Installing WinXP on a new Vostro

Has anyone here attempted to install WinXP on a new Vostro laptop?

I just purchased a Vostro 1400 and have not been happy with Vista for many reasons. So I wiped the HD with DBAN, found some info about how to get around the lack of SATA drivers (by installing the Intel Matrix Storage Manager driver), and am halfway through the WinXP installation process when I get a "Please insert Intel Matrix Storage Manager driver into A:" message.

In my A: drive is a USB floppy disk drive (which I used in the F6 portion of the installation process), and, to my knowledge, -has- the Intel Matrix Storage Manager drivers.

But it's at this point that I can go no further.

After a day of trying all kinds of different drivers & support forums, I went to Geek Squad for help. The technician there told me that many other new laptop users have been trying to do the same thing (wipe out Vista, install WinXP), and because of an incompatible driver, doing this is impossible.

Do you know if this is true? Am I attempting the impossible? Or have I not found the correct drivers yet?

Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks!