cocked up an install... help

[wooosh]

i thought i knew what i was doing but oops no. just tried reinstalling windows xp on a laptop but it wont let me . get to a point where the setup is asking where to set it up. it has 55mb unpartitioned space, 19014 partitioned (ntfs) and another 8 unpartitioned. obv needs the partitioned space to install but cannot delete. i'm at a loss coz i cant even go back to where i started or reverse what ive done. any help?

[Lespaul20]

What does it do when you try to delete the 19GB partition?

[wooosh]

it says "this partition contains temporary setup files that are required to complete the installation"
press enter to continue and goes back to the list

[Lespaul20]

Are you using a recovery CD that came with the laptop?

Have you tired just installing on the partition?

[wooosh]

cd didnt come with laptop(2nd hand)
tried installing but not enuff space think its only 20gb hdd

[rjfvillarosa]

Wooosh I received your PM no problem.
Lets see if we can help you here now.
First of all what laptop is it? make and model number?
What installation CD have you got? is it a recovery CD or a full Windows installation disk?

[wooosh]

its a dell inspiron pp07l i think and the cd is one ive been given but think its full installation one

[rjfvillarosa]

It would help if you could give us the exact model number, but, as far as I know most Dells are the same, someone will correct me if I am wrong.
From the Dell website:

Dell™ PC Restore by Symantec™ (for Windows® XP) and Dell Factory Image Restore (for Windows® Vista) exist on a hidden partition on your hard drive that contains an exact copy of your computer's original setup. These programs allow you to reset your computer's operating system and software to the original state in which it was shipped to you from Dell.

See if this page on the Dell site can help you:
http://support.dell.com/support/topi...g=&toggle=&dl=

[wooosh]

doesnt help mate, tried dells pc restore but doesnt work. whoever it was that sold me this laptop must have overwritten there stuff
sorry think it may be inspiron 1100

[rjfvillarosa]

Can you get hold of an OEM copy of XP?

[glc]

Use a zero fill utility then start over.

http://dban.sourceforge.net

[wooosh]

cant get into the bios , password protected. downloaded dban tried that but wudnt go into the disk.
retried booting up and but "windows could not start because of a disk hardware configuration problem. could not read from the selected boot disk. check boot path and disk hardware.
please check the windows documentation about hardware disk config... and your hardware reference manuals for additional info"
still stumped

[wooosh]

got a dell win xp sp2 oem version. do i just try that as it is?

[wooosh]

tried that still saying not enuff space on partitioned drive...........not having a good time atm

[rjfvillarosa]

Does XP setup not give you the option to format the harddrive during setup?

[wooosh]

unfortunately not

[rjfvillarosa]

During setup you will reach a screen showing you the various partitions on the harddrive, at that point you have the option to delete those partions and format the harddrive/partions.
Do you not reach that screen?

[wooosh]

get to that screen but shows install , delete or create partition on unpartitioned no format option

[rjfvillarosa]

Delete the two small partitions and in the next step you will get the chance to format the new full size partition.

[wooosh]

dont have option to delete unpartitioned only to partition them, even so, theres only 63 mbs between them and need 1200ish to continue

[rjfvillarosa]

What did you download from Dban? the floppy or the CD?

[wooosh]

cd coz laptop doesnt have floppy drive

[rjfvillarosa]

What is happening when Dban launches?

[wooosh]

it doesnt at all

[rjfvillarosa]

The Dban utility is an ISO. which means your machine will automatically boot from it.
Did you create a "boot disk" with your burning software when you made the Dban CD?

[wooosh]

hmmm not sure, gonna have to redo that then. ive gotta leave this till sunday, off to amsterdam for the weekend. i'll do that and repost if it doesnt work when i get back. until then thx again for your help so far

[rjfvillarosa]

What burning software have you got? Nero?

[glc]

If you use XP to redo the partitions, delete ALL partitions till the ENTIRE drive is unpartitioned space, then install XP in the unpartitioned space. It will prompt you to create a partition (using all the space is default) and format it.

[wooosh]

ive got a few diff burning progs. in any case the dban has burned as a bootable disk, tried it on main pc and went str8 into it. any time i try to start laptop now it goes str8 into xp setup and cant use the format way around as it wont let me delete the partition and doesnt look at disk first so only thing i can think of is deleting the bios password so i can reset bootup process. am i right?

[wooosh]

i cant take the casing off so cant do the battery thing for bios reset. is there a way around ? obviously cant use software as cant get into windows. looking like i may have to give this to an engineer and pay although dont want to as i would like to learn how to get around this through yourselves