to anyone that can help...

i was using vnc to get access to my linux machine from school, and it worked fine... then when i restarted my machine... my whole root account got resetted... when i mean it reset... all my files weren't there in my home directory... however the programs that i had installed were still there such as vnc, or instant messenger.... so when i did 'locat vnc' it said it was in /root/.vnc but when i tried to 'cd' into that folder... it wouldn't allow me and it said no such directory...

any ideas?

locate uses a database. It probably needs updating:
updatedb

can u explain why my account got resetted... my whole gnome desktop had nothing as it was... same w/ kde..... and xterminal is different...
it use to be something like [root XXXXX]#

now it's like bash2.3 something something....

Does your root home directory exist:
ls -l /

Post the output of:
ls -la /root/

bash-2.05b# ls -la /root/
total 168
drwxr-x--- 20 root root 4096 Nov 21 21:14 .
drwxr-xr-x 21 501 501 4096 Nov 21 21:05 ..
-rw------- 1 root root 2194 Nov 21 21:11 .bash_history
drwx------ 3 root root 4096 Nov 21 03:01 Desktop
-rw------- 1 root root 456 Nov 21 01:51 .emacs
-rw------- 1 root root 335 Nov 21 01:50 .emacs~
drwx------ 3 root root 4096 Nov 21 01:51 .emacs.d
-rw------- 1 root root 16 Nov 21 01:20 .esd_auth
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 24244 Nov 21 21:14 .fonts.cache-1
drwx------ 2 root root 4096 Nov 21 01:28 .gaim
-rw------- 1 root root 1173 Nov 21 21:11 .gaimrc
drwx------ 5 root root 4096 Nov 21 21:06 .gconf
drwx------ 3 root root 4096 Nov 21 21:12 .gconfd
drwx------ 6 root root 4096 Nov 21 01:43 .gnome
drwx------ 5 root root 4096 Nov 21 15:43 .gnome2
drwx------ 2 root root 4096 Nov 21 01:36 .gnome2_private
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Nov 21 01:43 .gnome-desktop
drwx------ 2 root root 4096 Nov 21 01:27 .gnome_private
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 130 Nov 21 01:36 .gtkrc-1.2-gnome2
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1119 Nov 21 03:01 .gtkrc-kde
-rw------- 1 root root 1815 Nov 21 21:06 .ICEauthority
drwx------ 4 root root 4096 Nov 21 03:01 .kde
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Nov 21 03:01 .mcop
-rw------- 1 root root 31 Nov 21 03:01 .mcoprc
drwx------ 3 root root 4096 Nov 21 01:43 .metacity
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Nov 21 01:47 .mozilla
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Nov 21 01:43 .nautilus
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Nov 21 01:19 .qt
-rw------- 1 root root 458 Nov 21 03:31 .recently-used
-rw------- 1 root root 497 Nov 21 01:43 .rhn-applet.conf
-rw------- 1 root root 52 Nov 21 02:17 .twm5DdQBC
-rw------- 1 root root 52 Nov 21 02:19 .twmO1GZOU
-rw------- 1 root root 52 Nov 21 02:05 .twmXez8TL
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Nov 21 02:18 .var
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Nov 21 10:55 .vnc
-rw------- 1 root root 625 Nov 21 21:06 .Xauthority
-rw------- 1 root root 233 Nov 21 21:11 .xsession-errors


i use to have other folders in there... that .vnc directory, i recreated it.... i also never had that bash2.05b prompt before... i always had [root@localhost directory]

It looks like some files have been wiped try copying he skel files:
cp /etc/skel/.b* /root/

That should sort your prompt when you login again. I really wouldn't advise running VNC as root for secuity reasons but if you need to then try running vncserver again.

I am new to linux , and have mandrake/ vnc on my laptop trying to view a vnc enabled win 2000 sever .
however much i try i cannot find a way to ctrl-alt-del to lon on the windows machine .
it is enabled ok on that machine , and i can view th desktop , but cannot find a way at all .
people talk about clcking on somthing in the top left corner , but i dunno wat they mean .
mandrake 9.2 comes with annother remote tool , which has an ico of a blue"eye"
but for some reason it hasnt installed , or if it it has i dunno what it is called and cannot find it on the machine .
when i try to add more packages there are no remote ones left to install.
know this package exists because i used it a few days ago before i had to reinstall.
can anyone please help ?

Jono

jonob, Please start a new therad for a new question. It heps the person starting the thread get the help they want. To send Ctrl AlT Del to the windows machine press the F8 key will in VNC and you should get a box with options pop up. One should be Ctrl Alt Del.

david_ross.... thanks... the cp /etc/skel/.b* /root/ fixed my prompt and set it back to how it originally was... am i going to assume that i can't get back my originals files

It is unlikely without performing some sort of data recovery.

is there a reason why all my stuff vanished and my whole desktop got changed? or is it just a fluke?

I would guess that you probably deleted it but I could be wrong. It is a very bad idea to login to X as root for this very reason.