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[Sindi Keesan <keesan AT iamjlamb.com>]

While trying to get the linux source code for 2.2.16 into /usr/src/
on my second computer (the first would not recognize the CD-ROM drive), 
after installing bzip2 and bunzip2-ing the file from the source CD 
(linux-2.2.16-tar.bz2 copied to the hard drive first), I did tar
on the resulting 75MB file (up from 13M) and was getting an occasional 
error (reset?  two lines of error, it resumed).  Then I went away and came 
back to find a screen full of error messages about reset and status and 
command and I could not do Ctrl-C.  Something wrong with hdb so I powered 
off and tried to go back into linux.

Linuxz contains a file system with errors, check forced.

It got slightly into the check and gave up and told me to run fsck 
manually.  When I typed root to login there were a lot of error messages 
about EXT2 error  Wrong free inode count (followed by various numbers).

Before logging in (I think) there was some complaint about 
Inode 41067 has illegal blocks.

I dutifully typed fsck without any switches but that did not help.  I have 
no idea what fsck is supposed to do or how to use it.

This now happens every time I try to run linux.

What got messed up?  Is it a bad hard drive?  Just a software problem?  
Can I fix this?  Only half the source files got installed, even though I 
saw the others go by on the list.  the /net directory is 0, as is README.
Would it help to reformat and reinstall Linux on there again.  Change hard 
drives?  Change computers?

THis computer is the one that used to not boot linux half the time (unless 
I booted from Win98 DOS or MS-DOS 6) but it now boots linux without any 
complaints until the fsck/inodes thing.  I tried to use the problem-free 
one but it could not find the CD-ROM drive.   (And now my keyboard drawer 
just fell off again....)

I was trying to compile the kernel module for a replacement ethernet card
but I can put back the original card to reinstall linux with as it uses a
more standard ethernet module.  One problem leads to too many others.

Any ideas welcome.
Sindi