The staying in the loading windows is a hardware issue...
XP is not driver friendly. The best all around solution for this is to revert back to the very first issues with loading windows XP.....make sure that you only have the barest minimum hardware installed when trying to install XP for the first time..( a reformat/reinstallation is a first time scenario)

This could also be the problem as to why F6 didn't work....maybe the keyboard is flaky or something like that.

Anyway remove all the extra drives, memory,pci cards that are not neccessary for installing the operating system....if you have a card reader installed by USB connection unplug it so that there is nothing installed except keyboard,mouse,1HD,1memory stick ,1optics drive.

Then reboot to the installation CD and try to install the SATA drivers and the operating system