MBR

[Stephen Smith]

Well after trying to install a copy of Debian (Over the top of the original Xandros) I gave up after 18 hours and restored my hard disk using my Ghost backup.

The original Xandros installation worked fine however I was unable to use my XP installation. I fixed this by fixing the MBR and can now boot back into XP (Most important at this point) but of course cannot boot into Linux.

Is anyone able to now help me get back to the workable original Xandros/ XP installation by fixing the MBR or any other way? Please give line by line details as to what I must now do.

[Stephen Smith]

What I have to work with is ;
1. The original bootable Xandros installation CD
2. A bootable XP partition
3. A probably almost intact Linux installation.
4. A Symantec Ghost Backup of the drive.

[sunnylearns]

boot with Xandros CD and enter into rescue mode by typing "linux rescue" at boot prompt.

now reinstall boot loader.

you're done.

[Stephen Smith]

I'm not sure the solution is that easy (At least from my point of view).

I have installed <> 120Mb (via a slow dial up) of updates plus other installs (Win4Lin etc) I dont want to loose them. I believe that I have a totally operation system there if I can get it to boot.

I dont want to have to start from scractch but more importantly I want to know how to fix this situation because it has occured in the past and I'm sure will again in the future so it is an important part of the learning process for me.

[sunnylearns]

this is JUST related to Boot Loader and NOT with any data

[Stephen Smith]

I'm not sure who has this all very wrong but nonetheless I do believe that my problem has nothing to do with space avalable. I believe that the system is fine it just currently doesnt even know about the Linux booting option.

[Stephen Smith]

Got the bit about the rescue console, no problem but once I get there how exactly do I "Just reinstall the boot loader"? What do I type?