I installed windows xp after formating my original windows partition but now winxp always boots automaticly I don't even get to see lilo so now I can't get back into my linux partition which is hda3
please help

I may be wrong but....

Windows writes to the MBR when installing and I'm sure wiped out the info lilo put in there. (which is why i always install win then linux.)

How to fix this im not entirely sure, but im guessing you need to boot into linux with a boot disk. and rerun lilo. but you need it to rewrite to the mbr and that i dont know how to do except for in the installation. maybe run and upgrade install? Im sure there's an easier way.

Hope this helped a little at least.

running lilo DOES rewrite the MBR.

Booting from a rescue disk isn't always that simple. booting from a boot disk for rh71 i can't access my /boot partition, and thus can't get to the klernels and boot maps etc...

Booting from an insatllation disk in rescue mode will mount your system somewhere other than the normal place. it'll usually put it in /mnt/sysimage for excample. to reinstall lilo you will need to copy all relevant files into the pretend /boot directory that linux creates, and then additionally copy the lilo.conf file to /etc and edit the values to point to the correct files. simply running lilo will not do anything other than complain.

Any more help feel free to email. Sorry if this don't make much sense!

Mind you, there's a much easier way to get round your problem. Don't install XP!!!

I guess the simplest way is to "just" boot your old linux using some kind of DOS-Tool like loadllin or the alike. Also, in my SuSE, doing a manual install I have the posssibility to boot some partition.

Did you make a boot disk when you installed linux? If you did, use that to boot into linux and rerun /sbin/lilo as root. If you didn't make a boot disk, it might be possible to use the cdrom disk to get back in.

there is a rescue mode on my cd and i didn't make a boot disc
but i don't know how to use de rescue mode
btw i'm using mandrake

boto to the cd and type 'rescue' at the pronmpt (or maybe 'linux rescue')

Mandrake should mount your system under /mnt/sysimage or similar. henceforth /m/s !

copy /m/s/etc/lilo.conf to /etc

edit /etc/lilo.conf:

insert /m/s before all occurences of /boot/somefile-such-as-boot.b

run 'lilo -t' to test the configuration, is it geos ok, 'lilo'

then exit and reboot

OK, I will try to give you some step by step advice (hope it will work)

1. Boot the rescue system

2. mount your old linux parition:

# mount /dev/hda3 /mnt

if you formmated hda3 in reiserfs you will have to add "-t reiserfs"

3. go to /mnt/sbin/

4. run lilo using your old config file:

# ./lilo -C /mnt/etc/lilo.conf

5. reboot. Now it should work.