i have a 20GB hard drive which i partioned and put Win98 on one half and Mandrake 8.1 on the other...it was working and letting me pick which one i wanted to boot to. I recently had to Re-install windows (go figure) and it got rid of the menu and goes straight to windows...is there any way to fix this without having to re-install linux? any info would be appreciated as i am very new at linux tho i have been using Windows since Windows 3.1...thanks

Brad

When you installed Linux, did you create a bootdisk? If so, boot the system from that disk. You'll be able to use it to boot your Linux system. When you're booted in Linux, run "/sbin/lilo"

This will re-install the Linux bootloader into the MBR of your computer so you can choose between Linux and Windows again.

This assumes lilo on your Linux system is setup to start Windows. Most distributions have Lilo setup this way, but I can't be sure of this (I don't use Mandrake). So to double-check, before you run /sbin/lilo check the /etc/lilo.conf file and look for these lines:

other=/dev/hda1
label=windows

/dev/hda1 can be different if Windows is on a different partition.

I forgot to mention: perhaps Mandrake uses Grub instead of Lilo. If you know that's the case let me know and I'll give you some instructions how to reinstall Grub into the MBR.

Mandrake 8.1 has GRUB. At least that is what it set mine up with.

mine uses lilo....that worked thanks for the help, i appreciate it.

Brad

Windoze always overwrites the MBR during an install without giving you a choice, you should always have a working linux boot floppy to fix the MBR if your dual booting.

On a similar note, my computer is (upon starting windows) detecting a "bios virus" (i.e. Mandrake Linux's "which OS do you want" program)

Is this normal?

Is it windows detecting it? My Norton System Works Antivirus detected the upgrade and told me it was corrupted. Luckily, I overrode the decision and kept GRUB in the bootsector