Hello,

I have ended up in a minor mess and will try my best to explain the issue here. Perhaps an interesting case study.

The former administrator had left the job and dissapeared, left behind two servers. The workplace has since moved and then installed just one of the servers1 (which in turn depended on server2 through netload of images and scripts) anyhow, the server1 started up but was misconfigured for the new network due to its dependencies to server2.

So we decided we just save the personal files and decided to create a new server from scratch from a live USB. The server was then completely formated and restarted (I know a bit sloppy and naive maybe but i wasnt fully informed about the dependencies at the time).

Now the problem is that I can not run the live USB nor a CD. I have changed boot order in BIOS and tried all kind of solutions but is always directed to the lilo prompt after changes in BIOS. A while after running Linux there is just a freeze and "kernel panic message".

Now, there isnt realy anything of importance to save anymore, I just want to install a new system (Ubuntu Server 11.10) and to have the system boot from the USB. How can i do this?

The former administrator was very security minded and I am pretty sure he disabled USB recovery and startup in the fstab file but am not sure. Anyhow is there a way to mount the usb or cd from start or just a solution to overwrite the whole system (have even thought of the ugly solution to try a windows installation that will later be uninstalled...) Any suggestions....?

Change back the BIOS boot order, so you will be able to boot with CD or USB, if there is a password just reset the BIOS. If the partitions have not been formated yet still possible to recover any data left there with the live CD/USB,
I hope this helps.

Regards

Thanks for the reply, tried all combination there is for BIOS.

Anyhow Its not important for me to save anything I just wanna install another system from scratch ovewriting the old one. I tried change the bootorder, the system find the USB but doesnt accept it. Have also tried Hirens Boot CD and and the system finds the CD but just never kicks it off into the prompt it just chews on forever.

Remains get a Red Hat rescue CD which seems impossible (the PC only support CD's). Found only DVD torrents.

Any advice where I can get an old school Red Hat rescue CD?