new to list, lots of questions

[george]

joined list 3/27/01, now wish i had when grub became gnu-grub.
from what i have seen so far of grub, i also wish i had joined
grub list, when erich boleyn first authored grub.

but what did i know? being a 'southerner' in memphi, tn, all
i knew about grub is they are fat, white, all over in ground,
good for some fishing, healthy and not that bad when properly
cook. <g>

my next learning of 'grub', was thru an intro article, then
some time later, it was an option in a new linux distrib i
was installing to test.

so, with a slight grin and a whole lot of curiosity, grub.

rest of install went well, boot floppy, cyoa, finish. sure did,
booted right back up, linux waiting with logging prompt.

root, pw

<alt+f4>, root, pw, cp ?? ??.org, cp ??? ???.org, alias this,
alias that, edit these, ok those, cd /here, cd /next, tune and tweak,
i am ready to shriek

<alt+f6>, startx, nice desktop, tune here, tweak there, grinning
ear to ear

<alt+f5>, geo, pw, cp ?? ??.org, tune

<alt+f4>, cd ~/home, alias, cp *.??2 *

<alt+f5>, startx, tune here, tweak there, pop up this, pop up that,
click this, mahjongg, click, grinning wider ear to ear, great grafx,
lose, lose, win, win, be back again, logout, <ctrl+alt+bs>

<alt+f1>, shutdown -r now, [ok], [ok], clean shut, still grinning

oops, forgot to see if /dos/c thru /dos/h got mounted. oh well,
best go back and finish proposal in lotus with ms w98se boot.

grub, msw, grub, what? msw, grub, [censured], lnx, loading linux.....

root, pw, <alt+f6>, root, pw, startx, click '/' on task bar, click dos,
click c, strange, nothing there, click d, good, e, good, f, good, g,
good, h, good, very strange, <ctrl+alt+bs>, shutdown -r now.

insert msw98se boot floppy, a:> dir c:, 'invalid drive specification'

sound familiar to any readers???

cyoa. insert seagate tape rescue boot floppy, reset, restore 'c'.

1.5 hours [aprox] later, fdisk /mbr, reboot, w98se boot screen, restart.

insert linux boot floppy, root, pw, cd /etc, cp lilo.conf lilo.conf.001,
[already made .org ;)], vi lilo.conf.001, cp -f lilo.conf.001 lilo.conf,
lilo, shutdown -r now

lilo  lnx, booting linux..., [ok], root, pw, shutdown -r now, [ok]

lilo  msw, w98se boot screen

still sound familiar???

i am not alone when it comes to problems with grub and ms win.

to this day, i still use lilo, reason in part, it works.

yes, i know that there are many who have not had first problem, and many
who had grub config errors.

cases in point, on one list i follow, i see from time to time, problems
and comments of grub not booting ms win, on another list 3 within a week.

so, here are my questions to those who have had similar problems,
or of those who have help they who had problem.

just what is changed, trashed, fried, to keep ms win from booting when
it is not a config error?

can config errors cause something to happen to get changed, trashed, fried?

what 'format', 'fdisk', or partitioner program can cause locking out ms win?

i have checked thru 'active' message pages, as yet, not archives.

i am not trying to be lazy by asking. it is that i would like to get some
good pointers and head in correct direction when i try grub again.

for some reason, gnu-grub does not like microsoft. i do not blame it,
i have not liked microsoft from bg's first version of drdos. ;)

please excuse my long dissertation, but list replier always wants details
and i thought i might put one up for a good 'look back laugh'.

please feel free to [snip] to questions.

please [snip] to questions. ;)

i thank you for your time, even more for your patients and help.

looking forward to follow this list and hope to one day help others in need.

from what i have read of early grub and gnu-grub, and of late of
gnu-grub at site, i well see advantages of grub.


take care, have a good one.

g
.