I've tried to address all the question in your last post.

So try mount -t ext2 /dev/hda6 /mnt/hda6
no luck, same error listed in my last post


You have not ey report back the error from the above after I have swap the

root=/dev/hda6 with root=/dev/hda1
root (hd0,5) root=/dev/hda1 gives no errors. GRUB accepts it
root (hd0,5) root=/dev/hda6 gives no errors. GRUB accepts it

root (hd0,5) and NOT root (hd0,0)
root (hd0,5) and root (hd0.0) are both accepted by GRUB. No Errors are given.

root=/dev/hda6 and NOT root=/dev/hda1 in the kernel statement.

root (hd0,0) root=/dev/hda1 gives no errors. GRUB accepts it
root (hd0,0) root=/dev/hda6 gives no errors. GRUB accepts it

root (hd0,5) root=/dev/hda1 gives a file not found error.
root (hd0,5) root=/dev/hda6 gives a file not found error.

However with (hd0,0) in the kernel line...
root (hd0,5) kernel(hd0,0) root=/dev/hda6 gives no errors. GRUB accepts it
root (hd0,5) kernel(hd0,0) root=/dev/hda6 gives no errors. GRUB accepts it

If Grub did not object to a command that means the file exists.

Give it another trial like this

boot up the Grub floppy and maually type

root (hd0,0)
setup (hd0)

ok setup (hd0) did something good because now grub is back when I boot from the hard drive but of course there is a new problem.

Debian began to boot but the xserver wouldn't start. it told me to run fsck manually and I did. I said yes to a bunch of questions.

I rebooted and the Xserver still wouldn't start. It told to view the xserver output error and bascially the nvidia display module isn't working.

So I ran dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86 and the system told me xserver-xfree86 is not installed.

How I'm totally confused. (which isn't a big suprise)

I am comfortable in helping you to get back any of the systems but couldn't offer much beyond this point. You may consider a partial or full re-install of each system if necessary.

I hope you can use the Grub floppy to good effect because it will save your hair from pulling out.

I thank you for you time. You actually succeeded, Debain does boot just not the GUI. More importantly I learned quite a bit and have a handy universal boot disk.

At this point I will cut my loses and reinstall Debian and XP. Hopefully I'll get it right the second time around and GRUB will be able to boot both OSs. However I think I will search around this site a bit and I'll start a new thread if I have any questions.