This topic can be deleted if needs be now, I've sorted it.
I read some where about turning the flash off then changing the SATA settings in BIOS, and it installed a copy of XP SP1!!
Im going to redo everything again now from scratch and split the HDD so that my XP side has more room.
First can I say sorry if this has been posted before, ive had a good search around the internet the past 2 days and i cant seem to find much help.
My new dell vostro arrived fri just gone, i ordered it with 'vista' as i thought i'd try it out....as i also have an original copy of xp (sp 1), thinking that i could 'downgrade' back if i didnt like it, yet still have 'vista' for if and when it works 100%
Problem is, I cant boot back!
I've tried to 'dual boot' by splitting the HDD, only to again get stuck at the 'xp couldn't find any HDD's, so the installer will quit'
I've read about the BIOS and about SATA and i dont have an external floppy drive and my knowledge of pc's is only so little.
what i'd love to know is, is it possible to get back to xp? even through a dual boot? im not to worried about trying every way out as dell seemed to have provided all disks to get the laptop back to its original 'delivered' state...as i did **** it up good last night with a downloaded copy of 'partion magic'.
As i said i ordered the vostro 1500, with a 160gb HDD, 2GB of ram and the geforce go 8600 gt and its on a t7300 processor.
many many many thanks in advance for any of your time.
John.

Chowhound
Comic Vine
GameFAQs
GameSpot
Giant Bomb
TechRepublic