I have a problem with my MBR. When i start my PC up, LILO starts and gives me the option to start up 'Linux' (which is slackware 9) or 'hda1'. HDA1 doesn't even exist, so I'm not sure where that is coming from. When i view my lilo.conf file, it doesnt show up in there either. I have read that you need to do an fdisk /mbr. Is that done in linux or windows?

I don't know if this will fix my problem completely, but I'm hoping. All I want is a dual boot system. Is that too much to ask? Apparently, because I have had nothing but problems!! :-(

Open a console, su to root and run:

# fdisk -l

Post the output. That will tell me all the partitions linux recognizes. Also post your /etc/lilo.conf file. That's the configuration file for lilo. It probably just needs to be edited.

Also post what version of windows your using and what partition it's installed on. hda1 is the first primary partition on hda which is where windows is typically installed. hda corresponds to the ide device on your first ide channel which is configured as master as opposed to slave. What happens when you select the "hda1" boot option?

The fdisk /mbr trick is used to restore the windows boot loader. Doing so will overwrite lilo making linux inaccessible. You run it by booting off windows startup floppy and then enter the command when you get to a command prompt. Don't do so unless you want to trash your linux install. I believe it can work on winxp or win2000 but they each have rescue utilities on the install cd which you would be better off using.