The system will not boot beyond the Compaq logo.
Remove the hard drive and it boots to "invalid disk" error message, replace the hard drive, then reboot (ctrl+alt+del) and the system boots to logo (long wait) error 1781 disk 1 failure appears. After another long wait the system finally boots. If the CD rom did work, I would do a re-install. To shut down I must remove all power. That's how the problem started.

Thanks in advance
dunce.

Compaq Armada E500
Suse 10.2

To me it sounds like there's a serious problem with the harddrive. If you can't get as far as your boot manager (be it GRUB, LILO or whatever), see any error from your bootloader or anything at all, the problem is probably that the whole disk can't be read. First thing read from the disk is the bootloader, usually in MBR (512 first bytes of the disk) or in the beginning of a partition. If the bootloader is read but the disk content is trash, you'll get your bootloader error (which shows that the disk can be read, anyway). If the bootloader can't be found on the disk, you get an error about it. But if you won't get any of these, instead just a long wait, there are good chances the disk is damaged for real. I'd try to connect it to another machine and see what it does, but if that doesn't work, then you could be out of luck.

Hmm..I'd really want to know what the original problem was caused by, why you had to do a hard powerdown. It doesn't do good for the filesystem, but shouldn't damage the disk that much either. If the disk is newish, try to get a new one for the guarantee..or if it's old, it could be just that. Harddisks don't live forever.

EDIT: if you can, try to connect another, surely working harddisk to the machine and see if that is detected normally. Just to ensure everything else is fine...

Thanks for the assistance.

>To me it sounds like there's a serious problem with the harddrive. I'd try to connect it to another machine and see what it does,<

The problem exist even with a hard drive other than the original (powerdown) hard drive, and on another machine as well.

I had the problem before, and it solved itself. I rebooted the system with the installation disk and did a repair. Many corrupted files were repaired. That repair was boot manager related, and after using a "tool" (in addition to the installation disk) downloaded from online, a "Your system may be infected by virus" message always preceded start up. However the system worked ok.

> Hmm..I'd really want to know what the original problem was caused by,<

I don't recall, however the first time the problem occurred was when I shut the system down with many open applications.

The sequence again; with hard drive removed --> system boots normally and stops at "invalid disk" error message --> power switches work normally as well --> install hard drive while system is still on -->then (ctrl+alt+del) and the system boots to logo (long wait) error 1781 disk 1 failure appears, and the boot process is completed.

With the hard drive installed; it stops at the logo and everything freezes.

I installed Smart Boot Manager, It appears in Yast as ok, however the icon to run the progran cannot be found. Any suggestions ??

Since the system works ok after the "sequence" and I am able to go online, is there anyway to repair the system ?

Also is there anyway to mount the cd/dvd. It is not recognized by the system, even though I can hear it working.

Thanks again
Compaq Armada E500, Suse 10.2

If you are saying that the cd/dvd won't mount or be recognized, do you mean with the distro disk. Suse kde won't show the cd/dvd drive with a ISO cd or dvd. Put a music cd or a data cd in and see if the icon won't show. I will add that you are asking for troubles plugging and unplugging hardware with the system on. That can cause problems with the hd files and the equipment.

[QUOTE=Larry Webb;2876189]If you are saying that the cd/dvd won't mount or be recognized, do you mean with the distro disk..]

With nothing.

Any suggestions ??

Thanks for the response

put a data cd in and open Konqueror and click on "Storage Media" and see if the cd icon isn't there. As for using Smart Boot Manager I can't help you.