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On 23/05/13 00:02, Paul Sutton wrote: > Hi > > My old duron 1600 isn't booting and stops at verifying dmi pool data > > google suggests the follwing > > http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000474.htm (see below for copy and > pasted suggestions from this website) > > however if I change the boot device to cdrom > insert ubuntu 9.04 (first cd i found) > boot this and cancel at the choose language screen, i get taken back to > the boot menu for the cd > selecting boot first hdd the computer boots fine, without any issues > > I am guessing there is a boot sector issue somewhere. but as I can boot > from the hdd via the cdrom maybe the issue is before that, and the > cdrom is simply bypassing that, the cdrom boots from the hdd > displaying a grub menu, (windows + linux dual boot) > > so what exactly could be going on here, i just thought I would try this > to rule out a few things. > > clearly a few of these could be eliminated > > 1. Corrupt boot files on the computer. > 2. Settings for hard drive are not correct. > 3. Floppy diskette or CD in computer causing issue. > 4. Boot devices not set properly. - > 5. BIOS corrupt or misc. setting not set properly. > 6. Connections loose or disconnected. > 7. Bad hard drive or other bad hardware. > > any suggestions please. > > Paul > > The very first thing you do is check backup status (all the files on that system are backed up, right?) and make sure all your data is fine and stored somewhere that isn't on that particular disk. Whilst it may not be bad, it quite probably is. The next thing to do after checking everything you value from that disk is safe is reset your BIOS to defaults and then make any changes you require (setting AHCI, boot order, etc). Also check your BIOS version is the latest available, and flash it if not. If you're still seeing the same problem afterwards, you have two choices: 1: presume the disk is ok, so go through the effort of nuking it, reinstalling the OS and importing your backed up data 2: presume the disk is bad, so pull it out and install a new one then rebuild OS + data I don't want to alarm you and make it sound like it's definitely a physical disk failure because it could just be something as "harmless" as boot file corruption: it's just that you should always assume the worst when it comes to potential data loss. Once that's sorted out, just poke and prod it for a bit and the cause usually isn't difficult to find. As you called it your "old Duron" I'm guessing that this is your 2nd or 3rd computer at least and it's not doing anything mission critical... Obviously report back if you don't get anywhere. Regards -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq