XP windows reinstall problem - help!

Hi,

I'm trying to reinstall XP and I am following Dells instructions at http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kb/en/document?DN=1056993#1 but after I press F8 to accept the licensing agreement the Windows XP Home Edition Setup screen asks me to select a partition instead of giving me the option to repair. I did attempt a repair previously but after a few minutes of 'repairing' it produced a message "an error has been encountered that prevents setup from continuing. Setup failed to install the product catalogs. This is a fatal error".

Any help would be appreciated. I would like to at least get to the stage where I can backup my data but after many hours of unsuccessful recovery attempts I am losing hope..