MBR problems while installing xp as a second OS

You can fix your MBR with the Windows XP setup CD by using the repair console ( I think you press R at the beginning of the setup). The command is fixmbr.

However, you will have to restore Grub after you have done this, as Windows writes its boot loader into MBR. As far as I know you have to do this after installing XP anyway, unless you install Ubuntu last.

Instructions on how to restore Grub:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RecoveringUbuntuAfterInstallingWindows

If this doesn't work, you could try using gparted Live CD to repartition your hard drives before launching the Windows setup.

Keep in mind that Ubuntu won't boot, if something goes wrong. So you'll definitely need a live CD.

well the process of instalation does not start and my installation cd doesn't have the option of recovery as I know I'll try to get another instalation cd, Thank's anyway

P.S. I don't think the windows will be able to write to my hard drive because (I think ) the partiton where grub is located is formated ext 4 so.........

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot#Recovering%20GRUB%20after%20reinstalling%20Windows

Hi :)

Have you managed to get an Ubuntu LiveCd session working? If so use GPartEd to set-up a new partition for Windows - just resize the Ubuntu ones

System - Administration - Partition Editor

and copy the info from the bottom pane into here along with the command-line output of
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UsingTheTerminal#Starting%20a%20Terminal

sudo fdisk -l

where " -l" is a lower-case " -L". Sudo will ask for your password but wont show any stars as you enter it, for security reasons. Ok, hopefully we can help you a bit better from there :)

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Oooo, i forgot to ask for the command-line output of

free -m

For the partition layout i tend to find an ideal layout is

sda1 =2xRam Primary Partition for 'file-system' = linux-swap
sda3 large space Primary Partition for 'file-system' = fat32 for Windows
sda2 15Gb Primary Partition for 'file-system' = ext4 your existing Ubuntu
sda4 10Gb Extended Partition
 . sdas5 10Gb Logical Partition for 'file-system' = ext3 for experimenting with other distros other than Ubuntu, for fun :)

Although there are plenty of other ideas. Most people seem to find their own prefered way of laying these things out. I prefer this way because it makes maximum advantage of the faster read/write speeds you get at the front of a drive (unless it's an ssd-drive where its all faster). I have assumed that Ram is 1Gb or below in which case swap space gets used to cache read/writes quite a bit.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SwapFaq

Good luck and regards again from
Tom :)