[TriLUG] Debian 3.1 (Sarge) install CD (Is it yours?), and help request

[Douglas Hardison]

erbridges88 wrote:

>Thank you TriLUG for the Installfest on Saturday.  I
>know Installfests take a substantial amount of time
>(setting up the firewall, routers, hubs, CAT5 cables,
>surge protectors, and then doing the installs) and I
>appreciate your efforts.
>
>After I got home on Saturday, I found the Debian
>install CD (that had been used on my laptop) sitting
>in my CD-ROM drive.  It's an install CD for 3.1
>(Sarge) and it’s labeled "Disc 1."  I don't know who
>the CD belongs to, but if it’s yours, please let me
>know and I'll mail it back to you (or drop it off to
>you in Raleigh).  
>
>I wish I could say that everything is running
>smoothly.  Unfortunately, that’s not the case.  
>
>On Saturday, I was able to logon to the laptop.  No
>problems.  However, on Sunday morning, I could not
>logon under my username. (Yes, the password and
>username are correct!)  
>
>Here's what happens when I try to logon...
>
>I type my username and password, and hit enter.  The
>system deletes the username I have typed.  It does not
>give me an error message.  It does not load XFCE
>(which was installed on the laptop on Saturday).  I am
>still at the logon screen.   
>
>Just to experiment, I try to logon as "brown," a user
>that is not set up on the system, and I type a
>ficticious password.  The system responds with "Login
>incorrect" (as it should).  So, the system tells me
>when the login is incorrect...but when the login is
>CORRECT, it responds by deleting the login name (and
>it does not load XFCE).  
>
>More experimentation...I log on as root, and type in
>the password.  System logs me in, and loads XFCE.  No
>problems.  
>
>So it recognizes root, but it does not recognize my
>username.  Why is this happening?  More importantly,
>how do I correct this?  
> 
>This morning (Monday), I tried to logon again.  This
>time, I didn’t even get to the logon screen.  Instead,
>I receive the following message...
>
>"ERROR  
>0280: Previous boot incomplete – Default configuration
>used"
>
>The system gives me two choices...  
>F1  Boot, or 
>F10  Computer setup.   
>
>I powered the laptop off, not knowing which one to
>choose.  Looks like the system is telling me that I
>will have to re-install Debian  b/c the first install
>was not fully completed...?  Is that right?  How can
>that be?     
>
>I feel very frustrated right now, b/c I don't know
>what I'm doing, and I’m afraid to poke around for fear
>of messing something up.
>
>I consider myself fairly technical...at least more so
>than most people.  I run a Wordpress blog which uses
>PHP & MySQL, I know HTML and CSS.  I have created
>interactive games in Flash using Actionscript.  I
>didn't think that installing Linux on a laptop would
>be problematic.  Perhaps I was overly optimistic?! 
>Are there generally ongoing issues after a Linux
>install?  
>
>Please point me in the right direction.  At this
>point, it looks like I may have to re-install
>everything again (given the error message I received).
> However, I don’t want to do this on my own since I'm
>a "newbie."  
>
>Help and advice would be greatly appreciated.  
>
>Thanks,
>
>CB
>
>
>
>
>
>		
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Sorry, can't help with the rest, but

"ERROR 0280: Previous boot incomplete – Default configuration
used"
The system gives me two choices... F1 Boot, or F10 Computer setup"

sounds like a hardware issue to me. You'll see that sometimes on machines
that were turned off during the POST process.

dhardison