Hello folks, been using Linux for a while. Got a netbook with mint on it, a Chromebook and had a Dell laptop a friend gave me loaded with Peppermint 6 a few weeks ago. I am typing this on my Chromebook. I just turned on my Peppermint 6 Dell laptop an hour or so ago and when it was loading up the desktop some box came up ( something called panel 1) then the icons on my desktop loaded ( just a few folders) and then the menu bar at the bottom disappeared ( you know- where you find your programs like audacity, terminal, system folders etc)!!!! Then when I clicked on Chromium ( my browser) all my bookmarks and settings were gone- it has completely lost all my passwords and apps too! OMG! What can I do to solve this? I'd be so grateful for help, thanks!

I can only use the on and off button to boot/turn it off- there are no systems folders to see at all!

Replaying to your own thread is not clever at all. Your post won't show up as zero reply any more and gets much less exposure.
Anyhow, did you check if your hard drive is still healthy?

I wasn't replaying my thread- had forgotten to add something.I don't know how to check about the hd.

If it wasn't you then your account may be hacked, because someone certainly replied using your username.
Boot from some external media (USB/CD) and run smartctl on your hard drive.
Look at error counts, bad sector count, pending sector count. You may want to run test.

Yes it was me I said that I forgot to add some more detail so made another post.Oh I don't know how to do what you say and I can't access the terminal! I have no boot disk- a man a computer shop loaded Peppermint onto the laptop for me. I haven't a clue how to do any of that.

Can you follow this guide? Otherwise you may need to go back to the shop.

Ok will look at that later, thanks Emerson- have 2 errands to run- all happens at once with me!

This is how a healthy hard drive looks like.

I cannot access my system- that is the problem- there is no way to find any programmes or the terminal. To give you an idea- I'm a middle aged woman who has no knowledge of systems! when my laptop is normal I can put codes into the terminal but since it is dead I have no idea what to do with it. I can't even access the internet on it, use the cD drive and have no usb stick. I probably will just have to bin the thing and go back to using the Chromebook. I did like having a laptop tho where I could use my scanner and play cDs tho.

Well, you need some tools to do some job. In this case - a USB stick or a blank CD. Then you could diagnose the problem. If - and this is an if - the hard drive is dead then you need to get a new drive. May need a small screwdriver to replace the drive.

Nothing works on it- there is no audacity or CD software on there- I have just a few files on the desktop and it wouldn't play my music. What is this panel 1 thing that appeared onto my desktop and b--d everything up?

Yes, this is why I suggested booting from an external media as a USB stick or CD and run diagnostics from there.

I have no internet on it so cannot download those files that are in the article. The Chromebook has no
CD drive and I have no data stick.I will probably take the laptop to the tip tomorrow- it's no use to me it's kaput.

Why on earth would you want to download with broken computer? You can download and prepare the USB stick or burn a CD on any computer accessible to you. You probably can even order a SystemRescueCD disk from some internet site.