Troubleshooting Windows is a major time sink. If you don't absolutely need to have XP running, don't spend the time trying to fix it right now.
Ubuntu 10.04 is very good. My only issue with it has been DHCP, and I get around that by manually setting the IP numbers, etc.
If you get Ubuntu running (should take less than an hour after you make a partition for it), you can install VirtualBox and install XP there if you still need it.
Good luck linc.
Cheers,
Scott.