get up.... I'm pressed into the wall by Ruby (our dwarf german shepard).... I manage to get free... the wifey refuses to get up... she does not have to be into the University until 3pm so she's having a lie in..

I stagger to the office... and there's were things get interesting

Delenn, my second workstation boots into Ubuntu....gives a long string of beeps and falls over.
a swift kick to the power switch... and she boots normally into Ubuntu. strange, but what the hey...

I boot Cerberus my main workstation....

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
Windows root>system32hal.dll.
Please re-install a copy of the above file.

Ruh Roh!

.....3 hours later.... I've got Windows running again (ok which one of you stole my Boot.ini file?? while I did have my Hal.dll, the Boot.ini was missing... it gives the same error.....) and I've got Ubuntu installed on Cerberus as a dual boot as insurance...

now.. can I haz my coffee in peace??