Help w/ XP / Netbook Problem

Does anyone know of a program which will let me run an XP restore from a USB? I do have Tech experience and I am currently working on my MCSE and eventually a Sec.+.  So, I have experience and have never run into a problem like this so I could use any help.

I have a Dell Mini 10 that has a bad Hal.dll file and it has no CD/DVD drive which gives me an option to either buy an external drive which I really dont want to, or find a way to boot a XP repair or other program from a USB.

So far every so called  "Boottousb" program wont work...and this is a massive pain in the balls...The programs I have downloaded are zip's and rar's, then I unpack them and they are all ISO's and I have to go through the whole process of opening them and mounting them. Then some are supposed to be formatted as FAT16 or FAT32 or NTFS and on and on and on etc......Then they wont work on USB.

I have already tried loading ERD Commander 2005, BartPE, Spotmau...but none of those will boot from a USB or at least I cant get them to do it. I have tried "WINsetupfromUSB", "PEtoUSB", "Unetbootin"

I know I can run Linux from a USB and was thinking maybe of trying to use that program or try to modify its boot program to get me to the XP restore partition on the Dell Mini.

I also know that some forums said that you cant boot XP from a USB and others say you can...

So, any help is appreciated. Chances are the Dell will be either in the trash or on the floor in a million pieces by the time you read this.

I've booted from a USB before with a VISTA latop. It had crashed, and the dvd was broken. I imagine it's possible for XP, but I wouldn't know how.

SUCESS......FINALLY.

I have managed to get XP loaded from a USB. So regardless what Microsoft say's that its impossible, their wrong and it can be done.   Its certainly not easy and you do need solid experience in IT but it is possible. it is a FUKCIN' pain in the balls.  It takes about 6 hours of solid work not counting the trial and error, testing and install failures.

If anyone needs this info let me know and I will try and help you out and walk you through it.