i just thought this was strange, and thought i would ask because i don't really understand how it works.

here's what happened in short:
-have 3 drives (all SATA)
-36gig raptor for winxp
-80 gig for linux
-320 gig for windows storage (no system files for linux or XP)
-i had SuSE installed with a bootloader but was having issues with it so i removed it
-because i removed SuSE, the grub did not work correctly and i couldn't boot to windows normally. i decided to just reformat because i was due for a clean windows install anyway.
-i connected all my drives, still got a grub error and couldn't boot
-disconected the linux drive, thinking that was the issue, still same error
-disconected the windows storage drive, and windows loaded fine

i was just wondering how this would happen. keep in mind the 320gig is only storage, no partions for windows system files or linux anything. it only holds mp3s and movies. so does grub somehow attach itself to all connected drives, regardless of what they hold. and when i reinstall linux, will this problem be fixed. currently i just disconnect the drives to boot into windows.

what happened was that the suse had set up grub- so when you removed it you messed with the grub as well. you can restore it with a LiveCD (etc) or you can just reinstall linux- that should fix it. The extra drive thing sounds just like one of those "computers are just wierd" things- there seems to be no apparent reason for the problem- it just is.

In summary- a reinstall of linux should fix this for you.

titanium_geek

ok thanks. i had planned to reinstall linux anyway.

well the suse reinstall didn't work, i still need to unplug all drive except the windows drive to load windows. this sucks. i tried using the xp disc to repair the mbr, that did something, but still won't work. maybe a reinstall of linux now that i restored the bootloader will work.
is there a way to have a bootloader without messing up the mbr on windows? i'm still playing with linux and would like to have some flexibilty.

Gentleperson, stop doing anything until you know what you are doing!

No, I actually mean that politely. I didn't intend for it to sting.

In the space of a few minutes you have made things considerably worse than when you started, because you didn't understand what had happened and you grabbed for the "okay, time to re-install Windows!" knee-jerk response.

This .. isn't .. Windows.

What you need to do next is to carefully observe what the system does, or tries to do, when you boot up. Write down exactly what you see and post it here.