ok here is my problem

got one hard drive with partions c: d: e: and linux which is (hd0,6) and one for red hat (hd0,7)

i installed suse 9.2 on hd 0,6 partition (on boot i saw the winxp and suse boot options) and then redhat on hd07.

got rid of red hat by deleting the hd07 partitiona and merging the space with d drive.

i couldnt boot window so i was told to fix mbr and i did that.

now when i boot i go straigh to windows xp. but i want to have the os option screen which suse gave to be back (i understand it was grub).

Now the grub files are already on the linux partition.

here is the questions.
1- is it possible to get the grub os boot screen back without installing the grub on mbr? if yes then how? (please right the procedure as simple as you could as i am a big time noob in linux arena.)

2- If installing grub in mbr is the only way then how do you do that?

(please give the answer to both questions even first one is possible)
i want the desired effect to be like this. pc boots up and gives the message to boot windows or suse.

In either case you would need to boot to linux. To do this put the installation cd into the drive. when it prompts type linux rescue. This should load the linux from the cd and put you in a shell prompt. The linux installation should be mounted under /mnt/sysimage. if this is not mounted you may need to mount this manually. do a chroot /mnt/sysimage.
now there are 2 options
Q1) install grub to something other than MBR.
I assume that the /etc/grub.conf is present. do a grub-install /dev/hdax
where the /dev/hdax is the partition where your /boot for linux is.
reboot the machine and you need to do some changes to boot.ini.
see details on this page.
http://www.geocities.com/epark/linux...w2k-HOWTO.html

Q2) install grub on the MBR
grub-install /dev/hda

and the second solution works. didnt try the first one. thanks a lot dude.

so here is the bottom line if you already have the linux but cant boot it then download grub on a floopy.(some image file that you have to put on floppy. get the detail instruction from grub site).

boot system from floopy.

then boot the suse using the following command.

configfile (hard drive containing linux)/boot/grub/menu.lst

for me it was configfile (hd0,6))/boot/grub/menu.lst

then login as admin or root and then run the following grub-install command with your primary drive name.

and boot the system and remove the floppy.

bling bling there you will have your good old suse boot selector screen.

(its for the noobs like me so dont laugh if the instructions look childish )

I doubt your claims to be a newbie

hehehehehe

trust me man i am. Im pro in windows but linux is not in my bag. by the way it took me like a week to figure the solution for my problem and which was not hard at all but i guess due to non centralized software the support for it is also very wide but apparently everyone assumes that the person who asks the question has some knowledge.

well anyway thanks again bro.