Normally I prefer the manufacturer-supplied drivers over those available through Windows updates. but have you tried the MS-supplied drivers? This early into SP2, they might be better.

I think it might have been cause my XP CD is Version 2002 but before the SATA hard drive refused to boot up (this happened cause I attempted a repair install & deleted all system files from the hard ...

In this Recipe, I'll cover slipstreaming, the process of creating a bootable Windows XP CD with all service packs and security updates pre-installed. Creating a slipstream disc may take a bit of time ...