Ok, this is the problem I'm having. My XP had to be reinstalled. I had XP and Mandrake 9.2 running with LILO as the bootloader. Now LILO is gone because I had to re-do XP. Is there a way for me to make a bootdisk so I can boot into my Linux OS? I'd rather do it this way so I don't have to modfiy my Windows bootloader if this is possible.

I beleive you can use the first Mandrake boot disk to do this in rescue mode.

yes. Boot first cd, at the splash hit F1, type "rescue" and you will be presented with the rescue menu. One option is to install lilo.

Its not much help to you this time, but you can create an emergancy boot floppy in the Mandrake Control Centre for booting your machine when Lilo is up the spout. Only really useful if like me yo don't always have the installtion media to hand.

Exactly, just pop in the first (install) disc, and boot the system.

hit F1 when the first screen comes up, then choose rescue / repair mode.

Then it will propose several things, one of which is to restore the boot loader. Choose that one, take out the cdrom and reboot (or reboot and take out the cdrom if it won't spit it out).

[edit] darn, this window was left open since before lunch, and already so many chimed in ....

To add something useful: read up a bit on lilo,
man lilo

and you can make your own lilo bootflop -- just change the first line on the /etc/lilo.conf file from /dev/hda (meaning: bootloader into the mbr of the first hd -- and yes, this you can change to /dev/hdb if you are going to take out hda and replace with hdb for instance) to /dev/fd0 and you're set; insert blank floppy and run the command:
lilo

Come to think of it, that is a nice way to create a dualboot system, no mbr bootloader, just the floppy; floppy out of the system, boot to the standard system, floppy in the drive, boot to linux. Hey, that's actually how I do it. except naturally that I don't dualboot between xp and linux, but between mdk9.1 and 9.2 (well, haven't taken out the floppy in ages)...

Thanx everyone for the help! I am now able to boot into my Mandrake OS. But I will be making a boot floppy. But I'm just glad that my Linux system is safe, I thought all was lost when I had to re-do XP

For mdk 9.2 read this thread re making a boot floppy:

http://www.mandrakeusers.org/index.php?showtopic=9014

The problem is the kernel has gotten so big that everything you need no longer fits on a standard formatted floppy. The above thread deals with how to handle this problem.

pmpatrick, if you just put only lilo on the bootflop as I describe above, the boot process is much faster (only has to read lilo from the bootflop) and it's really easy to do too.
I don't really see the point in putting the whole kernel on the bootflop if it's just as an alternative to having lilo on the mbr.

ArTee, I think that works as lomg as you can read the kernel. Placing the kernel on the floppy enables an emergency boot/repair in case something has happened to the kernel.