IDE drive hosed in certain area, which I assume it where that file was.

I had spent the morning juggling a KVM with my systems. I wanted to be able to see my Windows Desktop on my nice 21" monitor. And I wanted to use my good IBM keyboard that was on my Linux box. So I stole an old Apex Outlook KVM from our graveyard and started plugging stuff in. But then I found an old IBM keyboard that needed some serious cleaning. So I popped the caps, put them in a bucket to soak, and blew the keyboard. But while I was re-arranging I realized that my trackballs were serial but the KVM is PS/2. So I started scrounging for a couple of converters, of which I found 1. But then I realized even when my 21" screen was on Linux I wanted to see my Windows desktop on a 19" screen so I could monitor my email, so I then plugged in a VGA splitter to send the signal to both the 21" and the 19", and I used the switch on the front of the 21" to bounce between my Linux session and my Windows session. And then I realized that I also wanted 2 keyboard active at the same time since when I facing the 19" I wanted the keyboard live even though it was not my primary keyboard. So I added a dual keyboard/single system plug. And then I realized I needed to do the samething with the 2nd trackball, but I couln't find another Serial->PS/2. Since I had found the 2nd good IBM keyboard the KVM didn't look so important anymore, especially since in practice I didn't like bouncing between Windows and Linux on my 21" monitor. So I start to put it back the old way, leaving the good newly washed IBM keyboard in place.

Did you ever read: "If you give a mouse a cookie?"

And then I got the boot error. IT delivered a new box before I left tonight, I just need to install a couple of apps and I'll be fine.