Adware on a hidden partition would never be seen...this doesn't make sense.
Also i don't believe it is their right to install anything not necessary for the machine to function properly, so i agree with you there but i think partitioning and formatting a brand new drive is a bit drastic for the ordinary user...
You made an assumption. Allow me to state again, "I confirmed with a former HP tech that HP and many other manufacturers have started creating 1 or 2 hidden partitions on their drives and preloading the computers with adware."
Nowhere did I say the adware was installed on the hidden partition. When I attempted to remove the partition, the manager showed two and wouldn't let me delete either one. When I extracted the drive, placed it in an external case, connected that case to a different Win2000 machine, it showed the 3rd partition.
I cannot say what the two additional partitions were for. My guess is that the hidden partition was what was keeping me from deleting the other two. The former HP tech I talked with confirmed that HP was attempting to make it hard to remove their installed system, although he either did not know how it was done or did not choose to reveal it.
Further, it ***IS*** HP's right to sell whatever they want to. They can sell elephant dung, if they wish. They can put a dead monkey inside of each computer they sell, if that's what they want to do. It's MY right to do anything I want with the hardware I own, and that includes taking off anything that HP put on it that I don't want on it. It's also my right to let HP and others know what they are doing, in hopes that HP will decide not to put adware on their machines, but that doesn't mean they have to agree with me.
In any case, I did remove the partitions as previously stated. Further, I was able to get Win2000 loaded, although the drivers were not quite correct. I later replaced that with Linux. I have the same machine as the original poster and I'm trying to help him get XP installed. So you can make whatever comments you want about how what I'm telling you could NOT have possibly happened, but that's not helping the original poster solve his problem.
To "robertolmr"
The HP DV9627 comes with 2 hard drives. I suggest that a solution to this question might be: 1) Download the drivers that Macgyver777 suggested. 2) Pull the 1st hard drive out and replace it with the second. Now you have a drive without funky partitioning, and without taking a chance on corrupting your current installation. 3) Install XP using the driver set you downloaded.
If you get it to work, then everyone is happy. If you don't, you can still put the original drive back in.
Best of luck,
Toad
