Ok so awhile ago I bought a dell computer, I then took it apart and used some of the parts to build my own pc. I then built the old dell computer back to its original condition and then built myself a much better one and gave the dell to my brother. I put a new hard drive in the dell because my brother wanted more space and that setup worked fine. My problem is that now I'm upgrading the dell and I'm using the motherboard that I used when I built it my own pc with the processor from the dell and in a new case with the same memory I used as well, and I also my old graphics card. However, I put in the newer hard drive and as soon as I try to turn on the newly built pc it boots up for about 10 sec and then goes to blue screen of death. I tried rebuilding the dell back and checking for viruses and found alot so I saved everything useful and then repartitioned the hard drive and reinstalled windows and it still wouldn't work in the new pc. I even tried moving the crappy 3gig hard drive from our old old computer and that worked with the new pc setup. so why is the newer hard drive not? I thought you were supposed to be able to move a hard drive into a new computer without any troubles, whats going on here???

No point is asking Dell for support here huh!! lol

Do you see anything on the screen? Does it actually spin into life? Are the jumpers set correctly on the hard drive? Is the Windows installation on the hard drive one from a Dell restore/build CD?

Hi Jefftc14,

I think that the problem might be "I'm using the motherboard that I used when I built it own pc".
If you are using the hard drive from the Dell and the Motherboard from the homebuilt pc there is more than likely a problem with the drivers as the two boards are different. I think that the best solution is to back up any data and reinstall windows on the new system that you have built.
Let us know how you get on

Hi, thanks for the replies. To answer your question, I can't tell if the hard drive is actually spinning while booting because of the loud fan but I am assuming it is. I am also using the windows installation disc that came with the dell pc. I looked at the jumpers and I'm pretty sure that they are correct, not 100% though. and I have reinstalled windows on the old pc setup and then moved the hard drive to the new one and it still did not work. I can't do anything on the newer setup because it just displays the motherboard boot screen and then it won't even allow me to go to the boot menu so that I can reinstall windows or anything else on the hard drive because it goes straight to the blue screen of death. I dunno if this helps or not...

I am also using the windows installation disc that came with the dell pc.
That would be a problem as most recovery cd's have the specific drivers for the pc it was built for, if I remember correctly Dell tends to use Intel boards which has drivers that really do not like to play with other motherboards, even different Intels
I looked at the jumpers and I'm pretty sure that they are correct, not 100% though.
The correct jumper settings are usually on the sticker on the top of the drive, but if you cannot see that, let us know what make/model so we can give you specific instructions
and I have reinstalled windows on the old pc setup and then moved the hard drive to the new one and it still did not work.
I think that this would be the same problem as above as the drivers woudl be different.
I can't do anything on the newer setup because it just displays the motherboard boot screen and then it won't even allow me to go to the boot menu so that I can reinstall windows or anything else on the hard drive because it goes straight to the blue screen of death.
Just to check, if you tap "delete" or "F2" you should be able to get into the BIOS to cahnge the boot sequence to make the CDROM the first boot device.