The reason the system is unable to install the drivers is due to a bug with Fresh installs of XP via an installation CD that has no Service Pack and/or install disks that have Service Pack 1 that are immediately updated to service pack 3. Please install the audio driver before you either use windows update or manually update to Service Pack 3. You may need to roll back if you're encountering issues.

Please see the following knowledge base article for a resolve this problem and further assistance:

support.microsoft.com/kb/835221