I have read other similar posts and still can't figure this out. I have XP on my primary hd. RH8 on the slave. I have grub installed on the slave with RH8 but I have reinstalled many times and one of them I may have let it put grub in the MBR as this is the default.? Right now neither os will boot unless I boot from the floppy into RH. I have figured out how to edit the grub.conf file using the text editor but I am unsure what it should read. I have tried to fdisk -1 but get error messages in the root shell. I have looked at my disk configuration when I have installed and know that this is true:

HDA1 ntfs/?
hdb1 root
hdb2 linux
hdb3 swap

I do not have a bootable copy of XP at this time - read copy only, if I need to repair anything on the XP hd.

# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE: You have a /boot partition. This means that
# all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
# root (hd1,0)
# kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/hdb2
# initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/hdb1
default=1
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title Red Hat Linux (2.4.18-14)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.18-14 ro root=LABEL=/ hdc=ide-scsi hdd=ide-scsi
initrd /initrd-2.4.18-14.img
title winxp
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
chainloader +1

Any help in understanding and fixing this would be appreciated. I also notice the scsi listed by Linux. I have a scsi zip drive which should not be involved in this. Is this a problem?

Thanks

keep existing MBR record but make sure RH is the default/primary / boot loader

I am a true newbie so you will have to tell me how to do this.

With win XP "Already" installed (preferably on a fat 32 partition, that way it will be easier for RH to access it). Boot to the CDROM to install RH. Youll need to keep existing partitions on existing HDA1 but delete all on HDA2. Let RH (for Ease of use) auto partion HDA2 "BUT" make sure you keep your existing Partions. Select, or make sure the box is seleted, for RH to be the DEFAULT boot

Ok, now I understand what you mean because I always make Xp the default as that is what I will primarily use - If I ever get it up and running again.

Ok - I just learned from another post that fdisk - l is an L and not a 1 so here is my fdisk. Can someone tell me if my grub file is correct?

Disk /dev/sda: 64 heads, 32 sectors, 96 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 2048 * 512 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 ? 106509 937559 850995205 72 Unknown
Partition 1 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(368, 111, 45) logical=(106508, 35, 6)
Partition 1 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(371, 101, 51) logical=(937558, 35, 15)
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary:
phys=(371, 101, 51) should be (371, 63, 32)
/dev/sda2 ? 355982 621595 271987362 74 Unknown
Partition 2 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(67, 115, 32) logical=(355981, 34, 2)
Partition 2 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(299, 114, 44) logical=(621594, 12, 5)
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary:
phys=(299, 114, 44) should be (299, 63, 32)
/dev/sda3 ? 82351 82351 0 65 Novell Netware 386
Partition 3 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(114, 111, 32) logical=(82350, 35, 19)
Partition 3 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(353, 115, 52) logical=(82350, 35, 18)
Partition 3 does not end on cylinder boundary:
phys=(353, 115, 52) should be (353, 63, 32)
/dev/sda4 1314913 1314938 25817+ 0 Empty
Partition 4 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(0, 0, 0) logical=(1314912, 0, 1)
Partition 4 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(0, 0, 0) logical=(1314937, 13, 19)
Partition 4 does not end on cylinder boundary:
phys=(0, 0, 0) should be (0, 63, 32)

Partition table entries are not in disk order

Disk /dev/hda: 255 heads, 63 sectors, 7297 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 7296 58605088+ 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/hdb: 255 heads, 63 sectors, 2495 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdb1 * 1 13 104391 83 Linux
/dev/hdb2 14 2365 18892440 83 Linux
/dev/hdb3 2366 2495 1044225 82 Linux swap