LinuxQuestions.org - grub 2 bootloader for linux mint messed up

so one day i downloaded an exe file, but wine wouldnt run it, so i thought,"ill make a windows partition!" that didnt work out. the partition and everything worked, but i was stupid and didnt want to make sure i did the right thing. i installed xp, but i didnt back up the bootloader for grub, so it only loaded xp. i was stupid AGAIN, and i decided "screw it, ill delete the partition" well when i deleted it, i didnt change the file menu.lst or something like that. so when i rebooted, my copmuter just said "error, strike f1 to retry boot" i downloaded the ubuntu live cd and reinstalled the grub bootloader, but the problem is, karmic uses grub2, and only grub uses the grub shell(like sudo grub), and linux mint only runs off of grub 2. i only know how to reinstall the bootloaderon the grub shell, so i tried it. now whenever i boot, al it comes up with is the grub 0.97 shell, but it needs grub 1.97. i would format the drive to make a completely new OS, but my sister has college applications and other REALLY important stuff. CAN SOMEONE HELP!