"Computer Disk Hardware Configuration Problem" during install

I decided to reformat my system today and start fresh. I
have a 200GB hard drive partitioned into 50GB (C, 10GB
(D:, or E: according to setup) and roughly 131GB (E:, or
F. The drive is running through an IDE adapter card
because the drive's a 133 and my motherboard is only a
100.

After backing up all of my necessary files to the largest
partition, I booted to the setup CD, gave it the proper
adapter drivers through a floppy, then had it reformat
the C drive (not a quick partition). It then copied the
files to the hard drive and restarted. Of course it went
right back to the installation program because my boot
order had the CD set to go up first. Confused at first,
I proceeded through the steps before it warned me there
was already an OS on the drive and asked if I really
wanted to install a second one. I said no and
restarted.This time I removed the CD, and then watched it
pop up a momentary dual-boot menu listing two "Microsoft
Windows XP Home Edition" options, and then it immediately
jumped to a "Disk Hardware Configuration Problem" telling
me there was a boot error and to see my hardware
documentation.

I eventually found the Knowledge Base article that
pertains (314477), went into the Recovery Console, and
proceeded to try each option. Method 1 involved editing
the boot.ini file from within XP, but of course this is
impossible as XP's not only not completely installed, but
won't start up. Method 2 was bootcfg /repair, which I
did, and the following restart produced three options for
Windows XP, but still jumped to the error message after a
few seconds. Method 3 involved using the command "expand
cd-rom:\i386\ntoskrnl.ex_ drive:\Windows\system32" to
replace the ntoskrnl.exe file, but when I tried that
(replacing with the appropriate drive letters) I was left
with a message telling me there was no disk in the
drive. The final method, chkdsk /r, also produced no
favorable results.

Now, I was able to verify that my files were intact on
the large partition, so it doesn't seem as though the
drive's actually malfunctioning.

Eventually I used to recovery console to [quick] format
the C drive again, then re-ran the installation and had
it install without reformatting the drive first. The
only difference this time was that I didn't see the dual-
boot menu appear before it went to the error message.

As for my hardware configuration, I have the hard drive
hooked up to the IDE card, then I have a CD-RW as one
master, and a DVD-ROM as the other master, with a Zip
drive as slave to one of them. I've tried installing
from both CD-ROM drives with no difference in results.

Any ideas? All I have left is I'm going to go clean the
disk and see if maybe a file's being corrupted in the
reading. I'm not holding my breath, though.