i don't know exactly if i got it right; but you might want to try this:

repair the Master Boot record from the WinXP CD.

the option for that woule be <FIXMBR> from the recovery console. if it's successfull, and you are able to boot from there.

if the above didn't work try this.

copy the following files in to a BLANK floppy diskette.
Boot.ini
NTLDR
Ntdetect.com

then boot windows xp, afterwards, go in to the repair console, and go with the repair option.

if that works for you, try the same disk in to your linux box, and copy the entire thing "image it" if you have space in any linux mount point using the dd command. for references on this command try man dd.
or go to the linux documentation website.
http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/

hope this woks for you>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>