how to repair 8.10 ?

... and please.. please try convincing Debian to change the name of that "task selector" thing.. nobody call a package install-remove system a task selector.. ever..!!

What won't it mount ??
if /dev/sda1 is busy try swapoff -a. This works with the Ubuntu 8.10 rescue disk.
Peter

Synaptic Package Manager is my favourite package manager. Find it by going up to the top taskbar and click on

System - Administration - Synaptic is near the end

Choosing the right package will bring a lot of the mising stuff back as 'dependencies'. Good luck if you try this route tho - it relies on 'being lucky'.

There are many ways to prevent your software collection from being lost. Either use a partition editor (qtparted or gparted) to resize your current partition and create a new one for data and copy your "/home" folder across - that usually gets pretty much all your data safely tucked away.

Alternatively copy your "/home" folder onto cds/dvds or onto usb sticks or over the network to another machine. As a rule-of-thumb the safer the back-up way chosen the more difficult it is to do. The partition idea is probably about the easiest.

Having got your data safe somewhere, it should be possible to do a soft-reinstall but you'd have to go through "Manual" partitioning rather than "Guided" or automatic. You have to make sure that you see a pop-up box for each partition and UNtick the "Format partition?" option on each partition. That is the critical part of a soft-reinstall. If you can't see the pop-up box for each partition then switch your machine off and don't proceed with the install - contact us if you can't find the pop-ups.

If you're having trouble getting the cd to boot then it's probably your bios has reset its boot order list. you'll need to go back into the bios (at a very early stage of switching the machine on its usually F2 or the 'del' key to get into a very old looking interface where the mouse doesn't work so you'll have to rely on arrow keys and the 'Tab' key). Hopefully some of this guide may help ...
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BootFromCD

Please contact us if anything is unclear (or becomes unclear)
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

@Peter:
the hardware drivers been missed with, so the system can't recognize my ethernet or cd..! seems logical to me..

@Tom:
I knew that I'm in a deep problem the moment your first option failed..!
"quote" and started synaptic to get back what I've lost. but in vain "quote"
the "dependencies" was needing my internet connection to be resolved.. so I wasn't that lucky..!
the reinstall thingbeen tried also, the installer told me it will remove anydata in current system folders (/usr, /var , /opt...) to put thee new system in them.. so it won't easily fill the spaces and leave my other directories and files in peace..
so I presume there is no way to repair a corrupted ubuntu using the cdrom, I'll pull few strings to see what should work..

Something 'obvious' we've all apparently missed is that during normal bootup you should get a menu that offers a "Recovery Mode" and this is often a great option - unlike the Windows version it has some helpful tools that don't overwrite everything.

Also just because Peter and I can't seem to help don't give up hope just yet. There are many others on the Answers Team and one of them might be around later.

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

It sounds like the systems folders, /usr, /var , /opt and so on,, could all do with replacing/updating/fixing - the main worry is if it wants to do anything to /home, which is where your software collection should be. It might be worth checking that, of course ;)

No use dear Tom I'm always one step ahead :D I'm trying things and coming back to see you telling my "try this out..!" for some reason I forget the recovery mode, and for some reason I suddenly remembered it an hour ago and since I'm trying everything till I came up with these results:
-my internet connection still down.
-I managed to get my cd recognized, I added it to apt and tried to install all I can get from it.. but there are always dependencies to get from the dear old WWW which preventing installing the rest..!
-my /home is safe.. I always make it is a separate partition and never format it when installing a new distro.
- the mouse and keyboard not working in X..!
2 quick answers before the final result:
1- dear Tom I'm not losing hope here.. but I'm little old in the trade..! I'm running linux since Mandrake 8.1 and I'm a google wiz-kid.. so I know big problem when I see one, but coming here and asking questions indicates that I didn't lost all my hopes (yes I have many of them..!)
2- my /home directory is safe as I just mentioned the problem is losing thousands of packages I've installed, (the packages are installed in the root partition, what's on the /home is just their settings which I don't care too much except my firefox bookmarks) my apache server in /opt and a third thing coming up.. that's why I can't just give up the system..

the final result is :
I'm ready to give up the system If anyone can figure out how to export Transmission -the torrents' client- output to continue the download later. I'm downloading a 6 GB torrent since 24 Jun and I'm almost there.
If there a way to save transmission's state and to initiate it in th e new system, consider my root formatted already :D

and my hope is that someday ubuntu provide a repairing from cd options like mandriva and fedora and many others.

This does sound a lot like the soft-reinstall where i was able to keep existing additions but 'refreshed' all the mess i'd made while uninstalling & reconfiguring stuff.

ANyway, good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Thanks Tom you did a good effort..

The question is:
is this kind of "soft reinstallation" possible in ubuntu..? and how..?

I thnk i did it by being extremely careful with "Manual" partitioning.

I made sure i saw a pop-up box for each partition and UNticked the "Format partition?" option on each partition. That is the critical part of a soft-reinstall. If you can't see the pop-up box for each partition then switch your machine off and don't proceed with the install.

I think it's probably better to create a new partition and install Ubuntu again on that - just add 1 more to the "dual-boot menu". then you could at least be certain of keeping that torrent! I'm sure there is a way of making an exact copy of a drive but i've yet to see it really work - and be usable ;)

Good luck
Regards from
Tom

Ok, Thanks for Charles from #transmission, I learn that backing up the downloaded files and ~/.config/transmission directory will save the torrent.

so , I prefer leaving the question open.. for the exact problem I asked aabout was never been answered. I think that should be a FAQ.

Ok, but now you have got your data safe it'd be good if you could try out my 'soft reinstall' because if it does work then my answer does solve the original question. It's a bit 'techi' but at least it works - if it does. Please try and let us know.

Regards from
Tom

If you are still having trouble with this then please post it as a new question. Only the most recent questions tend to get looked at so posting/reposting a question just before america arrives online gives the best chance of getting a good few answers.

If the problem has been resolved then please follow the link to the forum thread and mark it as Solved.

Good luck and many regards from
Tom :)