Thanks for the tips. I just did a file based backup, dumping a bunch of stuff onto my external (and then my GF knocks it off the table…).
Good enough for me.
I won’t bother troubleshooting any further as I’m about to buy a new PC, but I’m glad to have this one up and running for a little longer and also thanks for advising me to backup my stuff asap.
I think I will try openSuse 12.3 on my new PC. With that in mind, should I be changing my hardware prefs?
For example, I’m likely to be getting an i5 3570K (not overclocked now but maybe in the future), and something like a Radeon HD 7850/7870. Asrock Pro 4 motherboard, 8-16gb 1333/1600 ram.