Transfer OS HDD to new mobo with Win XP?

[fuddam]

Have an old Asus Athlon system. Got given a newer Athlon system, so I want to transfer the OS HDD from the old system to the new, rather than rebuild on the new.

Got the minimum hardware set up, ie cpu, single HDD, AGP Msi FX5600 128 (from system 1), 256 Ram single stick (from old system), DVD Rom

nothing else

Getting error message after POST, when windows tries to boots, even when attempting Safe mode:

STOP: 0X0000007B

talks about the usual boot sector viruses, or device problems etc

Can one simply transfer a drive like this? This is my 3rd system; have often accessed or booted this OS HDD from system 2 when trouble shooting, so was hoping could do same with new system.

system 1 = Athlon 1600 XP on Asus A7V 266-E mobo
system 2 = Athlon64 754 3ghz on MSI Neo FSR 2 mobo (ie completely different with diff agp card & ram)
system 3 (new) = Athlon 3000 on Asus A7N8X-E deluxe

oh, have tried diff sticks of ram, in diff slots, so can rule that out, methinks.

[dnyberg]

Are you running XP?

If you are then try booting of off the windows CD and doing a repair. I've tried this before and it's normally worked.

If that doesn't work then you could try an upgrade or if all else fails, a reinstall.

[fuddam]

yep, thought about a repair - will give it a bash

tried the original HDD that came on the system - didn't know what was on it - and it boots into XP normally, so no problem with ram or agp card. Simply a happy windows challenge

[d3fiant]

Ive always steered clear of such methods, if its a new system then its always a rebuild, yes it will take longer initially but at least u can expect fewer problems down the line, hope it all works out via the repair m8, but if u have the time then rebuild

[fuddam]

agreed, rebuild is always most stable

I just need everything to work YESTERDAY!