I'm trying to reload win xp on to my hp laptop dv8000. I had formatted the hard drive and messed with the recovery partition, I made it SMALLER. first mistake ? then I changed the ( condition / description / classification ) I can't remember. How do I get back to the partition and make the appropriate adjustments. it must be apparent that I know just enough to get me into trouble. ( speaking from experience ) To be honest I didn't even know I had an NTLDR I dont even know what that means!

ps. If you think it's hopeless don't comment. ( cherp...cherp...cherp... )This question was asked just a few hours AGO. You would have DONE well to search the forum.

http://tinyempire.com/notes/ntldrismissing.htmTHE "simple fix" I've tried a DOZEN times. I've attempted all the obvious key strokes I think! It's a matter of straightening out the partitioning I screwed up.Then your only hope is to re-install Windows.If you re-sized the hidden partition it is unlikely you will be able to run the recovery from there...
You may have to contact HP and have them send a recovery CD for that machine.
What did you use to re-size the recovery partition ? ?I had changed the size when I was preparing it to be formattedi had this problem and it was easily fixed , i made my own backup disk and wanted to wipe my laptop and the disk was faultly so i had to use someone elses and it was fine , just get a recoevery disk from somewere im guessin .