after 2 installs of vector i keep getting a grub error. when i boot from the disk, it can't find x nor can it start vasm. i just can't figure it out.

Could you post the config-file of grub here?
Also : Did you install Lilo to the root-directory of your Vector-partition , or to floppy?

Edit: (looked something up) My guess is ; You didn't specify the location of the required vmlinuz - file.<
Go into the GRUB - cofiguration-tool(whatever it may be named) and enter in the appropriate field the location including the partion-name.
For example (in my case) I'd enter here : /dev/hda9/boot/vmlinuz.

If the apropriate vmlinuz-location is not specified , the bootloader will load the kernel of whatever is the primary OS and that will , ofcourse , lead to a cartload of missing dependencies and calls to (on that partition) nonexistant configuration files.
Usually ends in a "kernel panic!".....