Are you sure this is the exact error mesesage? having it refer to dev/cdrom2 and not /dev/cdrom2 can be a problem. That may mean you are not typing the first / though it looks like you are based on the first mount message. > mount: block device /dev/cdrom2 is write protected, mounting read only > mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on dev/cdrom2, or too many > mounted file systems > Anyway, I think the next step is to turn SCSI emulation off just to make sure you can read from the drive ok. I am not a SCSI emulation expert, so maybe someone else here can explain how to do it? PS- sorry your first encounter with Linux has been so bizarre. It is fairly unusual for a system to do that off a default install of Mandrake. Hope it dosnt turn you off from Linux- it makes a fun challenge anyway! Jay -- Jay Kline list at slushpupie.com http://www.slushpupie.com "I'd love to go out with you, but my favorite commercial is on TV."