xp install looping on startup

[NOTS3W]

I give up. I've researched nLite and slipstreaming for days, read all the guides and many threads but I don't see anything that helps my situation.

I'm using XP Home, Dell Reinstallation disk, SP2, RyanVM's April update pack, and testing with an ISO in Virtual PC. No other addons. I'm trying to make a new install for the same computer I'm building it on. Everything's legal. nLite and the ISO seem to work fine and the Windows installation completes as expected until the final reboot. I see the XP logo, then get a blank black screen for a few seconds, then the VM reboots and we start from the XP logo again. No error messages. It just keep cycling. This first happened with no drivers added. The latest attempt was with video and network drivers from the Dell drivers CD. Same cycling. The chipset drivers are supposed to be installed after Windows is running according to the driver CD. Am I supposed to somehow insert the driver installation into the nLite ISO? There's no inf file, just a ton of .cat files, a couple .cab files and some executables. I don't think this is a VPC problem since VirtualBox does the exact same thing. When this has been discussed before, it's usually been a driver issue. But I think I've added all the drivers I need to add and still haven't seen a desktop. Are there other drivers I should be including? If I let it keep cycling (I've watched it go through three or four reboots) will it ever finish the installation?

I'm only glad that I'm testing this first because if it happened on a real reinstall, I'd be dead in the water right now.

I'm sorry if I sound like a complete noob, which I am to this process. I've tried to research this myself but just can't find the answers.

A little help is needed at this point.

Thanks.

Ray

[NOTS3W]

In my continuing attempt to create a slipstreamed CD, I discovered today that I can successfully install directly from the Dell Reinstallation CD to my VM (Virtual PC). So I know the original files are good.

When I use nLite to create a CD of just the original Reinstallation files (no SP2, no addons, no unattended changes), the install hangs at the Windows logo before the final configuration steps. It appears there is something different between the original Reinstallation CD and the nLite CD although the files appear to be the same. Is there something that nLite does to the files even if I don't select any options?

I'm thinking that if I can't get a basic pre-SP2 CD out of nLite, there's no need to go any further with SP2, addons, etc.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Ray