Ok, I'll try it later this evening, then let you know how it goes.

A couple of more bits of advice if you're in the mood;
- install Windows first
- don't let it use all the disk; leave some (10+ Gig would be workable) unallocated
- if (maybe at some future time) you want to try FC, let it use the unallocated space.
- let FC install its bootloader to the MBR - the installer will find your Windows install, and create options to allow you to boot either.

From experience, this is the way that will cause least angst. Preparing in advance makes things much easier in the long run.

Oh, and secure that machine...

Trust me bro, yuo need to reformat your hard drive with a Utility disk. Similiar happened to me a year ago and I couldn't reinstall windows at all from the recovery disks or the regular install discs. I kept getting a "cannot find EULA" error.

So then, I went to Maxtor.com and downloaded a Powermax utility disk and put it on a floppy. Then, I had to restart the comp and let the floppy load up to a screen that let me do a LLF (low level format). What this does is change all the 1's back to 0's on your hard drive's disc.

When this is done (will take a few hours to complete), you can install windows again.

i didn laugh

just interopreted c: to laugh

ok hda1 is c (windows) and so on

find out your hard drive manufacturer and download a zerofill utility from them, this will wrtie zeros to the ENTIRE drive use the full option. These programs have silly names like data lifeguard and maxblast and drive fitness test. they are 100% free from their site.

You can make bootable cds or floppies. Boot from them zero drive and reboot. You will also have to use a partition maker or some sort partition magic, m$ fdisk, the windows cd should do this when you try to et it up.

syg00,
I did as you said, but was unable to install windows at all. Got a message "windows couldn't start because the following file is corrupt or missing <windows root\system32\hal.dll>.

I took the advice of Ausar and cjoe, and downloaded the utility disk to write zeros to my drive. My disk should show 80026 mb, but it only shows 76319, and this is still the case after writing zeros.to the entire drive. I burned the cd from my daughters system. These are the files listed--
Autoexec.bat 21b
Command.com 64.9 kb
dlgdiag5.exe 217.9 kb
dlgdiag.txt 10.3 kb
dlglice.txt 8.8 kb
ibmbio.com 25.0 kb
ibmdos.com 32.5 kb

Are these the correct files and sizes? Does anyone know? How can I access the area of my drive that's not reported? Partition Magic doesn't find it.

Thank you everyone for your help and suggestions........I still haven't tried the UBCD.....I guess that's tonight's job. Are there any tell-tale files that I should look for in Linux?

Sounds like you attempted an upgrade/repair rather than a full system install. Redefining the partitions merely defines their extents - the data on the disk is not erased. I presumed you would be doing a full install, and would re-write everything.

Data sizes are variously reported as multiples of whatever is convenient - especially when a saleman is involved.
A megabyte might be 1*(10**6), 1000*(2**10), or 1*(2**20) - i.e. 1,000,000 or 1,024,000 or 1048576.
Makes a difference ...

No, I tried to do a full system install. I've suspected that my system is just re-installing itself rather than install from the CD. It's always exactly the same. Even the wrong drivers are the same.

ehm

by the way, why don't you get another disk for windows? if u have still data on the first one, make a fat32 partition (on the new),
get a livecd (linux) , and save the files u want. to the fat partition, and go on with life


cheers

Well maybe because it's a complete waste to buy another hard disk if you don't want linux or freebsd but have it installed by someone else on your windows PC.