I'm having big problems with a triple boot configuration. I need to boot
 Win98SE, WinXP Pro SP2, and Linspire (Linux).(all legal copy's)
 
My system;
    Supermicro P4DC6+
    Xeon 2.2 GHz x 2
    2 Gig RD Ram
    Floppy
    NEC DVD-RW x 2
    250 Gig WD 2500SB-01KBCO x 2
    ATI AIW 9600 250 MB AGP 2006 EDITION
    Sound Blaster Audigy-2 Value
    SYBA PCI USB-2, FireWire Combo Card(Ali Chip)

OK, here's what I've done so far.
I partitioned the hdd's as follows;
Hdd-0
C = 8 Gig FAT32 Primary 
  Extended with the following Logical Partitions
E = 20 Gig FAT32 Linspire (Linux) converted it to Reiser4
F = 18 Gig FAT32 Win98SE
G = 30 Gig NTFS WinXP Pro SP2
H = 19 Gig NTFS
I = 20 Gig NTFS
J = 39 Gig NTFS
K = 38 Gig FAT32
L = 41 Gig NTFS

Hdd-1
D = 9 Gig FAT32 Primary
  Extended with the following Logical Partitions
M = 10 Gig NTFS XP Page File (not assigned yet)
N = 30 Gig NTFS
O = 26 Gig NTFS
P = 24 Gig NTFS
Q = 49 Gig NTFS
R = 50 Gig FAT32 for GHOST
S = 52 Gig FAT32 for GHOST

I installed Win98SE on F:

I then installed WinXP Pro SP2 on G:.
XP saw 98 and I was dual booting no problem.

I then installed Linspire, during the install
I was asked if it should takeover the entire
drive or just a partition. I chose partition.
It asked which partition, I chose E:.
There was a box to check for MBR, I did.
I rebooted and grub loaded.

Grub looks like this;

Linspire 5.0.347 on /dev/hda5
Redetect
Diagnostics
MS Windows 98 on /dev/hda6
MS windows<< XP on /dev/hda7

If I select Linspire no problem.
If I select Win98 it just jumps back to grub.
If I select XP I get some odd characters, if I hit enter
I get a boot disk failure message.

I realized I could look around with Linspire.

On C: I found a boot.ini that looks like this;
[boot loader]
Timeout=1
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\windows
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows
XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
C:\"Microsoft Windows"

I'm now at the point I don't know what to do.
Hope some one can help.

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Request for Question Clarification by sublime1-ga on 25 Apr 2006 22:41 PDT

nedmac...

I won't begin to post a formal answer, since I'm not sure if I can 
help, but let's see if a dialog can get you somewhere.

First of all, I'm not personally conversant with grubs, but from 
what I've read, it's associated with your Linpire installation.

Since Windows was there first, and triple boot can be accomplished
via boot.ini, I wonder if there's a way to do away with the grub
and get your system to boot using the Windows boot options.

I think the problem arose because you authorized Linspire to 
rewrite the MBR and take charge of bootup selections, and XP
isn't liking that.

Since selecting XP from the grub is going nowhere, I suspect you
may need to get rid of Linspire. What I'm not sure about is if
you will get rid of the grub by reformatting the Linspire partition.
Hopefully that will be the case, but if the MBR it wrote is
located on C: outside the E: partition, this may not be the
case. You might then need to boot from the XP installation CD
and repair the MBR. See this MS page, under Restoring the MBR:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/reskit/c28621675.mspx#EJ5AE

In fact, fixing the MBR using the XP CD may make it unnecessary
to uninstall Linspire. If you regain the ability to dual boot
into XP and 98 by fixing the MBR, you will then need to find
an entry for boot.ini that will add the Linspire installation
as an option.

This article from the Linspire Help site seems useful, if you 
decide to approach this by removing Linspire:
http://help.linspire.com/cgi-bin/linspire.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=65&p_created=1019517095&p_sid=wG2FsT3i&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9NTUmcF9wcm9kX2x2bDE9JnBfcHJvZF9sdmwyPSZwX2NhdF9sdmwxPSZwX2NhdF9sdmwyPSZwX3BhZ2U9MSZwX3NlYXJjaF90ZXh0PXJlbW92ZSBsaW5zcGlyZQ**&p_li=cF91c2VyaWQ9dXNlci5mb29AZ21haWwuY29tJnBfZW1haWw9dXNlci5mb29AZ21haWwuY29tJnBfZmlyc3Rfb
mFtZT1EYXZpZCZwX2xhc3RfbmFtZT1BbHRvbmFnYSZjb21wYW55X2lkPTcmcF9jY2ZfMj0mcF9jY2ZfOD0mcF9jY2ZfOT0mcF9jY2ZfMz0mcF9jY2ZfND0mcF9jY2ZfNT0mcF9jY2ZfNj0mcF9jY2ZfMTc9MTM*


HOWEVER, here's a post on Linux Questions that talks about
making a change to the grub that will offer a proper option
for booting from Windows:

"If you overwrite the MS mbr with GRUB, then all you should
 need to do is add a "root (hd0,0)" and a "chainloader +1"
 command to your /boot/grub/menu.lst file (sometimes called
 grub.conf). (Assuming the first partition holds windows.
 Adjust the command to your needs)"
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread.php?s=805f0bd0468be397b575b7f9ee0c9a28&p=1336925#post1336925

Since XP is on the 4th partition, the command should be:
"root (hd0,4)"

This last bit may well preclude everything I've written so
far, and may be all that's necessary. Boot into Linspire and
modify the file by opening it in a text editor. Reboot and
see if you now have an option in the grub for "root".

Let me know where this takes you...

sublime1-ga

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Clarification of Question by nedmac-ga on 25 Apr 2006 23:15 PDT

sublime1,
Thanks for your quick response.
I will check out the links you provided tomorrow.
Again thanks and I will let you know how it goes.

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Clarification of Question by nedmac-ga on 30 Apr 2006 23:20 PDT

Just to let you Know I resolved my problem with a boot manager called OSL2000.
Works great. My comp is happy and I'm happy.
Thanks for your replys.

Google for "Grub v. 0.97"

This manual tells you everything you need to know for multiple boots,
including how to install multiple Windows and DOs systems on a HD as
well as as many linux distros as you can fit on the HD. Most folks
will tell you this can't be done, but it is easy with Grub.  There are
commands map and hide which take care of all problems.