Reinstall of XP Home results in a continual boot loop..

Hello,
I've tried to reinstall XP Home by the XP Retail CD, and from within Windows
itself and every time at the same place in the re-installation, it fails
which results in the start up boot menu displaying, the I select XP, and
then a reboot happens and then the same thing happens all over again...

I have removed all USB connections, and the upgrade log files within the
windows directory says there are no problems.

The only thing I notice during the installation is at the last stages of the
installation where it says it is "removing temporary files and backups". The
progress bar goes almost to the very end, the screen goes blank, the hardisk
light is still blinking the reboots from hell begin. I have used recovery
console to check the disk, but no errors. I have looked into the
system32\config directory and there are files with the same name, but many
extensions, like: .sav .def and .$$$. I'm clueless as to there meaning.

What I'm I doing incorrectly? Can I find a error file of some sort to help
me out? Can I invoke some debug file that someone could interpret during
setup?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.
Moe