Ok, so i tried to do a repair install on my xp partition and it seems the disc was corrupt...couldnt copy the necessary files from the disc, so i turned my pc off at the button and now its stuck in a loop, boots into xp setup, fails at file copying, repeat endlessly... so now i cant boot into xp at all or my Vista partition, HELP!! Im typing this from a Ubuntu live cd, from which i cant access either partition. I have my Vista install disc which i know works, is my only option a complete format then reinstall vista??

hey D,

you cant access any partition? have you tried to make a smaller partition and see if you can install ubuntu? if you cant then your problem is the hard drive crashed.

ok, ill give that a go... if the hard drive has crashed does that mean its dead?

I couldnt create a new partition, what now?

Try downloading the OS of your choice using torrents and put it on a dvd. Just like I did, hopefully I'm understanding your problem correctly.

Ok, i booted from my Vista disc and used the startup recovery option, im typing in vista now yay!! time to try xp now, fingers crossed!!