Shrink problems/partition problems HELP

Hi,
I replaced my 160gig hard drive with a 320 Samsung. I used TrueImage to
make a clone and it has been fine for a month. Today I decided to add an XP
partition.

I looked at the exisiting partitions. There was a:
-110meg (EISA use or something),
- a 20gig recovery and
- a 230 main.
- I also saw a 3.99 gig that was healthy but did not appear to be formatted.
I shrunk the 230 gig down by 30 gig and created a 30 gig partion. When I
tried to do a "New Simple Volume", it got to the end and then said I had too
many partions. I read somewhere 4 was max. Sicne I had no idea where the
3.99 gig came from and was not formatted, I deleted it and then expanded the
230 to add the 3.99 gig, which it did.

But, when I tried to shrink it down again for the XP partition, it said I
only had 4 gig available. o I hoigh I would try to go back, I did shrink it
by 4 gig, and created the 4 gig partion again. But now the 230 says I cnanot
shrink at all.

So, first, does anyone know what the 3.99gig partion was there for - could
it have been bad sectors or something? And how can I get a usable 4th
aprtion to install XP?

Thanks
TedT