recovery mode

[Anthony J Brow]

Hi Everyone,
        
        Your expertise will be really appreciated here. When installing
        Skype, I
        was testing the sound as there was no sound. Just could not get
        it
        work.Trying sound settings,is where my troubles started. Lost
        ALL sound.
        Then trying to get an email address from the 'evolution' address
        book,
        the system froze, I had to reboot.Tried again , same result.
        Tried a
        label/business card program  and it froze. I decided to try the
        'generic
        recovery mode'. There was an answer towards the end:
        
        * Mounting local file systems*
        (mntent): Warning ! No final newline at the end of /etc/fstab/
        
        well, I looked it up in google, but the answers made no sense to
        this
        nooby, seeing some expected to go to the ' root' area. I have
        seen
        warnings NOT to fiddle with that.  So where do I go from here ? 
         I don't wanna loose my pictures or email addresses, by a total
        re-install from the Feisty Cd. 
        
        thanks in advance
        -- 
        Anthony J Brow <tbrow at tpg.com.au>