Glenn
I tried Rolf's suggestion first - mainly because it could be done interactively without committing myself to editing a configuration file. I'm nervous I won't be able to start the system again! I probably shouldn't be so cautious because I could boot into safe mode and edit it back.
Anyway, it works as you can see from the relevant message. I'll see how it goes and will try your suggestion if there are any further problems.

Thanks very much for your help - I couldn't use Linux without this support.

I hope it works for you. You don't say so I'm prompted to ask, you do know that the command line needs to be edited in /boot/grub/menu.lst for this switch to be applied at each boot? Edits to the command line at the grub boot screen only apply for that boot....

I spoke too soon! (See later post with more detail.)

I had edited the file you mention - this is the file below:

timeout 10
color black/cyan yellow/cyan
gfxmenu (hd0,0)/boot/gfxmenu
default 0

title linux
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux root=UUID=565570de-fbe4-4654-9628-28c392db8bea resume=UUID=4a3af238-0777-4d0d-af85-e25149101ccc splash=silent i915.modeset=0 vga=788
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/initrd.img

title linux-nonfb
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux-nonfb root=UUID=565570de-fbe4-4654-9628-28c392db8bea resume=UUID=4a3af238-0777-4d0d-af85-e25149101ccc i915.modeset=0
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/initrd.img

title failsafe
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=failsafe root=UUID=565570de-fbe4-4654-9628-28c392db8bea failsafe
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/initrd.img

title desktop 2.6.31.5-1mnb
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31.5-desktop-1mnb BOOT_IMAGE=desktop_2.6.31.5-1mnb root=UUID=565570de-fbe4-4654-9628-28c392db8bea resume=UUID=4a3af238-0777-4d0d-af85-e25149101ccc splash=silent i915.modeset=0 vga=788
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/initrd-2.6.31.5-desktop-1mnb.img

title desktop 2.6.31.6-1mnb
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31.6-desktop-1mnb BOOT_IMAGE=desktop_2.6.31.6-1mnb root=UUID=565570de-fbe4-4654-9628-28c392db8bea resume=UUID=4a3af238-0777-4d0d-af85-e25149101ccc splash=silent i915.modeset=0 vga=788
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/initrd-2.6.31.6-desktop-1mnb.img

I spoke too soon! It's ok provided I don't use the computer and the screensaver is off, but if I use the Opera or Firefox browsers it hangs after a varying length of time.

I found another oddity yesterday, using File Browser on a sub-directory of /home/me/pictures, it waited without finding any files, yet Search for Files worked fine so presumably no problem with the disk. Today File Browser finds files. Search doesn't work.

Is hanging a problem with Mandrake or Linux in general? I am getting pretty fed up with it now! Should backtrack to Mandriva 2009, or try Ubuntu?

Clearly, you are having problems, but you can't generalize to Mandriva or Linux or 2010 based only on that. The bulk of stuff works for me and has for 10 years. Many things can go wrong. For example, it could be a drive or the cable or the controller is failing.

One thing you can do is install ide-smart, as root:

urpmi -v ide-smart

Also as root

ide-smart /dev/xxx

Where you can discover the pertinent xxx with, as root:

fdisk -l

Rolf - I have done what you suggested, sdb is just a spare disk that I backup to, here are the results:

