However on this occasion, for some unknown reason, the installation stalled saying that it didn't recognise the second recovery CD when I inserted it at the prompt during the installation process. I didn't know what to do as I had deleted the old partition containing the operating system and created a new partition during the re-installation process. I now had a laptop that had no working or completely restored operating system on it, so I could no longer get into Windows anymore.
I tried the re-installation repeatedly only for the process to come to a halt at the same place again and again. Eventually I gave up and tried to re-install Linux using a CD I downloaded form their website. Again, the same thing happened and the installation process halted for no reason I could figure halfway through it all.
I tried the Linux again but this time the laptop won't even respond or recognise the Linux CD operating system at all. So I tried the XP recovery CD again and the installation process started and I got passed the bit where it asks if I (A)CCEPT that a recovery will begin and to press (Y)es to continue so that Windows can enter SETUP and start loading files.
However, it is at this point that everything stalls.
Is there anything I can do to resolve this situation? Is there any hope for such a situation? Or should I just give up and disassemble the laptop for any parts or could I use this laptop as a bare bones etc and rebuild it with new parts? Please help if you can.
Many thanks in advance.