... haven't seen Linux crash on me since RH8! ;) Here is the scoop, pretty simple, folks: I mount my /media/cdrecorder, do 'cp -r /media/cdrecorder ~/Media' (or via nautilus) and the system crashes; every time, totally reproducible, without a fault. When I do it in tty1 I see a bunch of messages, with the last one being <*****> unknown_bootoption****. (I can give more detailed report if required) Now here is the kicker, BIG P.S. : I recently had an accident with 'rm -rf' and lost 1/2 of my /etc directory (please don't ask)... in order to save myself from starting from scratch I rescued my /etc from a very similar system. Although it may not seem like it ;), I'm pretty handy with Linux, so I moulded my /etc into proper shape (network, mounts, conf files etc etc). PAINFULL. I thought all was well until this came up... I would think that the kernel would be smart enough to report any discrepancies in my /etc/ stuff without crashing on me like this, but I DEFINITELY wouldn't count this out as a possible cause of my problems. Any suggestions are MUCH appreciated, Mike