[root@localhost paul]# ide-smart /dev/sda
Id= 1 Status=15 {Prefailure Online } Value=113 Threshold= 6 Passed
Id= 3 Status= 3 {Prefailure Online } Value= 99 Threshold= 0 Passed
Id= 4 Status=50 {Advisory Online } Value= 99 Threshold= 20 Passed
Id= 5 Status=51 {Prefailure Online } Value=100 Threshold= 36 Passed
Id= 7 Status=15 {Prefailure Online } Value= 76 Threshold= 30 Passed
Id= 9 Status=50 {Advisory Online } Value= 98 Threshold= 0 Passed
Id= 10 Status=19 {Prefailure Online } Value=100 Threshold= 97 Passed
Id= 12 Status=50 {Advisory Online } Value= 99 Threshold= 20 Passed
Id=187 Status=50 {Advisory Online } Value=100 Threshold= 0 Passed
Id=189 Status=58 {Advisory Online } Value=100 Threshold= 0 Passed
Id=190 Status=34 {Advisory Online } Value= 66 Threshold= 45 Passed
Id=194 Status=34 {Advisory Online } Value= 34 Threshold= 0 Passed
Id=195 Status=26 {Advisory Online } Value= 91 Threshold= 0 Passed
Id=197 Status=18 {Advisory Online } Value=100 Threshold= 0 Passed
Id=198 Status=16 {Advisory OffLine} Value=100 Threshold= 0 Passed
Id=199 Status=62 {Advisory Online } Value=200 Threshold= 0 Passed
Id=200 Status= 0 {Advisory OffLine} Value=100 Threshold= 0 Passed
Id=202 Status=50 {Advisory Online } Value=100 Threshold= 0 Passed
OffLineStatus=130 {Completed}, AutoOffLine=Yes, OffLineTimeout=7 minutes
OffLineCapability=91 {Immediate Auto SuspendOnCmd}
SmartRevision=10, CheckSum=101, SmartCapability=3 {SaveOnStandBy AutoSave}
[root@localhost paul]# ide-smart /dev/sdb
Id= 1 Status=11 {Prefailure Online } Value=100 Threshold= 51 Passed
Id= 4 Status=50 {Advisory Online } Value= 93 Threshold= 0 Passed
Id= 5 Status=51 {Prefailure Online } Value=253 Threshold= 10 Passed
Id= 7 Status=11 {Prefailure Online } Value=253 Threshold= 51 Passed
Id= 8 Status=36 {Advisory OffLine} Value=253 Threshold= 0 Passed
Id= 9 Status=50 {Advisory Online } Value= 99 Threshold= 0 Passed
Id= 12 Status=50 {Advisory Online } Value= 99 Threshold= 0 Passed
Id=194 Status=34 {Advisory Online } Value=148 Threshold= 0 Passed
Id=197 Status=51 {Prefailure Online } Value=253 Threshold= 10 Passed
Id=198 Status=49 {Prefailure OffLine} Value=253 Threshold= 10 Passed
Id=199 Status=10 {Advisory Online } Value=100 Threshold= 0 Passed
Id=200 Status=11 {Prefailure Online } Value=100 Threshold= 51 Passed
Id=201 Status=11 {Prefailure Online } Value=100 Threshold= 51 Passed
OffLineStatus=0 {NeverStarted}, AutoOffLine=No, OffLineTimeout=30 minutes
OffLineCapability=27 {Immediate Auto SuspendOnCmd}
SmartRevision=16, CheckSum=56, SmartCapability=3 {SaveOnStandBy AutoSave}

The thing is, with disappearing parts of the filesystem, it could be something hardware-related.
When you install this program, it puts an entry in your bootloader menu to launch memtest when you choose it. Usually, a bad chip shows up pretty soon but you can start it and let it run overnight for a thorough look-see.

Hi, another thought, Make sure you do not use us-international key-board settings

Use the default, US-Keyboard,

(I use "105-key (intl) PC" for this next part)

But try 104-key PC.

See how you go.

Regards Glenn

No worries - since I'm British I'm using UK keyboard.

I've now installed ide-smart and memtest86+. The first one listed some test results and the second one didn't appear to do anything. The computer has only crashed once today so perhaps one of these programs is doing something rather than just testing things. I've had a look on the web but I'm not sure.

I saw the output from ide-smart and, to my eye, it looks normal. If you see a "Fail" in there, it might indicate impending hard drive crash.

On memtest86+, after you install it, reboot, and choose it from the boot menu. It gives you some choices, iirc, so choose what makes sense or it might just have a default run. It tests your memory very thoroughly and comprehensively (in console, so you can't use the computer for anything else) and a full test takes quite a while. As I said, let it run overnight to be sure but my experience is that bad memory is exposed during the first suite of tests.

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On boot-up, I get 4 options, Standard, safe, and two old versions, I can also press [F3] to get a command line which has the standard boot command ready to edit. There doesn't seem to be any sign of memtest86+

Let me check.

Those are commands issued one after the other and resultant output. As you can see, installing memtest86+ puts an entry, "memtest", in the menu. Are you sure it's installed? Show the output of the same rpm -q and grep commands on your machine.

Removing the -i from the installation instruction did the trick thanks, I'll run it tonight.

The last twice it hung it was when I was opening an email - I got an error message from Gnome desktop after re-booting - which may have been relating to that, I'll watch this.