Not sure if this is the right place to post

you probubly had a image on a recovery partition (did not get the cd's from dell)
try pressing f11 when you see the dell flash bar at startup this should restore the computer to it pruchased state.

 

Ok... I got the partition thing done. Now you want me to put the XP disc in and reboot...then?

 

Hi, I was afraid you had problems with the partitioning.

So, if you have now about 13000mb unallocated space? You can check by right-clicking My Computer icon and selecting Manage then in the window that opens the left pane contains a Disk Management selection and you should see Free or Unallocated space in the bar graph.

Yes, now I would try the XP install on that unallocated space. Here is basic guide http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/winxp/install.mspx to check what the screens will look like. Because you have your current installation it may try to point you to repairing it. You want to install new using the unallocated space (so you do not want to choose the existing 54000mb partition). You are aiming for two XP installations your current one and a new one.

It should be straight forward if it excepts your key. You should have it written down either from the tag or that keyfinder program. If installation proceeds ok it will be about 45 minutes. You should see a new boot screen asking which version of XP to boot. The top one will be the new one the bottom the old one. You may or may not have internet access on the new XP so you may have to switch back to this one for internet until we load drivers. I figure wait until we know the key works before worrying about finding drivers.

 

Ok... I will try it out now. And FYI: (this may give you a small sigh of relief) When I crashed my computer before this whole fiasco started I had to go to a friends house to download all the drivers and I currently have them all nice and neat on one disc Ok... Going to try installing XP on the other section...

 

Good Luck! If it doesn't take the key you can just eject the CD and reboot.

If you haven't installed XP in a while. To begin with when it says "Hit any key to Boot from CD" you hit a key to boot from the CD. During any other reboots you do not hit any key but let it boot from the HD.

 

Ok. Its installed. The key worked. Everything is functional on that aspect. I installed the drivers already. Everything is set.....

 

Good work!

At this point it is really up to you what you want to do. I hope the new installation is running better than the old. I was thinking that this was primarily a test to make sure your key worked and we were not wiping out your old installation without making sure you could reinstall. I didn't want to you be caught with no internet access.

Right now the new XP is a fairly small partition that will run out of space in several months. If it were me I would log into the old XP then wipe out the new XP by formatting the partition. Move as much of my personal data from C: to D: and then reinstall XP on C:.

If you didn't want to wipe out the new XP you could just move as much data as you could fit there 8-9gb. Then wipe out the rest of C: and install XP there. Move the 8-9gb of data back and start using that larger XP as your main installation since it would have a more viable amount of space. Keeping the second XP available as a backup.

If you were thinking something else I'd be happy to help.

 

Ok... Now... I am thinking I dont care what is saved. Honestly! I just want my computer all in one piece no partitions.... And whatever is lost is lost. I will take it as a lesson learned. And I am going out this week to buy a flash drive to store pics on. So how do I get to a whole fully functioning computer again? No partitions and no worrying about recovering any lost stuff. All the stuff I have on here now that I can get to without going thru a bunch of steps has already been put on my SD card for my cell phone Any programs I have can be redownloaded. So not worried about those!

 

I'll just say formatting the 13gb partition and using it for storage is not a bad idea. Even if you don't need it now to save pics. Because it is separate it would not be effected by an OS problem in the future. So if you got in the habit of keeping your pictures or documents on it then they would be safer.

That said to just do a one partition fresh XP install:

Reboot with the XP CD in the drive
Same deal you just did except if you look at the fourth picture in this installation guide http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/winxp/install.mspx you will be using "D" to delete each of the existing partitions. Using the cursor key to move down the list.
You will then have the option to install on unallocated space which should be your whole HD close to 70000mb.
The installation will then automatically create one large partition format it and begin install.
When finished, install your drivers and you are done!

 

Ok.... Off to start the process! I will update when its done

 

Thanks for your help. I finally got it up and running. But going thru all that made me realize I needed a new computer ha ha. But again thanks!