[K12OSN] OT: hard drive emergency

[Rob Owens]

I know this is off-topic, but this is the only computer-related list I subscribe to.  And I'm in a big hurry...

My sister's laptop (Dell Inspiron 1150) is dual-booting Windows XP and Mandrake 10.1.  I was ssh'd into her system, changing her hostname (I changed /etc/sysconfig/network and /etc/hosts).  Then I rebooted her computer.

But I forgot that she had her iPod plugged into the usb port, which from past experience I know will cause her computer not to boot up (never even gets to the boot loader--and I have no idea why).  She was not available at the time to disconnect the iPod, so it sat.

Now the computer will boot into both Windows and Mandrake, but it seems to not be able to find certain files.  Mozilla in Windows won't open.  X will not start up in Mandrake (gives a file not found error).  

I was able to ssh back into her computer, since Linux does boot up in text mode.  I changed the host name back, just because I am superstitious, but it didn't improve anything.  

Her hard drive is clicking and the computer beeps at random.

Any ideas?  I'm 3000 miles away, and walking her through a complete reinstall of 2 operating systems over the phone is low on my list of things I'd like to do.

-Rob

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