ubuntu dapper screen stuck showing "grub" _
 

i am running ubuntu dapper drake on amd athlon 3000+ with 512 RAM.
has been running fine for a while now.
SATA 80 GB drive.

since morning, on boot the screen shows "GRUB" and just hangs. num lock is working fine.

On booting with live CD, nothing happens. It does not even show "GRUB".

Even trying to boot from a windows disk fails.

What could be the problem?

thank you.

maybe bad memory?

Linux will not boot from HDD
Live CD will not boot
Windows will not boot.

So, it's probably a hardware problem.
Check all your BIOS settings.
Take your PC apart, clean everything up, de-dust it. Make sure all cables are connected properly.
Try again. No better?
Try replacing parts, one at a time.
Still no better?
Maybe time for a new MoBo

sorry for the late response to the "solution". it was pretty lame so it took a while to be unembarrassed and post the results.

the CD ROM cable was loose.!!! duh.. real duh. thats all. once that was tightened, it could take LIVE CD as well as other windows CDs.

didnt really see why it was stuck at GRUB, because we had reinstalled by then.

No need to be embarrassed - loose cable has happened to all of us. Thanks for the follow-up.