I'm starting to like XP user, it's only when you come across such blinkered ignorance that you realise how excellent it is to be out of that MS crap.
Anyway, here's how my install went when I tried XP.
Machine by the way is A-Bit KT-7A, 1200 Athlon, 768MB SDRAM, Yam-SCSI CD-RW, 60 + 20GB Maxtors Ge-Force 2 MX400, SB128 etc.
Basically, I'm saying it's not a massively out of date box.
Insert disk, boot, get to point where screen goes dark blue / black with progress bar and that's it! Yes XP did something no other version of Windows has managed for me i.e. crashing before it's even made it onto the hard disk.
I wasted another two evenings trying before impaling the disk on a No.2 Philips. The resulting feeling of euphoria justified the cost of XP all by itself so it didn't perish in vain.
I'm saving the licence for a day when I pick up a dose of dissentry of cholera for that extra satisfying wipe.
I'm back with Win98SE which sees the light of day once a month or two and Mandrake 8.2 which gets daily use. My personal office machine is the same config as XP, when I have come across it, proved itself to be a bit on the crap side.