when i choose linux to boot to, i get this error:

VFS: Cannot open root device "2105" or 21:05
Please append a correct "root=" boot option
Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 21:05

anyone know what that means and how i can fix it?

It wants you to tell it where your root partition is.
Example: root=/dev/hda2

If you know where your root partition is, then just type in that line at the boot prompt with your root partition substituted for hda2.

how do i get to the prompt to enter that? and its at hda5

ok i got that done, then it gets farther and starts loading programs i think, then it does a file system check and says it had problems. it said do u want to repair, u hit yes and it takes u to some prompt, u hit no, it reboots and does same thing again...is there something i type at the prompt?

If you made a boot disk when you installed it, try using it to boot mandrake. Just put the disk in and reboot. You may get the same results as before.

I'm glad you were able to find a boot prompt, because I didn't know where you could find one. I have never used mandrake 8.

The system is unable to find your root partition on boot up. This may require you to fix either the grub or lilo loader files. Do you know which loader you are using?

As to what it expects you to type in at the prompt, I don't know.

u type linux root=/dev/hda5

but then i got passed that and it was booting and was showing icons loading and shit

then it says

fsck.ext2: No such device or address while trying to open /dev/hde5

failed to check system. do you want to repair the errors?
yes or no

yes, then asks for root pw, then giv u the root@localhost prompt and i typed fsck -v /dev/hda5 and it showed numbers and shit so i rebooted and get same thing again...

Well, I now know what those icons are that you are talking about. I was on linux-mandrake's website seeing if I could find some info for someone and I ran across a demo that talked about Aurora. It's the screen that you were watching on boot up. Is that what you were getting when you were booting up without the boot disk? I figured that you would probably get the same thing, but I thought it was worth a shot.

I'm new to this linux thing too. I just installed my TurboLinux Workstation 6.0 last year.

I noticed that your error message said ' hde5 '. Is that what it said? You said your partition was hda5. I'm curious. How did you find out your root partition was hda5? The reason that I ask is that the error message seems to be saying that there no such partition.

The fsck command you executed I don't believe does any fixing. I think all it does is print out a lot of data like you said. I think the command is ' fsck -a /dev/hda5 '. If that is the correct partition number.

Well, that's all I have for now. I'm still looking, but it sure is hard to find things. Just when you think you found something, you find out that want you want to know isn't there. Everything you don't want to know is there, but what you want isn't there. I hate it when these searches turn up what look like good propects, and they turn out to be dead ends. Oh, well.

the problem was my harddrive, it got messed up somehow, it crashed the next day. it was under warranty luckily and i should get it tomorrow or tuesday, but thanks anyway