i put my old hd's in the new one, starting up gets me the start in safe mode selection screen. Whatever option i select it reboots.

Put in an xp cd (the cd from the xp ive got on the old hd is gone) and it doesnt do anything with it when i boot from cd.
Put in an xp boot disk and it also doesnt do anything.

Now what?

Here's my input from many years of repairing thousands of computers:

Regarding putting the old drive in a new machine:

Sometimes putting the old drive in a new PC works and sometimes it doesn't.

It all depends what drivers from the old configuration are compatible with the new one. If enough of your old drivers are compatible with the new system to get the machine up and running enough to install the needed drivers to take you to 100% then you'll be fine. (remember to try booting in safe mode)

If not you will need to reinstall your OS.

Alternatively you could take the opportunity to get a squeaky clean new OS install going on and put your old drives in as additional ones, initially to pull you old data from and moving forward as extra storage.

Or even buy an external USB case so you can have easy access to any data you may need from them.

As far as the mobo not working, before you write it off, look very carefully with good lighting and make sure there is no dust or other crap present in the memory slots, also make triple sure any memory modules you inserted are inserted properly and completely.

Look under the mobo, between the mobo and the case and see if any screws or springs rolled in there.

Test each Dimm one by one, then two by two in every different slot and every combo you can think of. Do this patiently and carefully.

Try hitting f8 repeatedly during the post process, this will most likely get you to a "start in safe mode" option.

Once booted in safe mode, check your device manager for drivers that need attention, ignore the graphics till everything else is taken care of.

XP may not be able to deal with all the devices on a new machine automatically, it would be a good idea to go to the manufacturer's website on a second PC (assuming networking is not working yet) and download any needed drivers to a USB stick and use that to get them onto the new machine.

When it reboots, does it seem intentional? Like it's getting ready to restart in safe mode? or is it just freaking out and resetting?

If the latter it's time for a clean OS Install. Your drivers from your old system are simply not prepared to deal with the new hardware.

It's like if someone surgically removed your brain and put it in an octopus. You would have no idea how to control that body because its too different from yours.

Yes I realise that is a flawed analogy.

But you'd be able to predict football (soccer) score and can legally change your name to Paul .....

it detected the xp cd, but now it hasnt detected that windows xp is already on it. I selected the partition where xp is on, and now it looks like its doing a completely new installation on that same partition? it doesnt even give the 'repair'option. wtf. This is going really great.

now i have my original windows in c:/WINDOWS and the new one in c:/WINDOWS.0

Selection screen at start of booting the pc with 2 xp's. When i select the old xp it reboots (doesnt work).
The new xp works but doesnt have all the programs installed.

Can i migrate the new one with the old? Or can i repair the old windows from within the new windows? Help is really appreciated.

Really? I thought most installations of XP read your mind, knew what applications you wanted, went and downloaded them, installed them and then wiped your arse afterwards.

:(

read the thread genius :321GFY

Fuck this shit

plug the power in

maybe there is dried semen in the memory sockets

Sorry if it seems like a stupid question but people sometimes forget this: do you have the BIOS configured with the CD before the HDD as far as boot order?

Migrating programs (although getting data ought to be easy) like that is a PITA because of the registry. The easiest thing to do would have been to only install the old HDD in the new computer and boot it. Then from there if you could not boot use the XP install disk (you did not however want to actually do a new install if you could avoid it) to switch to generic drivers for your hardware, get it to boot normally, then replace with the proper drivers and proceed from there.

What you did makes it all a lot harder and more complicated. I could probably do it if I was sitting in front of the computer but telling someone how remotely is difficult and it's likely going to be very difficult for you to do this. At this point if you still want to do it yourself you probably need to read up on using the system recovery console in order to repair why it is not booting. Get any important data not backed up off there before screwing with this (one way, use a Ubuntu liveCD - http://www.ubuntu.com to do this along with a thumb drive) further.

If I were in your shoes with what you know, I'd just call a pro at this point. $50 - $75 for someone good off of Craigslist. :2 cents: