when starting: /bin/sh: can't open splash

Jaunty is no longer supported but I suggest you fsck the partition in liveCD. The data or drive is faulty in a particular area but you should upgrade to at least Lucid as Jaunty now has ZERO support

There is a problem with your file system or your hard disk.
Please start a recent (!) 10.10 Ubuntu live system from CD / USN stick, open the volume manager from the system settings and do a check of your drives.

Also your version of Ubuntu is pretty old and not supported anymore, you should do an update.

For details see:
http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/download
http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/upgrade

This guide is more detailed:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DataRecovery

Thks for you're reaction. I heard from another help that an upgrade to
10.10 isn't possible, while one should upgrade 10.4 first. Is that
true? And another Q: unless I cannot start up my computer, is it even
then possible to set up for 10.10 by an USB stick?

I am hoping for you're reaction.

Greetings Bart, Netherlands.

2011/4/13, Thomas Krüger <email address hidden>:
> Your question #152675 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/152675
>
> Thomas Krüger proposed the following answer:
> There is a problem with your file system or your hard disk.
> Please start a recent (!) 10.10 Ubuntu live system from CD / USN stick, open
> the volume manager from the system settings and do a check of your drives

Well, just check if the update procedure works as explained under the link.
If it gives you any error message you can try to install from an installation media. It will prompt you if it should import the old settings.

But before doing any update: Backup your data!

You can upgrade, it will just take a LONG time with all the downloading as you will need to get to the next release (Karmic) then to the next (Lucid) and THEN to the next (Maverick).

Actually, you don't need to upgrade an Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty system to Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic before upgrading to Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Lucid. Since 10.04 is a Long Term Support release, it supports being upgraded to even from releases not directly preceding it. However, you do need to upgrade to Lucid before upgrading to Maverick. (And if you wanted to upgrade to 11.04 Natty which will be released around the end of this month--but which is currently in beta--you would have to upgrade to Lucid, then Maverick, then Natty, since neither Maverick nor Natty are Long Term Support releases.)