Hard Drive conversion

[jcdel]

I am running a PC with ME as the OS.ME is not very co-operative with USB plug and play also I have problems with various software programmes.I also have a laptop running XP and everything that will not run on ME runs fine on the laptop with XP.
Now the crunch line-I have been given a Hitachi hard drive (2yrs old) which has been wiped of all personal data leaving just XP(+SP2).If I connect it to my PC, it appears to recognise the hard drive and asks if would like to start normally/safe mode etc etc.At this point there appears a large list of Windows items but that is all.I have the original COA etc for the updates but I think I am missing  something a bit more critical.I was told by a computer clinic that my system would easily cope with XP.Any help would be appreciated "but" I am a touch limited in the technical department.

[Calum]

So what do you want to do?
Use this Hitachi drive on another PC?
I don't quite understand what you want to do and what the problem is, sorry.

[soybean]

You say you "have the original COA etc for the updates."  So, does that mean no one else is using that edition of Windows?  If someone else is using another installation of Windows based on that COA that you got with the drive, then you don't have a legal license to the software.  And, you won't be able to do the proper registration and get all updates.

Most likely, the reason you're seeing the screen that "asks if you would like to start normally/safe mode" is that you don't have drivers installed for the motherboard that you're now trying to use that hard drive with.  Have you tried a normal start?  Did you succeed?  Did you see a Found New Hardware wizard or some other prompts appear when you started the computer?  Have you looked in Device Manager to see whether some devices are marked with a yellow triangle with an exclamation mark inside it?