I broke it! How can I fix it?

[Rick Bowers]

I just bought a new computer and have already broken it.

The computer is an Acer Aspire and had Windows Vista installed.
When it shipped, it had 3 partitions: a hidden system restore 
partition (sda1), C: (sda2) (1/2 the remaining space, with Windows 
Vista), D: (sda3)(1/2 the remaining space, USER).

I booted a live linux disk and re-sized and re-partitioned the D: 
partition to two partitions; 64GB (D:) and 80GB (empty).
At this point, the computer still functioned normally.

Then I made the empty partition an extended partition (sda4) and 
created sda5 (76GB, "/") and sda6 (4GB, "swap")

Next, I loaded an OpenSuSE CD and installed it to sda5.  When the 
install process asked me where to install the boot loader, I told it 
/dev/sda5.
Why?? Because my choices were MBR, root disk , or boot disk (sda5). I 
did not want to put GRUB on the MBR because I wasn't sure what that 
entailed. I did not want to destroy the hidden recovery partition, so 
I chose my boot disk, sda5.

Well, not the computer will not boot at all. A reboot simply displays 
"Verifying DMI Pool Data ..........." then hangs. Forever.

I'm technical, but don't (obviously) understand the boot process. I 
can boot a live CD and, hopefully, recover. But I need help.

Should I replace the MBR? Is it safe to put GRUB in the MBR? Will 
that still let me boot to the recovery partition?
What are the steps to recover from my stupidity? I don't understand 
GRUB at all so will need somewhat detailed procedures.

TIA!

~Rick