Re-installing Ubuntu 11.10

[Mel Bourne]

Absolute Beginner.

I installed from a CD Ubuntu 11.10 alongside Win XP (dual boot).
The installer automatically created 2 new partitions for Ubuntu.
All went well, I was able to download all updates for the operating system
and (NVIDIA) driver. I also successfully changed the booting sequences.

I then was trying setting up dual monitors which proved to be a
futile exercise.

Even after numerous reboots the monitors did not display anything
but instead produced 'black screens' or 'Ubuntu default color'
without any icons to click on.

I mouse-clicked (left and right) all over the screens but no responses.

So I decided to uninstall Ubuntu. In Windows (Desk Management) I
manually deleted the 2 partitions created by Ubuntu and used
Windows XP's disk management tool to restore the bootloader using
the Windows XP install disk (fixboot and fixmbr).

My (C) drive in Windows has now 2 partitions viz 46.76 GB NTFS
for Win XP and 27.77 GB Free space.

Since I wish to steer away from Windows and migrate gradually to
Ubuntu (Linux), I naturally like to re-install Ubuntu 11.10 to
the existing free space of my (C) drive creating the partition
set up as previously.

Questions:
What precautions and prerequisites need to be observed in order
to re-install Ubuntu to the free space of my hard disk drive?
And can I be sure that only 2 partitions will be created on the
free space by Ubuntu?

(I had bad experiences with GP Parted and if it is possible would prefer
doing without any partition editor software).

Thanks in advance for guidances.