I want to reformat my old computer with XP, but it's the hardest thing I've tried to do in a while. The CD drive is broken so it won't run the installation disc. I downloaded XP online and tried to install it through that, but I realized that the computer can't delete the already installed OS because it's loading the installation files off of it. I installed ubuntu onto my flash drive so that I could boot that and install through there, but when the ubuntu loading screen pops up, it stays there forever. I think I get some error, but I can't remember what it is. Is there a better version of linux I can use or another way to try to install XP?

Couldn't you just put the WIndows XP CD on your flash drive? Afaik there's ways to format it so it's bootable. Just google for the instructions.
From the Windows XP setup you can partition and format.