[fatbob]

I just bought an old computer at a thrift shop with Red Hat Linux (2.4.7-10)
along side windows 98se. When I try to boot Linux I end up with a message that says "your system appears to have shut down uncleanly.Contains a file systemwith errors. Check forced. Error reading block 460876-attempt to read block from file system resulted in short read.
/:UNEXPECTED INCONSISTANCY;Run fsckmanually then it says failed then theen an error occuredduring file system check dropping you to a shell the system will reboot when you leave the shell. Give root passwordfor maintainance.Im a complete newbie at Linux but only paid $1 for the computer thought I would give it a try. Must be really old version. can anyone help.

[brendandonhu]

Can you type fsck at the shell and say Yes to fix all the errors it finds?
Do you know the root password for the computer?

[fatbob]

No I dont knot the root password . picked this computer up at a thrift store about 7 hours from home and they didnt know anything about it. Tried to type fsck at the prompt but I dont get any resonse. Maybe doing something wrong never used any Linux system before.

[brendandonhu]

IMO your best bet is to reinstall Linux, it sounds like that system is pretty messed up.

[fatbob]

Thanks I looked in My Computer and there is only a drive for windows and the floppy and the CD player. The Linux must not have been partitoned right or not installed right. probably why it was in a thrift store. I thank you for your help,I willl try to find an other Linux variation to install. Again thanks for trying to help.