i'm an idiot - knoppix
 

okay,

here is exactly what i did. i'm not going to lie to cover it up. i know it was stupid. i downloaded the knoppix CD on my parents computer and booted up my computer with it. it recognized all of my hardware and ran beautifully. the next time i booted from the CD i was messing around and chose the expert boot option, after a couple of prompts, i had no clue what the hell I was doing and couldn't figure out how to quit, so i finally just shut my computer off. now, everytime i try to turn it back on, (with knoppix boot CD and without), the power light comes on by the power button but the monitor just powers on for a split second, and then its light goes orange and i can't see anything but it sounds as though the computer is running.

how screwed am i? can anyone help?

-jeff

I think you installed something and overwrote the boot block. If the monitor powers on (green light) and then the light becomes amber it's telling you that it's not receiving any video. Do you remember what options you selected during the boot menu?

-twantrd

It's pretty much impossible to destroy your hardware with software (not totally impossible, though (more on this later). It sounds like you may've just knocked the monitor cable loose while playing around with that. I'd try tightening it.

The one easy way to destroy hardware, though, is that some older monitors will accept horizontal/vertical refresh rates that they can't handle, try rto run with them, and blow themselves out. If your monitor is reasonable new, though, this shouldn't be a problem. Try powering off the monitor completely (including pulling the power) and letting it sit a couple minutes, then try again. If there's still no joy, try a different monitor. If it still doesn't work, unplug all drives within the case and all peripherals, and boot with just the keyboard, mouse, and monitor plugged in. If everything is working OK, you'll get an error about no disk to load an OS from. If it's still no joy, try a different video card. If it's still not working, then I'd be starting to think you're screwed.

[edit to add]

It may be a screwed boot block, as twantrd suggests, but I'd think in that case you'd see a BIOS error (no operating system) immediately. Who knows though, given how screwy some BIOSes can be? But I just wanted to echo that it would be very helpful if you could remember anything about what you were doing.

if you have win xp pro boot floppies or the os disc, you can probably boot from that to the recovery console. they have a utility called 'fixmbr' which is likely what you are looking for.

information (including some warnings) here:

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;EN-US;314058

by the way, you an get a old pIII for pretty cheap these days, probably a better way to learn than hosing your parents system.

ok, i do remember one thing i did.... when i had to choose some sorta config for my monitor i entered "scan" for a command

and i chose the second to last configuration it offered me (had something to do with lines and colors i believe)

I'm just letting my computer chill for now and have unplugged and checked all the connections. i'll try some of the advice give here and report back.

first, i'll just try turning it back on...

i already tried starting it with my XP CD but, got nothing. i will try again.

then...i'll try a new monitor and then if that doesn't work, i'll definitely be back here like a typical whining newbie asking for advice (or resources) about how to thanks for all the help so far bigfez, btmiller and twantrd. if i didn't know people like you were out there, i never would have starting getting into linux. i know i'll screw it up a lot, but with the community support i've seen so far, i think it will definitely pay off in the long run and maybe one day (like in 10 years) i'll be able to help someone else.

and oh yeah, refering to bigfez's advice:

sounds like a really good idea. thanks.

and what do you know? simplest solution worked. unplugged everything...let it chill...powered on and everything was fine. i'm definitely considering myself lucky on this one. i'll be more careful next time.

thanks again!!

-jeff

Don't worry, when learning something new you are bound to make mistakes. That's HOW you learn. No one learns anything by not making mistakes. I've done my fair share of hosing systems and whatnot. Buy a crappy computer and learn on that :).

Glad to see that you got your comp up and running again. Don't give up and keep continuing...


-twantrd