Swap File, Linux Partition, XP Partition, Problems

[DukeDiablo]

Dear Forum-

I recently talked a friend of mine into trying out Damn Small Linux. She enjoyed it so much that she decided to install it on her HD and be able to boot into it.

I just run my version on off the CD, so I hadn't messed with dual boot setups before. Needless to say we have a problem and she only has an XP CD.

This is what she did:

She originally had a non-partitioned HD (80GB) with Win XP Pro installed and running. She then used Symantec (Powerquest) Partition Magic to setup a partition for DSL.

She made a Linux Swap Partition (per Partition Magic's recommendation) at 500MB...at the start of the drive (Partition #1).
She then made a 5GB partition for DSL second (Partition #2).
Then the original XP Pro installation was moved to the remainder of the HD (Partition #3).

After Partition Magic was complete, it said it needed to restart. Now her computer keeps trying to boot into one of the first two partitions (which are empty) and has various error messages, like missing the nt loader file, etc.

I tried talking her through the repair console, and trying to copy over the ntldr file from the i386 folder; however, that didn't change anything. We also tried changing the third boot device in the BIOS setup... (HDD-0, HDD-1, etc.) but I didn't think that would change anything because the BIOS just recognizes the one ACTUAL HD that exists.

I've seen some information on the web referencing the use of an XP Boot Floppy; however, she never made one and doesn't have any old 98 floppies.

If she could just get the system to boot back into windows...I think we can fix the rest...I hope so, haha.

Thanks in advance for any help and yall have a Happy New Year.