hay i have had xp installed on my system for a while and want to switch to linux, and now i want to multi boot XP, Ubuntu and Mandriva. i can get Mandriva and xp to dual boot but Ubuntu is not a choice on the menu. is there any therd party application that can scan my computer or installed OS's and create a grub for me? if not is there an easy way to fix my problem? i am a noob to linux and have almost no clue what i am doing so go easy on me.

thanks in advance

Please confirm the configuration: eg:
Installed Mandriva and setup dual-boot---all working OK?
Then installed Ubuntu, but there is no entry in the boot menu for it--correct?

Running in Mandriva, open a terminal and do "fdisk -l" (You might have to su to become root)
Post the results here.

While waiting for the next installment of help, take a look at the link below on booting.

[root@localhost 555]# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/hda: 40.0 GB, 40020664320 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4865 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 4865 39078081 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 13207 106085196 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 13208 18078 39126307+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda3 * 18079 19457 11076817+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda5 13208 13362 1245006 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6 13363 14916 12482473+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 14917 18011 24860556 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 18012 18078 538146 82 Linux swap / Solaris



here you go, yeah i can choose to boot to eather Mandriva or windows but can't choose to boot to
Ubuntu

oh and i checked out that site, now i kinda understand the grub and how it works better

I'm guessing that Mandriva is on sda3 and Ubuntu is on sda6 or 7.

First, look at the existing GRUB config file. Running in Mandriva, it will be /boot/grub/menu.lst. You should have entries for Windows and Mandriva (maybe several). We will be adding an entry for Ubuntu.

Go to /mnt and see if there are mountpoints (directories) already set up for sda6 and sda7. You may be able to mount these by simply typing "mount nameofmountpoint". Otherwise, use mkdir to create a new mountpoint, and then:

mount /dev/sda6 mountpoint
cd mountpoint
ls
We are looking for the boot directory on this partition. If not here, then go back and mount sda7 instead. Once you find the boot directory, do this:
cd boot (be sure not to use /boot, as that will take you back into Mandriva's directories)
ls
you should now see files named "initrd....." and "vmlinuz......". You need either note the names, or set up soft links to make them generic, e.g.:
ln -s vmlinuz* vmlinuz (this takes the long name beginning with vmlinuz and links it to a simple "vmlinux".

Now we are ready to edit menu.lst Go back to /boot/grub and open menu.lst with an editor---eg nano menu.lst.

Now add the following entry to the list of boot choices:
This assumes that Windows and GRUB are on hda1 (= hd0,0 in grub-speak)
Mandriva is on sda3 (= hd1,2)
Ubuntu /boot is on sda6 (= hd1,5)


title Ubuntu
root (hd1,5) ##tells grub where home base is
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda6 ##use the name we discussed earlier, the root command tells the kernel where to mount the filesystem
initrd /boot/initrd #again, the name created earlier
boot
save the file and re-boot, and you should see Ubuntu as one of your choices.