Why did my Linux Mint system crash?

[joe at actionline.com]

Many thank to you all who helped me with this problem.

As I mentioned in an earlier reply, after shutting down, blowing out any
dust bunnies, and letting the unit cool down, it restarted and seems to
be working okay ... at least enough so that I was able to rsync/copy my
crucial /home directory files to my two "back-up" laptops.

Now, I am considering getting a new ASUS EB1030-B003L net-top from either
newegg.com or Amazon ($239 with 2-GB ram and 32-GB SSD and ubuntu
preinstalled) to build a 100% redundant system to my current Lenovo Q150
net-top that I have been using for a couple years as my main computer.

I think that the Asus with solid state drives should run even cooler than
the Lenovo; and I think I'd like to replace the pre-installed ubuntu with
Linux Mint.

Any comments or suggestions from the PLUG brain trust before I proceed
would be much appreciated.

Joe


------- Lisa last wrote (in part) -------
> Brian's suggestions are right on:  (showing you how to
> boot other [installation] media [CD/DVD or pendrive]
> and then chroot  [change root] into your current system.
> ...
> Once you get your documents resurrected,
> you can just upgrade it or rebuild?