You are right I should have just edited my first post, I didn't think of that. Please accept my apologies for my mistake.
On the bright side, I did complete a Linux install finally. Makes me feel good that I at least did that right. The only problem is the bad hard drive now. My brother is a good sport and wants me to continue when the replacement drive ships. Anything to avoid the problems that happen with Windows, yet still run his Windows games.