We need more information.
 
Why do you keep reinstalling XP?
 
Redhat 9 is old and does not sometimes play well with NTFS partitions, if that is what you have for XP.
 
What system is this? is It an HP or Compaq box by any chance?
 
Where did you tell grub to install the bootloader, the MBR, or a boot partition?
 
XP should always be installed first, then linux. You will get different opinions on this, but it makes life easier.
 
Did you allow RedHat to take space from the XP partition, or set up a Linux partition for RedHat ahead of time?
 
Any reason why you are using RedHat and not Fedora?
 
When in RedHat, get into a terminal window, as root user and type in;
 
fdisk -l (hit the enter key)
 
That's the small letter l, not the number 1. Also, a space between fdisk and -l.
 
Can you post the output that results?

I had to reinstall XP because my XP had gone corrupt.
 
I know Redhat is old and all my filesystems are FAT32.
 
No my system is not an HP or Compaq box.
 
The Grub bootloader was installed on MBR.
 
I know XP should always be installed first and i have installed many linux flavors several times.
 
I mostly use an automatic partition alloting arount 15-20GB free space for Linux.
 
I tried FC2 and got the same problem, however no problem with SUSE.
 
This is the result from the fdisk -l command.
 
Disk /dev/hda: 80.0 GB, 80060424192 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9733 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
 
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 1 2956 23744038+ c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/hda2 2957 4868 15358140 f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/hda3 * 4869 7302 19551105 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/hda4 7303 9733 19527007+ c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/hda5 2957 2969 104391 83 Linux
/dev/hda6 2970 4738 14209461 83 Linux
/dev/hda7 4739 4868 1044193+ 82 Linux swap
 
Disk /dev/hdb: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
 
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdb1 1 2611 20972826 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/hdb2 * 2612 5100 19992892+ c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/hdb3 5101 9729 37182442+ f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/hdb5 5101 7711 20972826 b W95 FAT32
/dev/hdb6 7712 9729 16209553+ b W95 FAT32
 
 
I have currently installed FC2 and still getting the same probs.

OK, bear with me. You now have Fedora Core 2 installed...
 
You originally re-installed XP on the primary master drive as the first OS on the system, or hda1, correct?
 
Grub is set up to boot on the master boot record.
 
Could you post your /boot/grub/menu.lst? This will tell me what grub is set to for booting XP. Different versions of Linux and grub do this a little differently. If all the above are correct, then I am interested in seeing where grub is trying to boot XP and if the entry matches where your boot.ini is for XP.
 
You should have an entry like the following;
 
title windows
root (hd0,0)
chainloader +1
 
The key here, of course, is where XP is installed and where the boot.ini file is located.
 
You have a complicated partitioning scheme and I want to make sure Windows is installed first as hda1 before we fix it.
 
 
 

Yes the entry is same as you have mentioned.
 
Should i try partioning manually?
 
Also suggest me some sites where i can find plugins and help for any RPM files needed
 
 

Try the following. Edit the menu.lst file, or add another grub entry that has these values;
 
title Windows
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1
makeactive
boot
 
If you know how to edit Grub manually at boot time, you can add these values at the command prompt, one by one and see if it works. Then, if it does, you can make the changes stick by editing the /boot/grub/menu.lst file.
 
See the how-to located here
 
Look at section 4.1.2.

I have sorted out the problem, it was with Windows. Windows was pointing towards C drive(XP OS), whereas my XP was installed in another drive, had to do some changes and the problem is sorted.
 
Do suggest me some website to find help for installing and downloading RPM files.

Quote:You originally re-installed XP on the primary master drive as the first OS on the system, or hda1, correct?

Which is why I asked the question. Perhaps I should have been more clear and said drive "C". But, i am used to speaking in linuxease. Glad you got it sorted out.

What packages are you looking for? You should have all you need on the cd disks or through the package installer, if you configured a download site. The process if quite automatic. I highly suggest using the package manager, but if you have specific packages that you want to install, let us know.

ya i had installed it on hda1 and thatz my c drive, but my friends had changed some configurations.
 
Basically am using linux for my home use and i want to get familiar with it in GUI, before i can start using CUI. Am bugged using Win, so you can understand what packages i need like a movieplayer(mplayer), skins and plugins for xmms.
 
Can i install msn messenger on Redhat? Suggest me the steps and where can i download it from.
 
What is synaptic manager?
 
You have been of great help and i hope to get help from you in future and even contribute
 

Fedora should come with Gaim. See this link which should get you started. See question # 9 under "Using Fedora and installing software.
 
Fedora's software management system is very efficient and I suggest sticking with it for now. You can use a Synaptic like interface, but this is better suited, in my opinion, for Debian Linux. However, you can read about apt4rpm here.