New laptop Install issues

[entropymaker]

I was recently gifted with an older laptop tOSHIBA Satellite A215 s4747. The person who had it before me had Linux ( Ubuntu 9.10 I think) installed on the laptop. I attempted to wipe the HD and install a new copy of Windows 7. During the Windows install the computer failed and now when i try to boot the computer form the DVD drive it just goes to GRUB loading... error: unknon filesystem grub<rescue>:

I tried loading a Windows XP disk but get the same error.

I have tried burning a supergrubdisk to boot off of and fix whatever is wrong with the grub but that disk gives me the same error? I dont have a USB stick or usb floppy drive to try booting off of, and am extremely poor so cant purchase any of those. Any ideas on how to fix this?

It's possible either the DVD drive is bad or the Windows 7defult burning program is not writing recognizable cd/dvds.

Any help would be super appreciated.

(Again this is a laptop for my brother who isnt very tech savvy so I really dont care about saving any data on the computer just a clean install of windows is all i need)

[oz]

I'd recommend booting with the Parted Magic LiveCD, then going to a terminal and issuing the following command to clear both, the MBR and the current partition table:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=512 count=1

You should receive a short message about records in and records out. After that, you should be able to boot with the Windows installation CD if that disk is good, and the CD/DVD player itself is working properly.

[entropymaker]

Burned the LiveCD with Windows 7 default disc burner and attempted to load it on the computer. Went to the grub error after reading the disc for several minutes.

Any other ideas?

Should I try burning using Nero instead of the windows default burner?

[oz]

It sounds like you might not be burning the ISO file to disk as an image properly. Check this HowTo for instructions on doing it properly:

http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/ins...ll-cd-dvd.html

Toward the bottom of the HowTo, you'll find a link that gives step-by-step instructions for burning it properly with a number of different burning apps.

[rokytnji]

Burned the LiveCD with Windows 7 default disc burner and attempted to load it on the computer. Went to the grub error after reading the disc for several minutes.

Any other ideas?

Should I try burning using Nero instead of the windows default burner?

Sounds like you may be burning a data cd instead of a image cd maybe

A good free image burner for Windows

The Official ImgBurn Website

It's Vista compatible so should work in Windows 7 also I should think. If you already have Nero. Then by all means use it to burn a image cd.

Edit: You shouldn't get a grub error booting up a live cd if burned correctly.

[entropymaker]

Tried burning the LiveCD several ways through Nero and other programs. Seems to work just fine on this computer but it does not read properly on the Toshiba. Disk drive light blinks for a minute or two and then i get the Grub error again. Any other ideas? There has to be a way to get this fixed. Could i take out the HD and wipe it from a desktop computer?

[oz]

Tried burning the LiveCD several ways through Nero and other programs. Seems to work just fine on this computer but it does not read properly on the Toshiba. Disk drive light blinks for a minute or two and then i get the Grub error again. Any other ideas? There has to be a way to get this fixed. Could i take out the HD and wipe it from a desktop computer?

If it works on other machines, it sounds like your CD/DVD drive might be failing, or it is very particular about the media that goes into it. Yes, you should be able to wipe the drive with another machine using the same liveCD and command (altered as needed). Just be sure you don't accidentally wipe the drive on the substitute machine.

If you'll look around on in the menu on the Parted Magic LiveCD, you can find a Secure Erase option that might also work well for your needs.

[arochester]

when i try to boot the computer form the DVD drive it just goes to GRUB loading... error: unknon filesystem grub<rescue>

I tried loading a Windows XP disk but get the same error.

Have you checked the BIOS? Is it set to Boot from the CD-Rom first, rather than the Hard Drive?