Hi to all,
The denominator has at last been found.
I have 2012.12 running on a laptop,B3800 compaq, and 2 desktops,
I backed up all data in my home folder on all machines
I started on the laptop, since there was nothing of importance on it, reformatted '/' '/home' and installled 2012.12.
All worked. SMB$K worked , I could mount all the SMB shared drives.
I then created an iso with mylivecd, burnt the iso to DVD.
installed DVD on 2nd desktop, all went well,apart from a hiccup, I then did some upgrades on this machine. Then created an iso, burnt to DVD.
I installed this DVD on 2nd desktop, reformatting root and home. All went well. Did some upgrades on this machine, then created an iso again.
This DVD I install on 1 machine, all went well, SMB4K was still working, Now I can create isos of systems and install them where I need to.
The thing is REFORMAT '/' AND /HOME. I do not know what is /home/user that can cause thing not to work, but there can be some stuff.
Anyway 2012.12 is now working.
Many thanks to all who returned with ideas. Perhaps a note could be posted about reformatting the home folder.
It could save a lot of problems.
Gezza