QUOTE (michaelk @ May 8 2011, 06:31 PM)

I suspect that the /root filesystem has become corrupted. You need to boot from a live CD and run fsck. Example:
fsck /dev/sda1
Is Ubuntu the only OS on this computer?
Do you know which partition is /root?
thanks for the quick reply...i cant run a boot cd...the netbook has no cd drive..and yes ubuntu is the only operating system on the comtputer...and no i dont know what partition is /root