I have windows xp on the c: drive ide and fedora core 4 on the d: drive ide and would like to know how to dual boot the system can any one help

How did you manage to get fedora installed, and not set up the boot loader to boot either xp or fedora? It should have been presented as an option during installation, to install grub to the MBR. Grub would have been automagically configured to offer you the option to boot xp or fedora.

Alternatively, I beleive you can configure the xp bootloader to offer fedora in a boot menu.

Thats the way it should work but it does not, it asked the set up the boot loader but that just never worked.
there is an alternative way but i don't know how to set that up that way.

The alternative ways are: manually set up the bootloader (xp loader or grub).

For information on using the xp loader, check the microsoft help files.

For information on manually setting up grub, read the grub manual. It has step by step procedures, with examples.

Thanks will read up on that and let you know how it goes

Maybe it helps if you tell us what the exact problem is? What do you get when booting? Straight WinXP, straight fedore, a bootloader (probably Grub) or does the system not boot at all? If you get a bootloader, can you boot WinXP or fedora or none of them?

If your system takes you straight to WinXP, I think that you've installed the bootloader in the wrong place.
During the installation you probably had a question where you wanted the bootloader to be installed. One option would be to install the bootloader in the MBR (probably with a remark that that's possibly unsafe). That's what I've always used and it always worked.
If you have installed the bootloader somewhere else (maybe on drive D), you can try to make that drive bootable instead of drive C. Not sure if that will work.

I'm not familiar with Fedora, but when you boot from CD, there is a rescue option that might allow you to fix the problem. It might require some knowledge commandline tools like fdisk/cfdisk and grub configuration

PS I suppose that you made backups of important data before you installed FC4. If not, do it now before you start fiddling with your harddisks.

If Fedora boots first, grub is in the MBR. When the Fedora screen appears, hit any key. You should be presented with a screen that gives you the choice to boot Fedora or 'other'. 'Other' would be your XP. Use your up and down arrow keys to choose the one you want and hit 'enter'. By default, you have 5 seconds to make that first keystroke when the Fedora screen first appears.
If you do not have choices listed and Fedora boots up, open a terminal and type 'gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst'. If you are using KDE, rather than Gnome, type 'kwrite' instead of 'gedit'. The editor will open and display your boot information. Copy and paste that info here. When we see what you have, we can give some advice on how to proceed.

Merlin

I installed windows XP on to C:\ which Linux see as (hd0,0) Then i installed Fedora core 4 and sent it to the D:\ which Linux see as (hd1,0 root and hd1,1 as the install) It did ask about the boot i left as default Then when i rebooted the system it go's to windows XP but with no OS loader. The boot.ini file has not been changed at all

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn

On the linux drive

memu.lst'

#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 (hd0,0)
# kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/
LogVol00
# initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/hda
default=0
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Fedora Core (2.6.11-1.1369_FC4
root (hd0,0)
Kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.11-1.1369_FC4 ro root=/dev/
VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb queit
initrd/initrd-2.6.11-1.1369_FC4.img
the only way i can get in to Fedora is make the Linux drive the c:\ drive

You can search the internet for grub mbr. One of de links might describe how to get grub in the MBR.
e.g. This one for Ubuntu but the principle should be the same.
Hope this helps.

If you have Fedora on the 'C' (hd0) and windows on 'D' (hd1), you can use grub that you installed with Fedora to boot both. Open a terminal, type 'su -' (without the quote marks), hit enter, give your root password, type 'gedit /boot/grub/grub.conf' and hit enter. (Note that if you get an error when using this command, you can substitute 'menu.lst' in the place of 'grub.conf'.)
Your text editor will open up your grub configuration or list.
At the bottom, be sure there is a blank line. Click to put your cursor there and hit enter. This will be to insure that the blank spacer line is between entries.
Enter this --
(The 2nd and 3rd line should line up under "XP" with blank spaces to their left.)
hit enter to add a blank line at the bottom and click "save". Close gedit and exit root (type 'exit', hit enter) and then close the terminal. Reboot. When the Fedora boot image appears, hit any key. You should see a list of choices open up. Use the up and down arrow keys to select the one you want to boot up and hit enter.
**You can use whatever name you like after 'title'. This will be what you see on the list of choices at boot. If windows is not on the first partition of hd1, then substitute the correct number in place of the '0' that I gave here. In grub, partitions are counted starting from '0' and going up, so that the second partition is '1' and so on.

If you would like to have the menu be shown always, when you are adding the windows install to grub, place a number sign (#) in front of the line that reads 'hiddenmenu'. This will cause the menu to be shown at every boot up.
You have 5 seconds by default to make a choice from the menu or Fedora boots automatically. If that isn't enough time, when you are making the above changes, change the number on the line that reads 'timeout=5' to an amount you feel comfortable with. I use '9'. This number is the amount of time in seconds you have to choose which system to boot.

Good luck. Let us know how this works out for you. You may want to check out this page, also --
http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/grub.html

Merlin

Placed
title XP
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
chainloader +1
In the menu.lst' and yes it gives me a choice, but when i select XP it just hangs up
Is this because windows likes to be C:\ if so where do i place a swap line in the menulst' ?

after

Title XP
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
chainloader +1

i placed

map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)

and that fixed the problem
i can now boot to Fedora and windows XP with this menu
Thanks for your help

You are quite welcome. Please, be sure to add the word 'Solved' to the title of this thread.

Merlin

problem solved