xp user account problem

I just installed my copy of XP student, and got something along the lines of "can't log on with your profile, using default - file not found". There were no start menu or desktop folders in the docs and settings folder with the account I created. Any idea whats going wrong?

Sounds like the user profile is corrupt.

Since it is a new install, you could just create a different account and log in, or log in under a different local administrator account, delete the previous user account (also delete the profile folder for it under Documents and Settings), recreate the user account, reboot, and then log in under the recreated user account.