Ok I have (had) RH9 and XP Pro dual booting.

I partitioned the drives with Partition Magic and was intending to use BootMagic for the loader.

After I installed the Linux I started getting the Linux boot screen with RED HAT and DOS as options. This worked great!

I thought I was finished with the BootMagic program because its screen did not come up when the PC started only the Linux screen.

I uninstalled the BootMagic program.

Bad.
Bad.
Stupid.

Now I don't get the Linux screen and Windows boots as it did before the dual boot setup.

What should I do? I someone has ideas or the links to some help I would appreciate it.

In a pickle here. I really liked the Linux and want to keep using it.

just install again this time make a boot disk or if you did us it
i am presuming u put your bootloder in the mbr
if your bootloder (grub lilo) is in your / partion then your *.* boot loader program should pick it up

boot from linux cd and use rescue mode
Your linux partition will be mounted under /mnt/sysimage
or something like that.

do
if you use grub try:
if you use lilo make sure there is a line
on /etc/lilo.conf with something like:
boot=/dev/hda
and type:
.hda=primary master
if your hard disk you boot from is not
primary master then you need
hdb,hdc or hdd.

Before you try all this better just try to upgrate your system from the cd.
It may give you an option to install the boot loader

How do I know which is grub and which is lilo?

I dual boot and my lilo.conf looks like:
my grub.conf looks like:

i think rh9 use grub by default.
you probably have both, but im not sure.

If you have a /boot/grub/grub.conf (in your actual linux partition, after you do the chroot thing)
and a /etc/lilo.conf.anacoda u use grub.
if you just have /etc/lilo.conf you use lilo.

try first the upgrade thing, it should work, if you are afraid to install the bootloader manually.

A piece of advice:
DO NOT use partition magic to create your linux partitions.
better use it to resize windows partitions or delete a partition.
leave the space you want to use for linux unallocated, and let linux
create its own partitions.
Nowdays linux creates 3 partitions:
/ (the main partition)
/boot (a very small partition)
and the swap partition.

perfect_circle

Would it be better if I unallocated that space and started over. It is mostly a learning venture for me anyway. That said, I don't want to do it if the improvement is maginal at best. I don't think the swap thing is properly set up btw.

Well, thats up to u. I just offer you a solution.
the swap partition should be 2 times your ram.
I 've got 256MB Ram so my swap partition is half a GB.
If I had 1GB RAM i wouldn't create a swap partition at all, but
thats an other story.

It may be better to reinstall linux if you think so,
and let linux do the partitioning.
It's up to u.

Help requested to get dual boot working. I think I hosed the MBR, and can't seem to fix it. Hope this is the right thread.

Brief History: 1. New PC, Installed FC3 64 version, works fine. No want Windows no more. Happy, happy.
2. Realized I needed W2K also, after all. My wife's W2K laptop starts going flakey. Need a backup for it.
3. Try to load W2K, but it fails. Thought I did the fdisk right, but....
4. Web folks suggest loading windows first, then partition for linux. Sounds good. Wipe out FC3, and try Win2k again.
5. Fdisk and format 16gb C: drive, plus 2 other 30GB partitions. Fdisk/status looks ok, but W2K install still fails. do fdisk/mbr, W2k still fails to load. Knoppix boots fine from CD, and shows the 3 partitions also.
6. On boot Grub starts, but hangs with blinking cursor. FC3 will not re-install, either.
Now what? Are there commands in Knoppix I can use to fix the hard drive so that the installs work?

bconsilvio have you set the first win partition active ?

I dont know if its active or not. How do I tell, and what command makes it active?

(and thanks for answering yet another newbie question)

in fdisk type p
should look like this

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 38776 19543041 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
note the star *

to set active in fdisk > a

Thanks. Do you mean Fdisk in Linux?

I'm booting with DOS (ME) . Fdisk/Status looks different but apparantly equivalent.
I found MBRtool on the web and set the C: dirve active. tried W2K again, still runs thru the 4 floppy startup OK, and stops on the CD, Cant find a HD. MBRtool display shows first partition as ACT = 128 (base 10) , TYPE= 0C, start C/H/S = 0-1-1, END= 921-254-63. LBA start = 63 Extended parttion begins at 922, as it should, TYPE=0F. What are the TYPE codes? The C: partition correct?

use one or the other this is where you will run into trouble

"The easiest way to wipe your MBR and partition table on a Linux box is with a command like:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda count=1 bs=512 && sync && echo done.

... if you see it echo "done" then you have successfully wiped the partition table and MBR on your first IDE drive. (Use /dev/sda to blow away your first SCSI drive). "

cfdisk may be easier for u

Thanks, Sorry if I seem dense. Isnt cfdisk part of linux? I dont have linux installed anymore. Nothing's installed.

All I can get to boot is MSDOS (ME) from floppy, or Knoppix from CD. In dos, I can use fdsik and format and MBRtool. The ltter is very dangerous and powerful, but was able to make the C partition active. not that it helped. When I try to install Fedora C3, it runs though the first several screens and then quits because there is no linux partition.

How do I add a Linus partition to the 3 I have? Can I use the DOS tools to do it? Not Fdisk, but perhaps MBRtools?

Assuming I can find cfisk on knoppix terminal window, what should I do with it to fix the hard drive?

Should I just wipe all the partitions I have and start over with no partitonns at all??