Blue screen 'config list failed'

twiglet98

I have an old Sony laptop running XP3, 20Gb hard drive, 256Mb RAM installed in one slot - it has the capacity to double the RAM. The hard drive is in two partitions and I have programs on one, data on the other, mainly iTunes music library files as I move photos and docs to an external hard drive whenever it warns that I'm running low on disk space.

After not using it for many months I powered it up and (stupidly) I had it set to update automatically. The updates have apparently used all the available disk space and now it won't boot up even in safe mode, just goes through a cycle of flashing up the infamous blue screen with the heading 'config_list_failed', checking the drives, restarting itself and repeating the sequence ad infinitum.

I'm not sure adding another memory module will make a difference if the hard drive is maxed out, but I can't take anything off the hard drive if it won't boot up in the first place. Will piggybacking the HD onto another computer be worth trying (ie using this one as a slave drive) and if so, can I do that with a desktop PC as we don't have another laptop? Or is it just permanently inaccessible now, too overloaded to ever work again...?

fwor

No, adding memory won't help. Yes, you can add the HDD as a slave drive to a desktop PC to delete files, though you'll typically need to buy an adaptor if it's an IDE drive, as the connectors are smaller.

Does the laptop have a CD drive? If so, it would be a lot easier to download one of the Linux distributions (such as Ubuntu) and boot from that as a LiveCD. That should auto-mount the hard disk and allow you to delete files without anywhere near as much messing about.

[Edit: Thinking about it further, I'm not sure that the LiveCD route will be quite so simple, because I ~think~ most LiveCDs mount an NTFS partition read-only. So you may need to resort to the command line to mount it with write permission enabled.]

twiglet98

Thanks fwor, the laptop does have a CD drive and the main family desktop has a CD writer, so I'll try that - I've no experience of Linux so it could be a useful experience whether or not I can get into the laptop again! I'm not sure what the boot order was set to in the BIOS, I don't think I've changed it from the default setting on that computer and I'm not even sure how to get into the BIOS on a Sony, all my other computers are Compaq desktops and I'm a lot more confident with them.

twiglet98

Cross-posted!

The drive is in two FAT32 partitions.

Presumably I get to the command line when it boots from the CD?

fwor

twiglet98 wrote: »

Presumably I get to the command line when it boots from the CD?

No - all of the main distros boot into an X-Windows graphical interface and you would then typically go to Applications, Accessories, Terminal and that will give you a command line prompt.

I can't offhand recall the command syntax, but if you type "man mount" it will display the manual for that command. You should be able to find the name of the full partition (it will be something like /dev/sda1) by starting the partition editor.

[Edit - incidentally, the partition editor (GPARTED) that comes on the LiveCD is ~supposed~ to be able to resize FAT32 partitions, so you may simply be able to shrink the one that's got space and then grow the one that's full. But you might want to image the drive onto something else first in case it all goes horribly wrong...]

twiglet98

Ok thanks, I'll have a go tomorrow and let you know!