ok, more troubleshooting done and was able to solve the issue. Carl's
response was an excellent start, you do need the XP install CD, but then I
followed the steps at this link. Even though it's Root Cause had nothing to
do with mine, the symptons were the same (instructions towards the bottom
where it says 'If you cannot successfully remove Windows SP2 by using one of
the previous methods etc'):
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/875350/
The instructions where it tells you to type:
cd $ntservicpackuninstall$\spuninst
batch spuninst.txt