Computer Won't Start

I was trying to get Ubuntu on my Toshiba laptop. I downloaded it to a CD and then ran that CD from start up. It was just a demo but on the desktop you could install, so I hit the install. Then I selected my language and such. It gave me an error and I tried to hit ignore, but it wouldn't do anything. I could still open my browser and such. I decided to shut down my computer and now it wont start back up. All it does is give me a black screen with the blinking line on the top left(the thing that shows where you are when you are typing). That's all it does. Somebody please help me I want to get my computer back on.
During the installation did you choose to install it on your hard drive? I hope you were careful if you had something installed or stored there already. Ubuntu needs its own partition so if you just clicked yes/forward/proceed or whatever without thinking you might have wiped out your old data. It might not be as bad as that. Maybe the failed installation just messed up the boot record. Not sure how to restore it but I'm sure you find a lot of information if you search.

As for why the installation failed I can only guess. If you mounted the hard drive partitions that you were trying install to that could have been the reason. Try to not mount any of the hard drive partitions (or unmount them if they mount automatically) before starting the installation.

I just said install all third party applications. Then once I hit download it gave me an error, something to do with partitions, i'm not too sure. I have searched all over online and I can't find anything that has worked. Do you have any suggestions on what to do?
Try starting your computer and going into boot options and running the live cd. Then install boot-repair:

$ sudo apt-get install boot-repair

You may need to get the PPA, I cant remember, its been a while. Also, if you are installing on a EUFI configured computer, you are going to have to take additional steps to get it to work. I would start with boot repair and see where it leads though. Hopefully it will at least get grub running so that you can boot into whatever OS you had originally.

Happy Ubuntuing!

Chris

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