Cannot access Windows after grub-install /dev/hda1

[Ian Monroe]

I have a simular problem as discussed here:
http://www.mail-archive.com/address@hidden/msg03539.html 
That message appears to be the last in the thread, though it is hard to
tell.

I was stupid and typed 'grub-install /dev/hda1' instead of 'grub-install
/dev/hda' on my Debian/Windows 98 machine. Windows is on hda, Debian on
hdb.

I had LILO installed from a previous distro. When I selected Windows it
would show Grub and when I select Windows then it just shows the Grub menu
again. I did 'fdisk /mbr' from a DOS bootdisk and then the same thing
happened on boot, just without LILO.

The message I referred to suggested typing 'sys c:' from a DOS boot disk.
I did so and it reported 'No system on default drive'.

I can access the windows partition from linux. In the bootdisk help it
listed the files (io.sys, msdos.sys and command.com) that would be copied
by sys.com and seemed to say thats all it does. From linux I can see that
it has all these files. The only difference is that the msdos.sys on the
disk is timestamped today (I created the bootdisk today) and a lot smaller
then the one in the root of the windows parition, the one the hard drive
looked legit and I assume that the small msdos.sys on the floppy has
something to do with just being a boot floppy.

Using the DOS command 'fdisk /status' from the boot disk this shows up:

Disk    Drv    Mbytes    Free    Usage
1              14653             100%
         C:    14653
2               8056             100%

If I type 'dir' from the 'C:\>' prompt I get:

Invalid media type reading drive C
Abort, Retry, Fail?

The Display Partition Information in the fdisk program displays this:
Partition    C: 1
Status       A
Type         PRI DOS
Volume Label (nothing)
Mbytes       14653
System       UNKNOWN
Usage        100%

The system part is what looks different then it should. And I suppose
there was a Volume Label before.

The message I refered to gave this advice: 
>Is this the dos that comes with FAT32 capable Win95?
>Older dos versions can't read fat32.

I imagine that it can read fat32 because it is the boot disk created by
the Windows 98 bootdisk.bat program.

How do I load Windows 98 again? Right now I don't care if it is something
messy like having to use a boot disk that boots into the Windows GUI. 

I know this is as much a DOS question as it is a Grub one, but I doubt I'm
going to the last to need the answer. Perhaps a candidate for the FAQ.  

Thanks,
Ian Monroe