name
net
opt
proc
root
rpm
sbin
selinux
srv
sys
tmp
usr
var
and 2 files halt and power off