New Build Starts to Boot Up but won't Load OS

[DiggityDave3]

So I decided to rebuild my old computer with mostly new components, the only old parts are the hard drive and optical drives. Everything went fine and I turned the system on, the motherboard logo loads and I can edit the BIOS, however when I go to try and let Windows boot it comes up with errors and automatically restarts. I can make out a quick blue screen before it re-boots, but it flashes so fast before the system shuts down that I can't read it. I did go in to the boot menu and make sure it was trying to boot from the hard drive.

Now the part that really confused me- I put the same hard drive in another computer with the motherboard it used to be connected to and it boots fine. Is there some issue with putting this old drive on a new board that I don't understand/am missing? Anyone have any idea how to make this work?

I am considering just going out and buying a new HD (mine is ATA and the board is SATA, so it would be nice anyways) and loading a fresh version of Windows, but I would hate to go do that and run into the same or similar problems. Is there something I need to do after putting everything together before trying to start up Windows that I skipped? Thanks for you advice!

[shadowpr]

The problem you're having is with the drivers.

http://forum.pcmech.com/showpost.php...73&postcount=3

[amdalex]

So you tried using an old computers hard drive in a new build? (Bad Idea) It can work if you boot up with the drive in your old computer and uninstall all the drivers. The when you put it in your new computer you will have to install all the new drivers for it. You will have to activate windows if you are using XP or Vista also.

[Computer Hobbyist]

I'm with Shadowpr, time to employ glc's old trick. The standard IDE controller will work with damn near anything on the first startup. Windows will then see that it has to deal with a new IDE controller and will install the right drivers. That is why he tells you to uninstall all the other drivers. Do this just before shutting down the old machine. When the harddrive is installed in the new machine Windows will install the correct drivers (or ask you for the driver cd.) This is a great way to upgrade quickly. Otherwise you are going to be reinstalling Windows from your CD.

http://forum.pcmech.com/showpost.php...73&postcount=3

[DiggityDave3]

Thanks everyone for the input. Silly me for assuming you could just plug in a drive on new equipment and let it fly, I underestimate Microsoft's thoroughness in controlling their software. In any event I splurged and bought a new SATA hard drive and a fresh copy of windows. At least now I can give the old computer to my son and I get a completely new machine. Thanks for all of the input!

[cstrife32]

Will glc's trick work with a SATA drive, or is it only for PATA drives?

[shadowpr]

I believe it will work with both types of drives.