i'll try include detail possible if there's forget, i'll mtry tio supply it. upgraded 10.04 after slew of problems caused accidentally uninstalling important packages 8.04 installation. after lot of difficulty , late nights, managed 10.04 , running, has seemed have boot problems 8.04 never had. @ moment, has stopped booting altogether. if try normal ubuntu boot, screen hangs @ "starting up...". if try boot recovery mode, in middle of loading various hdds, stop, though hard drive makes noise you'd think doing something... tried unplugging usb devices, since else said fixed problem them, problem remains, though time, manages load way network drivers. now, hdd ubuntu on has os , it's detected during boot, since normal boot procedures start. however, when boot live cd , try mount hard drive, run fsck, etc., complains drive , won't mount it. answer i'm sure people want give first drive dead, doubt true. whether true or ...