Ok, I'm a newbie, might as well admit it, since the last time I've used linux was over a year ago. This time, I made the mistake of putting every single linux partition on a logical partition, and trying to use NTLOADER instead of GRUB. Well, I know the steps with the dd and all, but I need to boot linux first to get the driver disk to get ntloader to boot.
So, how do I boot linux? I have an installation CD, and GRUB is installed on the first sector of the logical boot partition. I've tried lots of stuff but can't figure it out.

You can make the first boot from the installation cd - use the 'rescue' mode. You should have access to your Linux partitions.

yeah, i do have access, but that doesn't help. rescue mode mounts it under /mnt/sysimage. i can't even mount a floppy disk to create the DD, because the fstab file has not been configured yet.
i tried rescue mode, but still don't know how to boot linux.

don't need a fstab file to write to the floppy.
If required you can create a mount point
mkdir /mnt/floppy
mount -t vfat /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy

Or better yet.
chroot /mnt/sysimage

Now your system will be just like you booted to a console mode

^ awesome. thanks, problem solved.