XP was on the hard drive before i ever installed sys commander... i know when i reloaded XP it rewrote the boot record...however i reinstalled sys commander and when it searched for other o/s's it found mandrake...and thinking yes i suppose i could reload lilo so the boot record for mandrake gets rewritten....it appears that was what was missing and y mandrake wuddnt boot however it wuddnt even detect ME the ME partition is showing as an MSdos partition.......with the partition utlility open it shows a winME partition and when i try to make a partition bootable it shows a win4.1 partition as a primary partition but wont allow me to make it bootable....when i boot into XP i can access the drive with ME on it and evrything appears to be there, so it hasta be a simple boot record problem stopping things from working... i have 3 partitions on my first hard drive..
General System Information:
    Total Physical Memory (bytes):  335,069,184
    Used Physical Memory: (bytes):  178,368,512
    Maximum Page File Size: (bytes):  811,380,736
    Current Page File Size: (bytes):  134,250,496
===========================================================================================================
Disk Geometry Information for Disk 1:    5170 Cylinders,  240 Heads,  63 Sectors/Track
System              PartSect  # Boot BCyl Head Sect  FS    ECyl Head Sect    StartSect     NumSects
===========================================================================================================
                           0  0  80     0    1    1  07    1023  239   63           63   16,344,657
Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
  Actual values are:
        0  0  80      0    1    1  07   1080  239   63        63  16344657
                           0  1  00  1023    0    1  0F    1023  239   63   16,344,720   38,752,560
Info: Begin C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
  Actual values are:
        0  1  00   1081    0    1  0F   3643  239   63  16344720  38752560
                           0  2  00  1023    0    1  0C    1023  239   63   55,097,280   23,073,120
Info: Begin C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
  Actual values are:
        0  2  00   3644    0    1  0C   5169  239   63  55097280  23073120
                  16,344,720  0  00  1023    1    1  0B    1023  239   63   16,344,783   38,752,497
Info: Begin C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
  Actual values are:
 16344720  0  00   1081    1    1  0B   3643  239   63  16344783  38752497
===========================================================================================================
Disk Geometry Information for Disk 2:    5169 Cylinders,  240 Heads,  63 Sectors/Track
System              PartSect  # Boot BCyl Head Sect  FS    ECyl Head Sect    StartSect     NumSects
===========================================================================================================
                           0  0  00     0    1    1  0C    1022  239   63           63   65,409,057
Info: Begin C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
  Actual values are:
        0  0  00      0    1    1  0C   4325  239   63        63  65409057
                           0  1  00  1022    0    1  83    1022  239   63   65,409,120   10,326,960
Info: Begin C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
  Actual values are:
        0  1  00   4326    0    1  83   5008  239   63  65409120  10326960
                           0  2  00  1022    0    1  0F    1022  239   63   75,736,080    2,419,200
Info: Begin C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
  Actual values are:
        0  2  00   5009    0    1  0F   5168  239   63  75736080   2419200
SWAPSPACE2        75,736,080  0  00  1022    1    1  82    1022  239   63   75,736,143    2,419,137
Info: Begin C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
  Actual values are:
 75736080  0  00   5009    1    1  82   5168  239   63  75736143   2419137
===========================================================================================================
Partition Information for Disk 1:    38,169.1 Megabytes
Volume         PartType    Status    Size MB    PartSect  #   StartSect  TotalSects
===========================================================================================================
C:             NTFS        Pri,Boot  7,980.8           0  0          63  16,344,657
               ExtendedX   Pri      18,922.1           0  1  16,344,720  38,752,560
               EPBR        Log      18,922.1        None --  16,344,720  38,752,560
E:             FAT32       Log      18,922.1  16,344,720  0  16,344,783  38,752,497
F:             FAT32X      Pri      11,266.2           0  2  55,097,280  23,073,120
===========================================================================================================
Partition Information for Disk 2:    38,161.8 Megabytes
Volume         PartType    Status    Size MB    PartSect  #   StartSect  TotalSects
===========================================================================================================
D:             FAT32X      Pri      31,938.0           0  0          63  65,409,057
               Linux Ext2  Pri       5,042.5           0  1  65,409,120  10,326,960
               ExtendedX   Pri       1,181.3           0  2  75,736,080   2,419,200
               EPBR        Log       1,181.3        None --  75,736,080   2,419,200
*:SWAPSPACE2   Linux Swap  Log       1,181.2  75,736,080  0  75,736,143   2,419,137
===========================================================================================================
Boot Record for drive C:   (Drive: 1, Starting sector: 63, Type: NTFS)
===========================================================================================================
