Read the man page for fstab but didn't determine if I could in fact create a new fstab file for a disto on a multiboot sytem. Mandriva 2008 fstab file got corrupted when I installed another distro and overwrote the grub menu on mbr. All other distros boot but not Mandriva 2008.

I ran the blkid command from the command line to see if the UUID listed in the fstab for M2008 was incorrect. It was not.

If I can't create a new fstab file then is my only option to re-install?

Just to see if I understand: Mandriva will not boot because the fstab file is corrupted? Or is it not listed in the grub menu?

You can make a new fstab, but be careful...be sure to backup the original, and use it as a reference. The fstab file is specific to the linux installation. In other words, if you install Mandriva, Ubuntu, and Mepis, for instance, they will each have their own fstab, which will tell that installation what drives are available to mount. If one of the fstab files got corrupted, you should be able to boot into a working installation, then chroot into the non-working one to create a new fstab, or even just copy a suitable fstab file to the non-working one (again, just be sure you back up your fstabs, and make sure to copy to the correct partition). If you don't have a working install, you should be able to use a rescue or live cd to fix your fstab.

Whichever install is the latest will overwrite your grub menu, unless you specifically tell it not to. You may have to fix your grub menu.lst file to include all of your boot options.

OK, Let me explain, bcwagne. I had Mepis, Mint, Kubuntu, PCLOS and XP. I replaced PCLOS with Mandriva. Mandriva was the last to write a grub menu to mbr. Then I replaced Mint with something else that didn't install correctly but had wiped out Mint. So I re-installed Mint and let it write a grub menu to mbr. All distros booted except Mandriva. It wasn't listed as Mandriva but just had a generic entry. I went into Mint and edited the menu.lst to make it read Mandriva and ended up putting in these lines 'root (hdo, 10)' and 'configfile /boot/grub/menu.lst'. Mandriva still didn't boot. So I posted to the Mandriva forum and help pointed me to the fstab file. I made some errors in posting the results of my fstab file and then I guess it got too complicated because I didn't get more help.

I am just a few months into Linux and still trying to learn how to troubleshoot my system. It would be a learning experience to fix this and get it to work. I know that the most simple thing to do would be to re-install Mandriva.

BTW.. All the other distros boot with no problem. From what you said, if I understand you correctly, I should be able to get a copy of the fstab file from one of the other distros and use it if I am careful to compare it to the original and do some editing. Is that correct?

Thanks for the help,
Harold