Just a FYI in case you did not realise that passwords are not echoed with a *. Did you really try to enter the entire password at the password prompt?

@michaelk What do you mean by that?

Alex Brinister

It is possible that the OP does not know that when entering the password no characters like a * are printed so it appears that it is not working.

OHHH I see what you mean now. That very well may be, considering he seems to be (very) new to Linux. However, according to him, he does not have a sudoers file.

@OP Can you post output of

Also, after doing

and getting the password prompt, enter your password. Do not expect any * characters to appear as you type. It will be blank. Just type in your password and press enter after you are finished.

Alex Brinister

Hi Alex
The only cd I have got is an iso which I used to get ubuntu.Would it be better to start again to download from another source?
F.W.

Hi Alex
When I put in 1s /etc/ | grep sudo I got 1s: commande not found.

You should just use the ISO you have and burn it on a CD.

It is _L(letter L)S_ not _1(one)S_. You should copy what I put in the code tags into your terminal.

Alex Brinister

Hi Alex
I have a problem other than the one we have been discussing.When I turn my computer on I get grub recovery and it is waiting fora command and I havent a clue what it wants,and this is stopping me from installing anything until now,but the iso I am using at the moment is only partly usable.
F.W.

Okay is this problem persistent? Is it happening over and over again? Try unplugging everything from your computer (USB stuff). Can you download another Ubuntu cd from somewhere?

Alex Brinister

yes its there when I turn on

the cd I am using now is only partly usable.

Okay, you need to download a livecd ISO and burn it to a CD. You need to boot into the livecd. Mount the Ubuntu partition. Then, you need to do the following in a terminal:

Write down two things: there will be the vmlinuz file with the biggest number after it and the initramfs file that has the biggest number after it.

Then, make a new file with gedit in /<name of partition>/etc/ called sudoers. Copy the sudoers file I provided into that file. (Save and close)

Download this and burn it to a cd. This a live GRUB cd that will bring you back into Ubuntu.

Reboot into the GRUB CD you just burned.

Choose the Ubuntu option that should be there somewhere.

Alex Brinister

Hi Alex
unplugging stuff seemed to work.I found a cd that I bought a little while back and promptly forgot about it and it has installed perfectly(i hope)I am pretty sure you know what my next move is?
F.W.

Hi Alex
Thanks very much for your time and knowledge(very steep learning curve)cant thank yo enough.

:I AM NOW A NEW OWNER OF INKBLOT YEP THATS RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!

f.w