I was trying to install ubuntu in dual boot with a Windows XP install that already existed. i used the WindowsDualBootHowTo on the ubuntulinux.org website but somewhere on along the line ubuntu has stuffed up either the partition table or bootloader. i ve tryed to fix this with conventionally methods (windows recovery consoles fixmbr and bootcfg) and on partitionmagic (which i load from techie'z toolkit) it says there is an error on the partition table.

How do i recover my computer back to the state when windows xp was installed and also get the data back?

And once that is done how do i install linux alongside windows xp with no problems?

EDIT==i dont care about windows i want my data back! then i want to get windows xp and ubuntu in dualboot

Try Booting with Knoppix, and see if it can see the NTFS partition, if it can you can copy your data over to another drive, then reformat. It is always important to do regular backups and to backup again right before doing anything risky like trying a dual boot, or even partitioning empty space on your drive. And when you reformat, make sure you don't use up all of your drive space if you don't need too, and If when installing Linux, make a separate / and /home partitions, that way when something goes wrong you won't lose what you put on since your last backup if your lucky.

Paul

Try the simple stuff first - make sure you have LBA selected in the BIOS for the drive.
If it's AUTO, make it LBA.

I have only installed Ubuntu onto a clean system, never a dual-boot. I just hope you haven't managed to install grub into the Windows drive, rather than the MBR at some point in your travails.
If you have, you Windows system is now toast, but as per previous post, even then your data should be recoverable.