Re-installing OS

Hi,
4 days on and I'm still having problems re-installing WinXP.
Have formatted both hard drives 22gb and 40gb. Set the smallest as main
drive in the bios. Formatted it using a floppy boot disk and then tried to
install winxp. Runs through the process as far as the "starting windows"
screen then still locks up!
Ran a PCDoctor disk to check everything and the only error it comes up with
is that there's no Hard Disk Controllers.Is this what's causing me problems?
What else should I be looing for? It never was this difficult formatting and
re-installing Win98.
I'd be grateful for any suggestions.
I'm probably overlooking the obvious.

T.I.A.
Kenny M