Lawrence writes in with a Windows question
Q. I cannot get a HP Pavilion a220n want to install Windows XP after I format the drive. I formatted it on the HP then took another drive and formatted that one on a Dell computer. When the install process gets to the point where you choose the partition to install on, it says that partition is not ok for win XP installation. I formatted them with NTFS.
A. Check your BIOS to make sure the drive is being recognized properly and that something didn't go wrong where it may be seeing your CDROM as the primary boot device. Also check your cables and jumper settings to make sure everything is correct. Also make sure you don't have any USB drives plugged in when trying to install Windows.
If everything looks ok there then try to delete all of the partitions during setup and create new ones. This will be an option when you get to the formatting part of setup.
The message you are receiving can also be caused by defective memory. I have heard of this happening a couple of times. If you have more than one chip installed try taking one out and trying again and if it does the same thing try taking out the other one and putting the first back in. If you can borrow some compatible RAM that would be a good test too.
Another test would be to try a different CD just in case it’s a faulty CD. Or you can take your blank drive and put it in another computer and install Windows on that computer with your drive to test the CD.
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