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I suspect this problem may be caused by the way companies like Dell load the software at the factory. I had a similar problem with a Gateway a few years back.
The software is loaded from an image which does not take account of the HDD structure.
In the end I decided that as the machine was new, there would be no loss starting fresh, so I wiped everything and set up the partitions then installed the OS.
I should think you would be able to Ghost the partitions first, then restore them to the new partitions, or even to empty space, but that might not cure the problem if it carries the partition structure, but worth a try.
You would need to use the DOS version of PM8 to deal with the partitions, or even try fdisk to delete them if PM8 doesn't want to know.
As far as the primary partitions are concerned, PM8 will keep all but one hidden so it doesn't cause problems. You can see them in Disk Manager, but not explorer.
It is best not to have a drive letter for hidden partitions, because then your next OS install would be to drive D. As everything defaults to the OS being on C, it can cause problems. (I found out having an OS on drive N).
If the partition has no letter assignment, when it is made active the original drive C will be hidden, and the active primary will be seen as C by the OS.
You can remove drive letter assignments in Disk Manager.
Hope this makes some sense
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