This isn't a quest for help, but a mission of mercy. I recently discovered a few solutions that I think people should know about when they encounter problems installing Windows XP. (I prefer 2k to Xp, but prefer Xp to Vista...)
1) Setup freezes at "Starting Windows Setup" (Something like that, anyway)
Press F5, and use the up and down arrows to select the type of computer. (Basically, do you want ACPI supported or not. Standard is without it, and the others are self explanatory.)
2) Setup freezes or crashes after formatting the hard drive and says that it cannot install because the disk is damaged, or it gives some weird STOP error.
Try making the partition smaller than the size displayed by the MOBO. If you HD is 160 gigs (like the one I just installed was) but your mobo only shows 130, either update the mobo (not an option for me) or set the partition size down to at or under that. (I set it to about 60, because I wanted something around 100 for the other.)