New, interesting problem with XP on Dell inspiron 6000

[rohan24x7]

Recently i had installed the beta version of Vista on my laptop.
Subsequently, when i tried to reinstall XP i faced a novel problem. On
booting up from the cd, it goes only as far the stage "Setup is
detecting your hardware configuration..." and then everything goes
blank..for hours on end. I have tried installing from other cds
thinking the media was corrupt, but the same thing happens. The same
with XP home. However, installs of many linux distros g through
successfully. It even picks up the VIsta dvd. Seems this problem s
confined to XP cds only. I must mention i have a SATA disk. I am at my
wits end on this. Help is urgently needed and will be greatly
appreciated.

 

[rohan24x7]

Well tinkering with my partition table i finally got succcess. However,
i had to sacrifice my linux partitions. I was tired so did it all at
once. But somebody else facig the same problem..try this. Remove any
linux partitions that are primary then see if it picks up.
Alternatively, remove all linux partitions. Label them FAT32, and it
will pick up.