I broke it! How can I fix it?

[Rick Bowers]

At Friday 9/28/2007 09:04 AM, you wrote:
>On Thu, 27 Sep 2007 20:59:00 -0400
>Rick Bowers <rwbowers at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > 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
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Linux-users mailing list ( Linux-users at linux-sxs.org )
> > Unsub/Password/Etc: http://mail.linux-sxs.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-users
> >
> > ***  OFF TOPIC conversations should get sent to 
> general at linux-sxs.org.  This rule will be strictly enforced.  ***
> >
> > Need to chat further on this subject? Check out #linux-users on 
> irc.linux-sxs.org !
>
>Rick
>
>  Is this a laptop? I have the Aspire 5100 and all three ,Xp, Vista, 
> and Fedora 7 run
>very nicely. I have each on its own hard drive. I did put grub on MBR.
>
>--
>  Rick Sivernell
>  Dallas, Texas  75287
>  972 306-2296
>  res005ru at verizon.net
>  Registered Linux User

Rick,

This is a desktop system, T180. I only have one hard drive, so 
re-partitioned it to load linux. My concern was that putting GRUB in 
the MBR would cause the recovery partition to no longer be accessible.

But now I need to figure out how to make the thing bootable again.

~Rick

>_______________________________________________
>Linux-users mailing list ( Linux-users at linux-sxs.org )
>Unsub/Password/Etc: http://mail.linux-sxs.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-users
>
>***  OFF TOPIC conversations should get sent to 
>general at linux-sxs.org.  This rule will be strictly enforced.  ***
>
>Need to chat further on this subject? Check out #linux-users on 
>irc.linux-sxs.org !