Problem resizing partition

[sunny-O0WJhd4tT3hg9hUCZPvPmw at public.gmane.org (Laura Conrad)]

I'm having an unexpected problem putting Linux on the new machine.  I
need to resize the windows partition, and gparted (and whatever the
partitioner on the xubuntu 9.04 install disk is) won't do it.

Whenever I run, it says, "The enclosing drive for the volume is
locked".  

Without resizing, I can actually install xubuntu, but not much else.

I've googled, and found lots of references to this problem, but so far
no solutions that work for me.

The problem is possibly related to a problem I was having with
Windows -- when I tried to play a DVD, it would play for a couple of
minutes and then turn the computer off.  I did this several times before
I found the BIOS upgrade that fixed the problem.  Whenever it happened,
the next time I would boot windows it would tell me it hadn't shut down
properly and did I want to go into safe mode.  But it always worked fine
(as fine as windows ever does) when I just booted normally.  

So does anyone have any idea how I can unlock the enclosing drive?  Or
get some software to ignore the lock and let me resize the partition?

-- 
Laura   (mailto:lconrad-O0WJhd4tT3hg9hUCZPvPmw at public.gmane.org http://www.laymusic.org/ )
(617) 661-8097	233 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02139   

Why was I born with such contemporaries?

Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900)