There is one other possibility (big reason why I have DOS on development boxes). I've seen this little beauty with a multiple-boot box and seems to be an IBM machine specific thing (at least on the test boxes I've done).

Assuming you didn't install Linux on top of the Win2K partition, sometimes, the partition #s get changed so a minor change to the partition listings in boot.ini can help.

Below are instructions on how to make them all work happy without a boot disk (in theory but RH7.0 has been problematic with this.. haven't tried 7.1 or 7.2 or other linux distros yet). One thing to do however when installing Linux is to put the lilo on the first sector instead of the MBR. I had this instructions I think somewhere else on AO but damned if I can find them.

1. Log into the graphical system interface as root. Press ok to the warning about using root at the console. Close the windows that open up. Looking at the bottom you will see a picture that looks like a monitor. Hit that to open a console window.

2. Type cd /

3. Type dd if=/dev/hdax of=/bootsect.lnx bs=512 count=1 where /dev/hdax is the harddrive info you got in step 15 of the Linux setup. Insert the other blank diskette labelled bootsect.lnx (that is BOOTSECT.LNX in lower case) for the machine in question.

4. Type mcopy /bootsect.lnx a:

5. Close the console window. Hit the “footprint” on the bottom right of the screen and choose logout. You will then get a closing window. Choose save settings and reboot. Remove the boot disk and reboot.

6. When the system reboots, choose MS-DOS and get to a DOS prompt.

7. Type attrib –s –r boot.ini

8. Type edit boot.ini and at the end enter the following:

C:\bootsect.lnx=”Linux”

Note the partition numbers. These may have to be changed if NT doesn’t boot properly. Initial lab tests showed that the partition numbering changes. The lab partitions went from partition(2)/partition(3) to partition(4)/ partition(5).

9. save and exit out. Type attrib +s +r boot.ini

10. type copy a:\bootsect.lnx c:\bootsect.lnx

11. Remove the disk out of the drive and reboot. Ensure that the system can boot into Linux and NT/2000 to ensure that the dual-boot works.

I hope this helps. You should let the rest of us know what your final solution is.