Hey, as you can guess I am new at this. (Hey we all start from somewhere!)

My problem is occurs when my computer starts. I have Win98 on one partition and Red Hat 9 on the other. However, Windows automatically starts up. It appears something is wrong with the boot loader.(?) When I attempt to use the startup disk that was created during the install, that ends in error almost immediately.

Any help would be great!

(PS Windows was installed first, then RH9)

Hi
try to reinstall boot loader.
1. Boot from the RedHat Linux Cd 1

2.Choose rescue mode

3.Do a chroot /mnt/sysimage

4.Give this command:

/sbin/grub-install /dev/hda

This will reinstall grub on the MBR

UPDATE: Tried the above...now i cant load anything and i get one of two errors....
Error loading OS or insert System Disk....this cant be good!

The first thing you need to do is to fix your Master Boot Record (MBR). Using the Win98 CD or a boot floppy, reboot into Windows but only to the C: prompt. Once you're there, enter this command: fdisk /mbr

That will restore your MBR to a Windows-friendly state, allowing you to successfully bring up Windows. Next, you will need to reinstall the Linux bootloader. I recommend lilo, but Redhat uses GRUB by default. I'm not terribly familiar with GRUB, but the idea is that both options (Windows and Linux) need to be present in the bootloader in order for it to work successfully (obviously).

This issue is relatively common and I suggest searching here at LQ for more details or of course at Google. Good luck with it -- J.W.