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On Tue, Aug 15, 2006 at 09:01:45AM +0100, Terry Hill wrote: > I solved it quickly by booting with the cd, logging to root and > running setup/configure and choosing to install lilo on the MBR, > overwriting the Grub loader. > > I'd assumed that killing the partitions would have killed the MBR, I > can see now why thats not the case, but was wondering if anyone knew > of a way to control the contents of the MBR for future reference so > that I can kill an old grub install if I want to boot from a lilo > install on a boot partition? You can't just wipe an MBR, otherwise nothing would work. There has to be something there. You can backup your current MBR using dd if=/dev/hda of=/path/to/backup.mbr bs=512 count=1 To install lilo's default MBR, use "lilo -M /dev/hda", I'm not sure what happens then, but I believe the settings in lilo.conf are written directly into the MBR (512 bytes on the HDD) To install dos->windows 98's default MBR (which passes control to the active partition), run "fdisk /mbr" off a windows/dos boot disk. Grub's MBR is "Stage 1" of the grub install, it passes control to "stage 2", which reads from menu.lst. It's set when you install grub. You'll find a copy of it in /boot/grub/stage1 (note 512 bytes) http://mirror.href.com/thestarman/asm/mbr/GRUB.htm will tell you more than you could ever know about the MBR. -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/linux_adm/list-faq.html