... I think I fixed it.
Was able to run a check on the desktop's partitions, and afterwards it booted up normally without the rescue CD! Everything looks to be okay, didn't get any errors while booting up or logging in.
Now for some candor: this desktop has been sitting around borked and unused since early March 2009. Yep, I've been substituting my laptop for the family computer for the better part of a year because I was lazy, nervous, and reluctant to mess with the desktop. No wonder the backlights burned out, with all that constant fading in/out several times a day as people used the computer then left it idle. This also means all my Favorites (hell, even the browser) are horribly out of date (Also, the Pidigin IM protocols are so obsolete it's not working with MSN anymore, so even if I were on here much today I wouldn't be able to chat. IRC still works, though.). I am not looking forward to installing the 296MB of system updates either. Maybe I can put that off, since we're still looking to wipe the harddrive and put Win7 on it. I'm going to try and back up -all- of -everyone's- stuff today.
I'm trying to get in touch with the guy who sold me my laptop so I can see about fixing that (or at least backing up its data), but his phone's been busy every time.
Now for some candor: this desktop has been sitting around borked and unused since early March 2009. Yep, I've been substituting my laptop for the family computer for the better part of a year because I was lazy, nervous, and reluctant to mess with the desktop. No wonder the backlights burned out, with all that constant fading in/out several times a day as people used the computer then left it idle. This also means all my Favorites (hell, even the browser) are horribly out of date (Also, the Pidigin IM protocols are so obsolete it's not working with MSN anymore, so even if I were on here much today I wouldn't be able to chat. IRC still works, though.). I am not looking forward to installing the 296MB of system updates either. Maybe I can put that off, since we're still looking to wipe the harddrive and put Win7 on it. I'm going to try and back up -all- of -everyone's- stuff today.
I'm trying to get in touch with the guy who sold me my laptop so I can see about fixing that (or at least backing up its data), but his phone's been busy every time.