Retrieving Linux Partition

[Richard]

I have a PIII 933MHZ system with 128MB RAM and a 20GB
harddisk.I have two Windows partitions and one Linux
partition.I run XP and Mandrake8.1,and the dual boot
worked fine.However,the boot option disappeared when I
installed Win 98 on the Windows partition and Linux is
inaccessible.How can I boot into Linux and retrieve my
Linux partition?
Thank you.

 

[S.Sengupta]

Hi Richard,
The Win 98 installation flushed the Master Boot Record,and hence you
lost the boot loader (LILO/GRUB) that was installed by Mandrake
8.1.There are a no. of ways to restore the boot loader.
One of them is to use a utility called LOADLIN that is present on the
Linux CD under the DOS utility folder,say,LOADLIN in the C drive.Next,
boot to Win 98 in MS-DOS mode and type 'C:\LOADLIN>LOADLIN vmliuz
/dev/hdb1 ro' at the command prompt.Here ;vmlinuz' is the Linux Kernel
image that's located in the DOS utilities folder of the Linux CD and
'/dev/hdb1'is the location of your Linux partition.The kernel should be
available in the same directory as that of LOADLIN.This loads the Linux
operating system,and then type 'LILO' when you get to the Linux command
prompt.
If that doesn't fix it,do a a minimal install of Mandrake 8.1 using the
installation CD.Here choose to upgrade when you get the install
options,but don't select any files for upgrading.This way the setup
installs the bootloader and the whole installation finishes within a few
minutes.
regards,
ssg MS-MVP
pronetworks.org

 

[Richard]

Thanks a lot.The problem has been fixed and it's booting
nicely.

-----Original Message-----
Hi Richard,
The Win 98 installation flushed the Master Boot Record,and hence you
lost the boot loader (LILO/GRUB) that was installed by Mandrake
8.1.There are a no. of ways to restore the boot loader.
One of them is to use a utility called LOADLIN that is present on the
Linux CD under the DOS utility folder,say,LOADLIN in the C drive.Next,
boot to Win 98 in MS-DOS mode and

type 'C:\LOADLIN>LOADLIN vmliuz