Okay I've written the following post before.....but I think writing this new post should simplify my problem.....

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...threadid=48825

I have two hard disks on the same IDE Channel
1) 40Gb Hard disk, 2 partitions: both Fat32, running WinXP solely (master drive)

2) 15Gb Hard disk dedicated to linux (slave drive)
Patitions for this drive are as follows:

Partition [/dev/hdb1], [/dev/hdb2], [/dev/hdb3]
Location [/boot], [/],
Type [ext3], [ext3], [swap]
Space (MB) [102], [13712], [510]
start [1], [14], [1762]
end [13], [1761], [1826]

Problems encountered during different types of setups:

1) Installing Lilo/GRUB to MBR (/dev/hda) - stalls machine when i boot up either giving me on the screen "LI_" or "GRUB_" To get rid of this i reboot my machine with my windows boot disk and type "fdisk /mbr". When I reboot....XP loads fine....the only way I can boot in to linux is through linux boot disk - very slow

2) Installing Lilo/GRUB to 1st sector partition (/dev/hdb1) - I think, but could be hdb2? You tell me....I'm a total newbie to this linux thing....but i think hdb2 is where linux is actually installed so I believe it is hdb1......
Okay...so when i nstall to the 1st sector partition....xp loads fine from cold boot......again the only way i can boot in to linux is through the linux boot disk.....


can anybody please run me through step by step to what i need to do through setup to actually getting my system to dual boot.....for example...should i install the boot loader to mbr or 1st sector partition of my second hard disk.....

thanks in advance....

You will have a file called /etc/lilo.conf in your Linux box.
eg.
root@peter ~# cat /etc/lilo.conf
boot="/dev/hda"
map=/boot/map
install=/boot/boot.b
prompt
timeout="50"
message=/boot/message
lba32
default=Win98

image="/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.18-24.8.0"
label="2.4.18-24"
read-only
root="/dev/hdb4"
append="hdc=ide-scsi"

other=/dev/hda1
optional
label="Win98"

This places the lilo mbr on the first hard drive's 1st track, where the bios is looking for boot info.
I get 2 options at boot time for about 5 secs before the default kicks in.
(My default is Win98 coz I'm testing VMware atm.)
Type 'lilo' to write the info.

okay i understand that...it's all logical....

but....when i do a fresh install of linux on my 2nd hard disk and set it to install to my mbr of the first hard disk...my system just stops after saying "LI"...after then to which i would have to reboot with my DOS boot disk and type "fdisk /mbr" to reset it all so that i can use windows again...and then the process of installing and reinstalling never ends because it just says "LI" and stops

So what I'm thinking is that there must be a problem of the 2nd hdd being too "far" from mthe MBR that is located at the beginning of the 1st hard disk.....any fixes on that?

has anyone succesfully installed windows (preferably XP) on the first hard disk and linux on the 2nd and has got them to work together without the "LI"

From a Google search...
GRUB http://www.geocities.com/epark/linux...w2k-HOWTO.html
LILO http://jaeger.morpheus.net/linux/ntldr.php

I can see your problem now... Must use the Win NTLDR...