The very first thing you need when your system cannot boot from the hard disk is a boot disk. It allows you to boot your system up and, in a matter of minutes, enable you to undo what rendered your system unusable.
To access
Mandriva Linux's rescue mode (available on the first CD-ROM),
boot from the CD-ROM, and press the F1 key, then
type rescue
and hit Enter. The
system boots in rescue mode (see Figura 21.1, “Available Rescue Mode Actions”).
You navigate through the actions with the arrow keys and execute the selected action by pressing Enter. The actions available are:
Use this option to restore the Linux bootloader to the disk's MBR. The former bootloader configuration will be activated again. This is handy, for example, if you dual boot with Windows® and activated a virus which corrupted your disk's MBR leading to an unbootable system.
Use this option to restore the Windows® bootloader to the disk's MBR. This can be used to completely clean the Linux bootloader information and leave Windows® only “as if Linux had never been installed”. Press Enter to perform the action, or N followed by Enter to cancel the action.
Use this
option to mount all available partitions under the
/mnt
directory. Each partition will be
mounted in its own directory, with the same name it would have
if mounted by the original system. This option is very useful
when you need to access data on your partitions, for example to
back it up. You will probably need to mount partitions before
accessing the console, for example.
Use this option to access the console where you can perform further operations, for example loading network card drivers, copying files, formatting partitions, etc. A very basic Linux system is available with a few consoles which you can switch between using the Alt-F<n> key sequence.
Once you finished using the console you can issue the reboot command to restart the system.
Restarts the machine. Take the CD-ROM out if you want the system to boot as usual. You won't be asked for confirmation, the system reboots immediately.
Shows a few pages of help text, with briefs explanations on what the rescue mode addresses. Navigate through the pages using the Page Up and Page Down or the arrow keys and press the Q key followed by the Enter key to return to the rescue actions menu.