 1. Jump:                   EB 52 90
 2. OEM Name:               NTFS    
 3. Bytes per Sector:       512
 4. Sectors per Cluster:    8
 5. Reserved Sectors:       0
 6. Number of FATs:         0
 7. Root Dir Entries:       0
 8. Total Sectors:          0
 9. Media Descriptor:       0xF8
10. Sectors per FAT:        0
11. Sectors per Track:      63  (0x3F)
12. Number of Heads:        240  (0xF0)
13. Hidden Sectors:         63  (0x3F)
14. Total Sectors (>32MB):  0  (0x0)
15. Unused:                 0x80008000
16. Total NTFS Sectors:     16344656
17. MFT Start Cluster:      786432
18. MFT Mirror Start Clust: 1021541
19. Clusters per FRS:       246
20. Clusters per Index Blk: 1
21. Serial Number:          0xE4287B8A287B5A8E
22. Checksum:               0  (0x0)
23. Boot Signature:         0xAA55
===========================================================================================================
Boot Record for drive E:   (Drive: 1, Starting sector: 16,344,783, Type: FAT32)
===========================================================================================================
 1. Jump:                   EB 58 90
 2. OEM Name:               OEMNAME 
 3. Bytes per Sector:       512
 4. Sectors per Cluster:    32
 5. Reserved Sectors:       54
 6. Number of FAT's:        2
 7. Reserved:               0x0000
 8. Reserved:               0x0000
 9. Media Descriptor:       0xF8
10. Sectors per FAT:        0
11. Sectors per Track:      63  (0x3F)
12. Number of Heads:        240  (0xF0)
13. Hidden Sectors:         63  (0x3F)
14. Big Total Sectors:      38752497  (0x24F50F1)
15. Big Sectors per FAT:    9457
16. Extended Flags:         0x0000
17. FS Version:             0
18. First Cluster of Root:  95833  (0x17659)
19. FS Info Sector:         1
20. Backup Boot Sector:     6
21. Reserved:               000000000000000000000000 
22. Drive ID:               0x80
23. Reserved for NT:        0x00
24. Extended Boot Sig:      0x29
25. Serial Number:          0x94A1478D
26. Volume Name:                       
27. File System Type:       FAT32   
28. Boot Signature:         0xAA55
===========================================================================================================
Boot Record for drive F:   (Drive: 1, Starting sector: 55,097,280, Type: FAT32)
===========================================================================================================
 1. Jump:                   EB 58 90
 2. OEM Name:               MSWIN4.1
 3. Bytes per Sector:       512
 4. Sectors per Cluster:    16
 5. Reserved Sectors:       32
 6. Number of FAT's:        2
 7. Reserved:               0x0000
 8. Reserved:               0x0000
 9. Media Descriptor:       0xF8
10. Sectors per FAT:        0
11. Sectors per Track:      63  (0x3F)
12. Number of Heads:        240  (0xF0)
13. Hidden Sectors:         55097280  (0x348B7C0)
14. Big Total Sectors:      23073120  (0x1601160)
15. Big Sectors per FAT:    11257
16. Extended Flags:         0x0000
17. FS Version:             0
18. First Cluster of Root:  3  (0x3)
19. FS Info Sector:         1
20. Backup Boot Sector:     6
21. Reserved:               000000000000000000000000 
22. Drive ID:               0x80
23. Reserved for NT:        0x00
24. Extended Boot Sig:      0x29
25. Serial Number:          0xF532F7D8
26. Volume Name:            
27. File System Type:       FAT32   
28. Boot Signature:         0xAA55
===========================================================================================================
Boot Record for drive D:   (Drive: 2, Starting sector: 63, Type: FAT32)
===========================================================================================================
 1. Jump:                   EB 58 90
 2. OEM Name:               MSWIN4.1
 3. Bytes per Sector:       512
 4. Sectors per Cluster:    32
 5. Reserved Sectors:       52
 6. Number of FAT's:        2
 7. Reserved:               0x0000
 8. Reserved:               0x0000
 9. Media Descriptor:       0xF8
10. Sectors per FAT:        0
11. Sectors per Track:      63  (0x3F)
12. Number of Heads:        240  (0xF0)
13. Hidden Sectors:         63  (0x3F)
14. Big Total Sectors:      65409057  (0x3E61021)
15. Big Sectors per FAT:    15962
16. Extended Flags:         0x0000
17. FS Version:             0
18. First Cluster of Root:  2  (0x2)
19. FS Info Sector:         1
20. Backup Boot Sector:     6
21. Reserved:               000000000000000000000000 
22. Drive ID:               0x80
23. Reserved for NT:        0x00
24. Extended Boot Sig:      0x29
25. Serial Number:          0x3D89B7ED
26. Volume Name:                       
27. File System Type:       FAT32   
28. Boot Signature:         0xAA55
===========================================================================================================
Boot Record for drive *:   (Drive: 2, Starting sector: 65,409,120, Type: Ext2)
===========================================================================================================
Ext2 file system super block:
 1. Inodes count:           646400
 2. Blocks count:           1290870
 3. Reserved blocks count:  64543
 4. Free blocks count:      934341
 5. First data block:       0
 6. Logical block size:     2
 7. Logical fragment size:  2
 8. Blocks/group:           32768
 9. Fragments/group:        32768
10. Inodes/group:           16160
11. Mount time:             0x3D8B8D93
12. Last write time:        0x3D8B8D93
13. Mount count:            1
14. Max. mount count:       31
15. Magic number:           EF53
16. State:                  0x0001
17. Error behavior:         0x0001
18. Minor revision level:   0
19. Last check time:        0x3D8B896B
20. Max. time bet. checks:  15552000
21. Creator oper. system:   0
22. Major revision level:   1
23. Reserved block def. UID:0x0000
24. Reserved block def. GID:0x0000
this is what i have for drive information