Program won't boot

I have a problem.

I'm running Ubuntu 8.04.2 with 2.4.5, I have been running this set-up for two and a half years.
As of today when I try to boot the machine I get one of two messages.

It either states,

"Starting up....." (and nothing happens).

Or,

"Starting up...
No setup signature found" (and nothing happens).

Say what?????

It did this dance a couple years ago and it just went ahead and started working properly.

Anyone have a clue what or why this is happening and how to fix it?

Thanks

you have a pending hard drive going to it's maker
switch the pc off leave it for 10 mins or there abouts and reboot , it will eventually work
once up and running save what you need , and perhaps fit a new hard drive

some of the diskcheckers for linux may work , but this is once your back up and running
or try fsck
www.thegeekstuff.com/2012/08/fsck-command-examples/

Thanks for the response Basher.

Well isn't that special! Another HD headed for boot hill.

I've asked this question before and have never really got a definite answer.

Being as I now need to go find a new PC, is there something out there that will play nice with LCNC, and will house 4 LPT ports? (Old style).

I don't have time to mess with this in the first place, so I really don't need to purchase a pain in the a**.

I'll check to see if I can locate a HD for this twelve year old fossil in the meantime.

This should be interesting.

Thanks again