I have tried many times to install xp from cd and usb and even copied the cd to the hard drive and installed from there. Everything is fine in IDE mode but if I do the installation in achi mode I get the blue screen of death when it reboots to copy files.

As requested, show me your registry edits, maybe you aren't getting those changed correctly? You can switch from a live IDE only install to AHCI/RAID anytime with those edits alone and then a reboot to BIOS to change the BIOS setting.
To install in AHCI Mode, you have to install the AHCI drivers via F6 (I think) during the initial pre-setup, and for that you have to have them in a specific folder layout and choose the correct driver. Fernando can help you more about that, probably already has a guide here on how to do it
Or, you can always also slipstream the drivers into a new XP ISO, but that also has to be done a certain and proper way too (many guides and tools for that in google)

Installing Windows XP on a SATA hard drive is not a straight-forward task as Windows XP does not recognize the SATA drive. In order to install operating systems such as Windows XP on SATA drives, the latest SATA drivers are required.Download SATA drivers for the motherboard from the website and integrate them with the XP installation CD using software such as nLite. SATA drivers can also be installed as third party drivers; you will be prompted during the installation process. Without proper SATA drivers, installing Windows XP on a SATA hard drive is not possible as SATA mode would have to be disabled in the BIOS to continue with the installation.

there is no sata driver from MSI for this board.

I an confused on which download to use - where can I download Intel RST driver v11.2.0.1006 that I need for my motherboard?

how about the txtsetup.oem file?

I can not get it to work for me.
I did download the RST v11.2.0 and extracted it and put the files on a floppy disk.
I installed Win xp pro with sp3 from cd in IDE mode and hit f6 then when it asked me for which one I wanted I chose 8c02
and finished installing and it works fine in IDE mode but when I switch to ACHI mode it automatically reboots - can not run even in safe mode. No blue screen.
So what am I doing wrong?
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Do I need the Matrix Storage Manager drivers, then reboot to BIOS, set AHCI = done.
If so where is a link? When do I install them?
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As you see I did the f6 thing so what is wrong?

@tuc47 - BIOS needs to be already set to AHCI during your install mentioned above at post #23, otherwise you will get error since you are trying to load AHCI driver while BIOS is in IDE mode.
You do not need Matrix drivers, since you can/are using RST drivers. Sorry, I mentioned matirx in PM, thinking you were on older board

@Fernando, doesn't he also have to have correct folder structure and file layout on the floppy, for the driver/textsetup.oem etc? I remember fighting that back in the day, but cannot remember exact layout required now.

Thanks @Fernando, I agree and would do it that way too, but since he's having so much issues, and mentioned IS currently using floppy, he needs the other non-integrated info with specific details.
Unless you can talk him into integrating, which having experience with myself, I'm sure he will run into more and new issues there. I know you have a guide there for that, but as we all know guides have LONG threads and replies with many users having issues to follow along, errors during creation etc.
It may be best for him to download a pre-modified AHCI ready XP ISO

May be easiest for him, to download ready ISO from here - https://sharewbb.com/windows-xp-professional-update/
Windows XP SP3 Updated March 2017 + POS Update Pack / Or / Windows Xp Professional Sp3 10 Edition 2017

In addition to what I mentioned about switching from IDE to AHCI post-install, I see this method outlined well in a guide
https://sites.google.com/a/rmprepusb.com...orials/xptoahci

My preferred method (if F6 not used) = The switch from IDE to AHCI mode from within an already running Windows XP << always very simple, not sure why that failed for him, he never showed me his registry editing so this could be why?

Thanks, that is similar to the last link I gave above. Maybe that will be easier for him to do if he can't get the install via F6 method (I think that only failed for him at post #23 due to BIOS set to IDE mode, if he had drivers/folders/textsetup.oem laid out correctly)

I did post #27 but still got the blue screen.
I choose 8c02 but right after I hit continue I got the blue screen within a second
I did reboot and went to ahci mode but still a blue screen
Why?
I am doing a download of the ready ISO from https://sharewbb.com/windows-xp-professional-update/
But that will take hours
I would like to get get my existing xp to run in achi mode

So, in hours you will have an AHCI Ready ISO. Once you have that, set BIOS to ACHI and install from that ISO, problem solved, wait till then, no need to carry on trying adding to your headaches
Be sure you pick one of the ones I mentioned >> Windows XP SP3 Updated March 2017 + POS Update Pack / Or / Windows Xp Professional Sp3 10 Edition 2017

To answer your question about the above issue, see last link in post #26. What BSOD error are you getting, last digits is all we need to know 0x00000000