The following worked for me.
I encounted this error during a re-install of WinXP Home edition. I read several posts online and came to the conclusion that it was probably a device/driver issue.
I disabled all of the onboard devices (USB, Sound, LAN, PCI slots) via the BIOS. Installation worked fine, windows booted as normal.
I then went back into the BIOS and re-enabled everything. Windows re-detected everything and all is fine now.
Hope this helps
Leon
June 2008