I have a problem while trying to do a repair install on my dim 4550 (XP home) I get to the point where its running what's big and good in XP and a window pops up and tells me I have a fatal error and when I click ok it lists the problems and when I click again it reboots and then tries to continue the repair and the fatal error occurs and round and round it goes. Now I think I have only a choice of doing a fresh install but when I get to the screen where it shows the HDD I see the space that's left on it (35gig) plus a partition of about 35mb what do I do at this point do i delete that partition and create another? Then install on the 35 gig space? Also will I need all the Dell disks I got with the PC to reinstall all the programs that where preinstalled?
Sorry I have asked so much but I looked at a lot of the links concerning a XP reinstall and read and reread the instructions but would just like someone with more savvy than me to point me in the right direction.
The 35MB partition contains Dell diagnostics (accessible by using F12 at startup). You can leave that partition alone for convenient diagnostic access if you choose. You should delete the 35GB partition then create a new partition (or more, if desired) from the 35GB of unpartitioned space. When you finish installing XP you will need to reinstall your system drivers (chipset driver first) before reinstalling your applications. At the end of the XP installation there will be nothing on the hard disk except XP.
Thanks for your help just one point the 33gig is what it shows me is free on the 120gig HDD its not really a partition as such, the only partition is the 35mb. So if I leave the 35mb and just go ahead and reinstall on the free section (33gig) or do I still need to create a partition on part of that free 33gig to enable the reinstall?
If the 33GB is unpartitioned space you can create a partition from it during the XP installation and install XP there, but this will leave you with two installations of XP on the system, the new one and the one you are currently using.
However you state that "the 33gig is what it shows me is free on the 120gig HDD its not really a partition as such, the only partition is the 35mb." Clearly you must have a partition of approximately 87GB (the difference beween the 120GB capacity of the hard drive and the 33GB unpartitioned space).
Denny Denham
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Posted January 31st, 2006 15:00
The 35MB partition contains Dell diagnostics (accessible by using F12 at startup). You can leave that partition alone for convenient diagnostic access if you choose. You should delete the 35GB partition then create a new partition (or more, if desired) from the 35GB of unpartitioned space. When you finish installing XP you will need to reinstall your system drivers (chipset driver first) before reinstalling your applications. At the end of the XP installation there will be nothing on the hard disk except XP.