LinuxQuestions.org - GRUB giving chainloader+1 error, fixable?

I apologize if this has been asked before, but I've had a good browse around the site prior to joining.

I am quite new to Linux, and have recently eased my woes by installing v9.0 (redhat) on my laptop, dual booting (taboo subject it seems) with windows xp.

I *want* to only use BootMagic as the boot loader.

Currently I have 2 options using BootMagic:

Windows XP Pro
RedHat Linux 9.0

Both links work fine, gratefully. After much forum searching and several re-install attempts. and learning to partition etc.

When I go through the linux option, I get the GRUB loader screen showing me

Windows XP (previously labelled DOS)
Linux

Linux will load fine when selected, however when selecting windows xp I get an error. Something akin to a chainloader +1 or something.

I can hit enter, and it will boot back to windows xp correctly.

What I'd like to do is stop the message from happening, by having GRUB point to the BootMagic boot loader screen when i select win xp from the GRUB prompt. Also I'd like to remove the auto-loader time option (the one that counts down and selects an OS by default) from GRUB.

I'm not a newbie to linux command line interface, so using the prompts isn't going to be a problem.

Anything you can offer to help would be appreciated, and many thanks in advance.

Oh, and before I forget, what is a good build of linux (redhat fedora etc) to "start" with, like ... mostly newbie friendly. Suggestions appreciated!