Reinstall Windows XP with Error "Sorry for your inconvenience blah blah"

[QueBert]

Tried to reinstall windows xp after installing a second hard drive. Everything was working fine until I noticed the USB ports wern't working. So I tried to reinstall some drivers for it on VIA for the usb, but it didn't work. I did the upgrade of windows xp install and now I get a windows xp error message before windows even boots saying that "we apologize for the inconvenience, but windows did not start sucecessfully. A recent hardware or software change might have caused this. I have tried every option it gave me with no response. Just keeps rebooting to the same screen. Please advice.