can I totally remove an oem copy of xp?

[extendedping]

I have a hp laptop (pavilion dv2050us) that came with xp pro installed. it came with a 10 g c drive used for what I am mot sure partitioned as fat and the rest (was it the f drive?) ntfs. well as the oem has tons of junk and also has the 10g fat drive that as far as I am concerned is a waste I tried to reinstall with a fresh xp disk. it just hangs after "checking hardware". I tested the disk on another computer and it is fine. so I know it works. Also I can install fedora 7 on the laptop with no problem so I know its not a dvd issue. I web chatted hp but then (or the person I spoke with" had no answer.

to me it seems there is something proprietary on the laptop...either in the hardware or in the xp that was installed. anyway I really don't want the "hp" version of xp...anybody know whats going on or how I could install the fresh copy? I can (well I think I can it is too late now) install from the "recovery" disks but that will just leave me with the hp version of xp that I was trying to escape in the first place.....

 

[linney]

Have you run into the Hidden Recovery Partition?

1) Wiping Out Special "Recovery" Partitions, Pt. 1

http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2003/2003-02-06.htm

Link to DBAN Disk Wiping Software:

http://dban.sourceforge.net/

You might be able to salvage the HP version and use your new XP for something else.

The PC Decrapifier (originally titled, Introducing the Dell De-Crapifier…)

http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/