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MBR_messed_up by failed schillix installation

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pc with 2 HD and many linux systems, debian etch multi-boot menu.
2 HD as hda and hdc
the primary master has got hda1 dedicated to debian /boot
debian /root is on hdc1

other linux systems are installed on hda2 and hdc2, 3 ...

debian menu.lst is configured to multi-boot those systems.

--- my issue to date is:
schillix failed to install (after a painful configuration, it failed to boot)
but had regrettably modified the mbr :

When the pc boots, instead of going direct to my debian menu and
its multi-boot options, I am presented with a black screen and
option F1 linux (default)
to option F5 linux

Only F1 allows me to get to debian multi-boot menu which only gets me to debian only.
other systems on the debian menu.lst do not match the partitions numbers modified by schillix and consequently won't boot from debian menu.lst settings, since during schillix installation I set debian as multi-boot, but couldn't set the other systems.

Although I can boot debian, I'd like to boot the other systems as well, and more importantly I would like to
get rid of that black screen with option F1 etc.

I've found how to delete the mbr, but having not found how to rewrite it I don't want to take that road.

Hoping that someone will find the proper way to get rid off that schillix menu, if not I intend 2 install another debian and modify its menu.lst to get to my current debian /root partition.
I thank you for your help.

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MBR_messed_up by failed

Submitted by pinniped on Sun, 2007-11-18 15:52.

Do NOT touch the MBR; that contains partition information - the actual boot code is only a very small part of the MBR.

There is a 'magic number' in the MBR which indicates that the boot code is in the MBR; if it is not there, the BIOS will attempt to boot from a partition marked as 'bootable'. Since you've obviously put your bootloader in a partition rather than the MBR, just check with 'fdisk' to see if the partition is bootable (fdisk -l /dev/hda) and if it is, run the program 'mbr' to restore the MBR to a dos-compatible type (you may also be able to use 'ms-sys').

In the worst case you can install another bootloader to the MBR which just chains to your Debian loader without asking questions.

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do not touch the MBR

Submitted by kbsolo on Sun, 2007-11-18 16:53.

reply to Pinniped

thank you so much for your answer, so quickly.
fdisk -l /dev/hda1 shows that my /dev/hda1 /boot is bootable, that's why I can boot debian.
I will look for running mbr, but I know nothing about it.
I only have linux on those 2 drives. and I may have to install another boot loader as I don't know anything about ms-sys or running mbr.
I'll have a look again on the internet
thanks again.

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