Hi,

I'm a complete layman, this being my first foray into Linux, caused by my daughter's netbook going belly-up. So, don't expect much sense off me.

After a period with no use, the netbook developed a couple of problems. First, the battery would not retain a charge at all, which I solved by installing an updated BIOS (also a first for me). However, this didn't solve the other problem, which is that the home screen will not display i.e no icons. The only element that displays is a search bar which can be used for internet searches (firing up Firefox) or to search 'Desktop'.

Poking around a bit, I've managed to get an error message that the Nautilus File Manager is not running but I haven't a clue how to fix that, or even if it is relevant to the problem. After some research I think I can start a console by starting an executable 'exterm' but what to do with the thing escapes me.

I stumbled onto System Monitor which says I have Gnome Kernel Linux 2.6.23.9lw but that's all I've got to go on.

I'd really appreciate any help you can because I'm baffled.

Cheers.

Chris

darkdesign, don't worry. It happens.
If you can open the console, you can start nautilus by typing in it "nautilus". This should "start" your icons at least for this session. I guess that you have "corrupted" the configuration files of gnome. I guess that the best way to replace them is just to delete them, so that the default configuration would be defaulted. If you can open your terminal, write in in "rm -rf ~/.gnome". The rm command deletes the files, and after a restart you should get the gnome desktop as it was at the installation.

No joy, I'm afraid.

For nautilus on the console I get 'bash: nautilus: command not found'

I opened a terminal, but the answer I got is 'bash: rm-rf~/.gnome: No such file or directory'

oops... Are you sure that you use gnome? If you are using it, it means you have to install nautilus.
If you use Ubuntu, run "synaptic" in console, and install nautilus.
About deleting the config files: if, after you install nautilus and make a restart(or start nautilus from console), you get no icons, do "rm -rf gnome*"

I thought it was because system monitor bore that 'brand' and the file system seems to be crawling with gnome files. Digging around here I found the lsb_release -d command which says "Despription: Linpus Linux Lite v1.0.9.E". So, now I'm confused.

Given that I must be running Linpus, what next?

All fixed. Once I knew it was Linpus I could download an Acer recovery ISO file.

Thanks for your time, guys.

Cheers.

Chris

I'm having the same problem with my Acer Aspire One running Linpus Lite. I have no desktop icons but still have the search bar where I can search the desktop and internet, and when I click the home icon it says the exact same thing as your's did. I know that I can create a recovery USB flash drive using the recovery disc that came with my netbook, which I do have, but I was hoping there might be a way to return my netbook back to normal without doing this, because I don't want to lose all my pictures, documents, skype etc. I was trying to update Firefox to Firefox 3. Firefox 2 that came pre-installed on the netbook set to not update itself is a major pain in the butt. Please tell me if there is something I can do without using the recovery cd!!!