Older Toshiba Laptop
 

I have an older Toshiba Laptop and I did a search for the best Linux operating system to use on it. It came up suse 9.2 SO I did a search and found the download for it. As I installed it after making a disk from an ISO file I think the Hard drive failed. I did have the lastest version of Ubuntu on the laptop. Now when I boot it up there is a black screen that says GRUB> I tried to type in help to get some more options and It told me I need to install a Kernel.So I tried fdisk and all it said was file not found. Does this sound like a failed hard drive or a bad installation of SUSE 9.2. I am currently reading books I found at the library on the Linux system how it works and one about programing Linux. What does GRUB mean? and how do I erase the hard drive to start over from GRUB? I'm still new at any Linux operating systems but learning fast.

GRUB is a bootloader (GRUB stands for, if I remember correctly, "Grand Unified Bootloader"). Every OS has a bootloader, which starts at boot after POST, then loads the OS. In Apple and Microsoft OS's, the actions of the bootloaders are hidden, but the bootloaders are still there.

And, yes, this does sound as if the HDD is very ill.

I would suggest that you boot to a Live CD of something, then run smartmon tools on the hard drive. This link lists some Live CDs that include smartmon tools.

And Suse 9.2 is very very old. If you post the specs of your Toshiba, I am certain newer Linuxes may be suggested, assuming your HDD is not completely kaput.

Hi...

To me, it sounds more like a failed installation. But to make sure, you might want to run a diagnostic test on your hard drive with a utility offered by the manufacturer of your drive. Going into your laptop's BIOS might give you the manufacturer's name but you may need to open your laptop's hard drive cover to find this out. When you do, post back this information and we can help you find the appropriate utility ;)

Also, GRUB is a Linux boot loader that is installed in the MBR (Master Boot Record) section of the hard drive by default. You don't use it to reinstall, just reinsert the first CD/DVD and proceed to reinstall SUSE from scratch. Have it delete the previous copy of SUSE and reformat the partition.

However, as Frank has mentioned, it probably would be better if you installed a recent distribution of Linux. Depending on your hardware, you can install a lightweight distribution such as Zorin OS 9 Lite, AntiX or Debian :)

Regards...

means the bootloader (grub) can't find the filesystem.

Unless you installed grub to the mbr when you installed SuSE, it will be the one installed when you put Ubuntu on your disk, which is incompatible (pointing to the wrong filesytem).

As stated above, there are much better distros for older hardware that are using the latest software.

For the clueless

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kCotJWcoiE

The video is 13.2. We are now up to version 15 but the installer process is just the same.

edit: in case you missed it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRO-meyYGWg

If you decide to go this route. I highly recommend subscribing to that you tube channel. You'll learn something.